is the second-largest city in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanag ...

, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populou ...

, south of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

, in the Kantō region of the main island of

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island s ...

. Yokohama is also the major economic, cultural, and commercial hub of the

Greater Tokyo Area The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan (including Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Tochigi) as well as the ...

along the Keihin Industrial Zone. Yokohama was one of the cities to open for trade with the West following the 1859 end of the policy of seclusion and has since been known as a cosmopolitan port city, after Kobe opened in 1853. Yokohama is the home of many Japan's firsts in the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, including the first foreign trading port and Chinatown (1859), European-style sport venues (1860s), English-language newspaper (1861), confectionery and beer manufacturing (1865), daily newspaper (1870), gas-powered street lamps (1870s), railway station (1872), and power plant (1882). Yokohama developed rapidly as Japan's prominent port city following the end of Japan's relative isolation in the mid-19th century and is today one of its major ports along with Kobe,

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...

, Tokyo and Chiba. Yokohama is classified as a Large-Port Metropolis . Yokohama is the largest port city and high tech industrial hub in the Greater Tokyo Area and the Kantō region. The city proper is headquarters to companies such as Isuzu, Nissan,

JVCKenwood , stylized as JVCKENWOOD, is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. It was formed from the merger of Victor Company of Japan, Ltd (JVC) and Kenwood Corporation on October 1, 2008. Upon creation, Haruo Kaw ...

, Keikyu, Koei Tecmo, Sotetsu, Salesforce Japan and

Bank of Yokohama is the largest regional bank in Japan, operating mainly in Kanagawa Prefecture and southwestern Tokyo. It currently operates 610 offices in Japan and five offices overseas (Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, New York and London). History The bank wa ...

. Famous landmarks in Yokohama include Minato Mirai 21, Nippon Maru Memorial Park, Yokohama Chinatown, Motomachi Shopping Street, Yokohama Marine Tower, Yamashita Park, and Ōsanbashi Pier.

Etymology

Yokohama (横浜) means "horizontal beach". The current area surrounded by Maita Park, the

Ōoka River is a river that flows through Yokohama, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while ...

and the Nakamura River have been a gulf divided by a sandbar from the open sea. This sandbar was the original Yokohama fishing village. Since the sandbar protruded perpendicularly from the land, or horizontally when viewed from the sea, it was called a "horizontal beach".

History

Opening of the Treaty Port (1859–1868)

Before the Western foreigners arrived, Yokohama was a small fishing village up to the end of the feudal

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

, when Japan held a policy of national seclusion, having little contact with foreigners. A major turning point in Japanese history happened in 1853–54, when Commodore Matthew Perry arrived just south of Yokohama with a fleet of American warships, demanding that Japan open several ports for commerce, and the Tokugawa shogunate agreed by signing the

Treaty of Peace and Amity The Convention of Kanagawa, also known as the Kanagawa Treaty (, ''Kanagawa Jōyaku'') or the Japan–US Treaty of Peace and Amity (, ''Nichibei Washin Jōyaku''), was a treaty signed between the United States and the Tokugawa Shogunate on March ...

. It was initially agreed that one of the ports to be opened to foreign ships would be the bustling town of Kanagawa-juku (in what is now Kanagawa Ward) on the Tōkaidō, a strategic highway that linked

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

to Kyoto and Osaka. However, the Tokugawa shogunate decided that Kanagawa-juku was too close to the Tōkaidō for comfort, and port facilities were instead built across the inlet in the sleepy fishing village of Yokohama. The Port of Yokohama was officially opened on June 2, 1859. Yokohama quickly became the base of foreign trade in Japan. Foreigners initially occupied the low-lying district of the city called

Kannai is a district in Naka Ward, Yokohama, Japan, bounded by the Ōoka River, JR Negishi Line, Nakamura River, and Yokohama waterfront. "Kannai" is not an official name of the area, but the common term of reference has been in use for over a century ...

, residential districts later expanding as the settlement grew to incorporate much of the elevated

Yamate is the name of a historic neighbourhood in Naka-ku, Yokohama often referred to in English as ''The Bluff.'' The neighbourhood is famous as having been a foreigners' residential area in the Bakumatsu, Meiji and Taishō periods. While still domi ...

district overlooking the city, commonly referred to by English speaking residents as ''The Bluff''.

, the foreign trade and commercial district (literally, ''inside the barrier''), was surrounded by a moat, foreign residents enjoying extraterritorial status both within and outside the compound. Interactions with the local population, particularly young samurai, outside the settlement inevitably caused problems; the Namamugi Incident, one of the events that preceded the downfall of the shogunate, took place in what is now Tsurumi Ward in 1862, and prompted the Bombardment of Kagoshima in 1863. To protect British commercial and diplomatic interests in Yokohama a military garrison was established in 1862. With the growth in trade increasing numbers of Chinese also came to settle in the city. Yokohama was the scene of many notable firsts for Japan including the growing acceptance of western fashion, photography by pioneers such as

Felice Beato Felice Beato (1832 – 29 January 1909), also known as Felix Beato, was an Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photographers. He is noted for his genre works, ...

, Japan's first English language newspaper, the ''Japan Herald'' published in 1861 and in 1865 the first ice cream confectionery and

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

to be produced in Japan. Recreational sports introduced to Japan by foreign residents in Yokohama included European style horse racing in 1862,

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

in 1863 and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

in 1866. A great fire destroyed much of the foreign settlement on November 26, 1866, and

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

was a recurrent public health hazard, but the city continued to grow rapidly – attracting foreigners and Japanese alike. File:Commodore-Perry-Visit-Kanagawa-1854.jpg, Landing of Commodore Perry and men to meet the Imperial commissioners at Yokohama, 14 July 1853 File:YokohamaTradersSadahide1861.jpg, Foreign ships in Yokohama harbor in 1861 File:YokohamaForeignTradersSadahide1861.jpg, A foreign trading house in Yokohama in 1861

Meiji and Taisho Periods (1868–1923)

After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

of 1868, the port was developed for trading

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from th ...

, the main trading partner being Great Britain. Western influence and technological transfer contributed to the establishment of Japan's first daily newspaper (1870), first gas-powered street lamps (1872) and Japan's first

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

constructed in the same year to connect Yokohama to Shinagawa and Shinbashi in Tokyo. In 1872 Jules Verne portrayed Yokohama, which he had never visited, in an episode of his widely read novel '' Around the World in Eighty Days'', capturing the atmosphere of the fast-developing, internationally oriented Japanese city. In 1887, a British merchant, Samuel Cocking, built the city's first power plant. At first for his own use, this coal power plant became the basis for the Yokohama Cooperative Electric Light Company. The city was officially incorporated on April 1, 1889. By the time the

extraterritoriality In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdiction was usually cl ...

of foreigner areas was abolished in 1899, Yokohama was the most international city in Japan, with foreigner areas stretching from Kannai to the Bluff area and the large Yokohama Chinatown. The early 20th century was marked by rapid growth of industry. Entrepreneurs built factories along reclaimed land to the north of the city toward Kawasaki, which eventually grew to be the Keihin Industrial Area. The growth of Japanese industry brought affluence, and many wealthy trading families constructed sprawling residences there, while the rapid influx of population from Japan and Korea also led to the formation of Kojiki-Yato, then the largest slum in Japan. File:Yokohama_Street_Scene_c1880.jpg, Street scene File:Kusakabe_Kimbei_-_Yokohama_Foreign_Settlement_Pano.jpg, Yokohama File:Akarenga_Yokohama_2012.jpg,

Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse The is a historical building that is used as a complex that includes a shopping mall, banquet hall, and event venues. The complex, officially known as the , was originally used as customs buildings, and has two sections: Warehouse No.1 and No.2. ...

was built in 1913.

Great Kantō earthquake and the Second World War (1923–1945)

File:HIH the Prince Regent viewing devastated Yokohama-restored.jpg, Crown Prince Hirohito (later Emperor) visited Yokohama immediately after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. File:Yokohama post bombing 1945.jpg, View of Yokohama after the bombing in 1945 Much of Yokohama was destroyed on September 1, 1923, by the Great Kantō earthquake. The Yokohama police reported casualties at 30,771 dead and 47,908 injured, out of a pre-earthquake population of 434,170. Fuelled by rumors of rebellion and sabotage, vigilante mobs thereupon murdered many Koreans in the Kojiki-yato slum. Many people believed that Koreans used black magic to cause the earthquake.

Martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Martia ...

was in place until November 19. Rubble from the quake was used to reclaim land for parks, the most famous being the Yamashita Park on the waterfront which opened in 1930. Yokohama was rebuilt, only to be destroyed again by U.S. air raids during World War II. The first bombing was in the April 18, 1942 Doolittle Raid. An estimated 7,000–8,000 people were killed in a single morning on May 29, 1945, in what is now known as the Great Yokohama Air Raid, when B-29s firebombed the city and in just one hour and nine minutes, reducing 42% of it to rubble.

Postwar growth and development

During the American occupation, Yokohama was a major transshipment base for American supplies and personnel, especially during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

. After the occupation, most local U.S. naval activity moved from Yokohama to an American base in nearby Yokosuka. Four years after the Treaty of San Francisco signed, the city was designated by government ordinance on September 1, 1956. The city's tram and

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...

system was abolished in 1972, the same year as the opening of the first line of Yokohama Municipal Subway. Construction of Minato Mirai 21 ("Port Future 21"), a major urban development project on reclaimed land started in 1983, nicknamed the "

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

of the Orient" was compared to

Center City, Philadelphia Center City includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of Philadelphia. It comprises the area that made up the City of Philadelphia prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854, which extended the city borders to be coterminous wi ...

and Downtown Boston located in the

East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...

. Minato Mirai 21 hosted the Yokohama Exotic Showcase in 1989, which saw the first public operation of maglev trains in Japan and the opening of Cosmo Clock 21, then the tallest Ferris wheel in the world. The Yokohama Bay Bridge opened in the same year. In 1993, Minato Mirai 21 saw the opening of the Yokohama Landmark Tower, the third-tallest building in Japan. The

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

final was held in June at the International Stadium Yokohama. In 2009, the city marked the 150th anniversary of the opening of the port and the 120th anniversary of the commencement of the City Administration. An early part in the commemoration project incorporated the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV), which was held in Yokohama in May 2008. In November 2010, Yokohama hosted the

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economy, economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

(APEC) meeting. File:Yokohama Koreanwar.jpg, In 1951, during the

, a troopship, the USS ''General George M. Randall'' (AP-115), departs Yokohama, repatriating war dead to the U.S. File:Yokohama_Landmark_Tower_201507.JPG, Yokohama Landmark Tower, Japan's third-tallest building, was built in 1993. File:Minato Mirai In Blue.jpg, The Minato Mirai 21 project, also known as the "

and

of the Orient," started in 1983.

Geography

Topography

Yokohama has a total area of at an elevation of above sea level. It is the capital of

, bordered to the east by

and located in the middle of the Kantō plain. The city is surrounded by hills and the characteristic mountain system of the island of Honshū, so its growth has been limited and it has had to gain ground from the sea. This also affects the population density, one of the highest in Japan with 8,500 inhabitants per km². The highest points within the urban boundary are Omaruyama () and Mount Enkaizan (). The main river is the

Tsurumi River The is a river in Kanagawa and Tokyo Prefectures on Honshū, Japan. It begins at the confluence of the Onda and Yamoto rivers in Yokohama and flows 22 kilometers before emptying into Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region ...

, which begins in the Tama Hills and empties into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

. These municipalities surround Yokohama: Kawasaki, Yokosuka, Zushi, Kamakura, Fujisawa, Yamato, Machida.

Geology

The city is very prone to natural phenomena such as earthquakes and tropical cyclones because the island of Honshū has a high level of seismic activity, being in the middle of the Pacific

Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring ...

. Most seismic movements are of low intensity and are generally not perceived by people. However, Yokohama has experienced two major tremors that reflect the evolution of Earthquake engineering: the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake devastated the city and caused more than 100,000 fatalities throughout the region, while the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peni ...

, with its epicenter on the east coast, was felt in the locality but only material damage was lamented because most buildings were already prepared to withstand them.

Climate

Yokohama features a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen: ''Cfa'') with hot, humid summers and chilly winters. Weatherwise, Yokohama has a pattern of rain, clouds and sun, although in winter, it is surprisingly sunny, more so than Southern Spain. Winter temperatures rarely drop below freezing, while summer can seem quite warm, because of the effects of humidity. The coldest temperature was on 24 January 1927 when was reached, whilst the hottest day was 11 August 2013 at . The highest monthly rainfall was in October 2004 with , closely followed by July 1941 with , whilst December and January have recorded no measurable precipitation three times each.

Cityscape

File:The night view of Minato Mirai 21 - 4.jpg, Yokohama night view (2014) File:View from Mosaic Mall Kohoku, Yokohama 20150201-004.jpg, View from Mosaic Mall Kohoku (2015) File:Minato mirai view from Yokohama bay bridge (2039218244).jpg, View from the Yokohama Bay Bridge (2007) File:View from Hikawa maru, Yokohama (15988315167).jpg, View from

Hikawa Maru is a Japanese ocean liner that Yokohama Dock Company built for '' Nippon Yūsen Kabushiki Kaisha'' ("NYK Line"). She was launched on 30 September 1929 and made her maiden voyage from Kobe to Seattle on 13 May 1930. She is permanently berthed as ...

(2014)

Demographics

Population

Yokohama's foreign population of 92,139 includes Chinese,

Koreans Koreans ( South Korean: , , North Korean: , ; see names of Korea) are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. Koreans mainly live in the two Korean nation states: North Korea and South Korea (collectively and simply r ...

Filipinos Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or other ...

, and Vietnamese.

Wards

Yokohama has 18 wards (''ku''):

Government and politics

The

Yokohama City Council The is the legislature of Yokohama City. Overview *Members: 86 *Term: 4 years *Voting System: Medium‐size constituency system (Single non-transferable vote Single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an electoral system used to elect multip ...

consists of 86 members elected from a total of 18 Wards. The LDP has minority control with 36 seats. The incumbent mayor is Takeharu Yamanaka, who defeated Fumiko Hayashi in the 2021 Yokohama mayoral election.

List of mayors (from 1889)

Culture and sights

Yokohama's cultural and tourist sights include: * Yokohama Chinatown * Yokohama Three Towers * Yamashita Park (at the harbor) * Harbor View Park * The

, historic passenger and cargo ship * Yokohama Marine Tower * Yokohama Triennale * Minato Mirai 21 * Landmark Tower, 296 m high, second tallest skyscraper in Japan * Nippon Maru, museum ship * Yokohama Stadium (the

Yokohama DeNA BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its curren ...

Pro baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

team's home field) * Yokohama Foreign Cemetery * Sankei-en Garden * Kishine-Park * Kanazawa Bunko, preserves the cultural heritage of the Hōjō clan * Zō-no-Hana Terrace (象の鼻テラス) * Gumyōji, oldest temple in the city

Museums

Yokohama Triennale 2005 Yamashita Pier Venue

There are 42 museums in the city area, including. *

CupNoodles Museum CupNoodles Museum may refer to one of two museums in Japan: * CupNoodles Museum Osaka Ikeda is a museum dedicated to instant noodles and Cup Noodles, as well as its creator and founder, Momofuku Ando. The museum is located in Ikeda in Osaka ...

( Momofuku Andō Instant Ramen Museum): Several-floors of interactive exhibits related to the invention of the Japanese instant noodle soup, including soup kitchens where you can try the culture-specific noodle soups. * Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History: Located in the historic Yokohama Specie Bank building. * Kanazawa Bunko: Traditional Japanese and Chinese art objects, many dating from the Kamakura period. *

Matsuri Japanese festivals are traditional festive occasions often celebrated with dance and music in Japan. Many festivals have their roots in traditional Chinese festivals, but have undergone extensive changes over time to have little resemblance ...

Museum: Dedicated to the shrine festivals (Japanese Matsuri) taking place in Yokohama. *Silk Museum: Exhibits focusing on the production and processing of silk; including many clothes. * Yokohama Archives of History: Located in the former British Consulate building with exhibits related to port development and the arrival of Matthew Perry. * Yokohama Museum of Art: Founded in 1989, featuring modern works by well-known international and Japanese artists.

Gallery

File:Sangkaien Garden.jpg, Sankei-en Garden File:伊勢佐木町2012年8月24日(金).jpg, Isezaki San Francisco Lane File:Saint Patricks Day in Motomachi Yokohama.jpg, Motomachi File:Chinatown in Yokohama 10.jpg, Yokohama Chinatown File:Yokohama3Towers From Akarenga.JPG, Yokohama Three Towers File:Harbour View Park, Yamate, Yokohama.jpg, Harbor View Park towards the Yokohama Bay Bridge File:Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History 2009.jpg, Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History File:Cupnoodles Museum Yokohama 2017.jpg,

File:Left-side view of Hikawa-maru.jpg,

File:横浜マリンタワー2.jpg, Yokohama Marine Tower File:Nippon maru.JPG, Nippon Maru Memorial Park File:Yokohama_Red_Brick_Warehouse_2012.JPG,

File:Yokohama World Porters.JPG, Yokohama World Porters File:YokohamaBaysideMarina01.jpg, Mitsui Outlet Park Yokohama Bayside File:横浜市立金沢動物園.jpg, Yokohama Municipal Kanazawa Zoo File:Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise.jpg,

Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise is an amusement park consisting of an aquarium, shopping mall, hotel, marina and amusement rides. It is located in Hakkeijima, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. It opened for business on May 8, 1993. It is a pay-as-you-go theme park, ha ...

File:Cosmo Clock 21 at night.jpg, Yokohama Cosmo World File:Yokohama-west-station-building-202009.jpg, Yokohama Station File:Gaijin bochi.JPG, Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery File:Yokohama Museum of Art 2009.jpg, Yokohama Museum of Art File:Yokohama Archives of History02.jpg, Yokohama Archives of History File:Negishi Horse Racing Track.jpg, Negishi Park File:Iseyama koutai-jingu01.jpg, Iseyama Kotai Shrine File:Sōjiji Daisodo 2009.jpg,

Sōji-ji is one of two of the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism. The other is Eihei-ji temple in Fukui Prefecture. ''Fodor's'' calls it "one of the largest and busiest Buddhist institutions in Japan". The temple was founded in 740 as a Shingon Buddhist tem ...

Excursion destinations

In 2016, 46,017,157 tourists visited the city, 13.1% of whom were overnight guests. * Kodomo no kuni: Means "Children's country". A nice destination to spend an eventful day with the family. Lots of space for walking and playing. There is also a petting zoo. * Nogeyama Zoo: One of the few zoos that do not charge admission. It has a large number of animals and a petting zoo where children can play with small animals. * Zoorasia: Nice zoo with lots of play options for children. However, in this zoo admission costs. * Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise: A large park with an aquarium. Otherwise rides, shops, restaurants, etc. * Since 2020, after six years of development, a giant robot named Gundam, which is 18 meters high and weighs 25 tons, has been watching over the port area as a tourist attraction. The giant robot, in which there is a cockpit and whose hands are each two meters long, is based as a figure on a science fiction television series, can move and sink to its knees. The giant robot was manufactured by the company "Gundam Factory Yokohama" under Managing Director Shin Sasaki. * Kamonyama Park

In popular media

* Yukio Mishima's novel '' The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea'' is set mainly in Yokohama. Mishima describes the city's port and its houses, and the Western influences that shaped them. * '' From Up on Poppy Hill'' is a 2011 Studio Ghibli animated drama film directed by

Gorō Miyazaki is a Japanese director. He is the son of animator and film director Hayao Miyazaki, who is one of the co-founders of Studio Ghibli. Described as "reluctant" to follow his father's career, Goro initially worked as a landscaper for many years befo ...

set in the

district of Yokohama. The film is based on the serialized Japanese comic book of the same name. * The main setting of James Clavell's book '' Gai-Jin'' is in historical Yokohama. * Vermillion City in the Kanto region from the Pokémon franchise is based on Yokohama. * One of the ''

Pretty Cure , also known as and ''PC'', is a Japanese magical girl anime franchise created by Izumi Todo and Bandai and produced by Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, Asatsu-DK, Toei Animation and Bandai. Each series revolves around a group of magical girls kn ...

'' crossover movies takes place in Yokohama. In the fourth movie of the series, ''Pretty Cure All Stars New Stage: Friends of the Future'', the Pretty Cure appear standing on top of the Cosmo Clock 21 in Minato Mirai. * The main setting of the Japanese visual novel series '' Muv-Luv'', first a school and then, in an alternate history, a military base is built in Yokohama with the objective of carrying out the Alternative IV Plan meant to save humanity. * In '' Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3'', Yokohama is under siege by the Soviet Union and Allied Nations to stop the Empire of The Rising Sun. The player must defend Yokohama and then lead a counterattack as the Empire. * The manga '' Bungo Stray Dogs'' is set in Yokohama. * The Japanese mixed-media project, '' Hamatora'' takes place in Yokohama. * The final battle in '' Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack'' takes place in Yokohama. * In '' My Hero Academia'', it is the location of the Nomu Warehouse where they created artificial Humans (a.k.a. Nomus). * Sumaru City in '' Persona 2: Innocent Sin'' and '' Eternal Punishment'' is based on Yokohama. * Miyabi City in '' The Caligula Effect'' is based on Yokohama, including depictions of landmarks such as an unfinished Landmark Tower and

(referred to in game as Sea Paraiso). * The video game '' Yakuza: Like a Dragon'' is set in Isezaki Ijincho, a fictional district in Yokohama based on

Isezakichō is a district of Naka-ku, Yokohama, Naka Ward in Yokohama, Japan, consisting mainly of the . The shopping street is 1.2 km long, running from in the northeast, to in the southwest. Isezaki Mall is a special designation given to the and ...

. * Yokohama is also represented in the multimedia project by King Records, '' Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle'' * Yokohama is the main setting of Japanese manga and anime series '' Komi Can't Communicate''. Multiple of the cities’ landmarks are featured on the manga, most notably in the more recently released chapters. * Yokohama is the setting of the anime '' After the Rain'' as well as manga series with the same title by Jun Mayuzuki. *In April 2022, The Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau announced the launch of a new interactive website to aid in the tourism and MICE elements of the city.

Sports

File:Yokohama stadium 2020 wing.jpg, Yokohama Stadium exterior File:Yokohama Stadium, Baseball Stadium.jpg, Yokohama Stadium crowd File:Yokohama Arena 2013.jpg, Yokohama Arena exterior File:Nissan International Stadium Yokohama.jpg, Nissan Stadium exterior File:International Stadium Yokohama-1.jpg, Nissan Stadium crowd *Baseball:

*Football: Yokohama F. Marinos (J.League Division 1), Yokohama FC (J.League Division 1),

YSCC Yokohama , commonly referred to as simply Y.S.C.C. or Y.S.C.C. Yokohama (Y.S.C.C.横浜 or simply YS横浜) is a Japanese multisports club based in Yokohama. Although they compete in a number of different sports, YSCC is best known for its association fo ...

(J.League Division 3), NHK Yokohama FC Seagulls (Nadeshiko League Div.2) *Velodrome: Kagetsu-en Velodrome *Basketball: Yokohama B-Corsairs *Rugby Union: Yokohama Eagles *

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

: Ai Sugiyama *

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

: Yokohama Harbors *Ice Hockey: Yokohama Grits

Economy and infrastructure

The city has a strong economic base, especially in the

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...

, and

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way ...

industries. Nissan moved its headquarters to Yokohama from Chūō, Tokyo in 2010. Yokohama's GDP per capita (Nominal) was $30,625 ($1=¥120.13). , the total production in Yokohama city reached ¥13.56 billion. It is located between Shizuoka and Hiroshima Prefectures compared to domestic prefectures. It is located between

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

, which ranks 26th, and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, which ranks 27th compared to

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate ...

countries. Generally, the primary industry is 0.1%, the secondary industry is 21.7%, and the tertiary industry is 82.3%. The ratio of the primary industry is low, and the ratio of the secondary industry and the tertiary industry is high. Compared to other ordinance-designated cities, it is about 60% of the size of

, which is almost the same as

. As shown in the attached table, there are not a few head office companies, In connection with this, the absence of large block-type companies ( JR, NTT, electric power, gas, major commercial broadcasters, etc.) has had an impact. The breakdown is ¥11.9 million yen (0.1%) for the primary industry, ¥2.75 billion (21.7%) for the secondary industry, and ¥10.44 billion yen (82.3%) for the tertiary industry. Compared to other government-designated cities, the amount of the primary industry, the ratio of the construction industry of the secondary industry, and the ratio of the real estate industry of the tertiary industry are large, and the finance, insurance, wholesale, and retail of the tertiary industry The ratio of industry and service industry is small, but the tertiary industry is almost the same as Nagoya.

Major companies headquartered

File:Nissan headquarters 2022.jpg, Nissan Global Headquarters in Nishi-ku File:JVCKENWOOD001.jpg,

headquarters in Kanagawa-ku File:Koei Tecmo headquarters -01.jpg, Koei Tecmo headquarters in Kōhoku-ku File:Keikyu Group Headquarters.jpg, Keikyu Group headquarters in Nishi-ku File:Sotetsu HQ Building.jpg, Sotetsu headquarters in Nishi-ku File:Yokohama Gate Tower - 04a.jpg, Isuzu headquarters in Nishi-ku

Transport

Yokohama is serviced by the

Tōkaidō Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the Sanyo Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opened in 19 ...

, a high-speed rail line with a stop at Shin-Yokohama Station. Yokohama Station is also a major station, with two million passengers daily. The Yokohama Municipal Subway, Minatomirai Line and

Kanazawa Seaside Line The is an automated guideway transit line operated by which operates between Shin-Sugita in Isogo Ward to Kanazawa-Hakkei in Kanazawa Ward in Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municip ...

provide metro services.

Maritime transport

Yokohama is the world's 31st largest seaport in terms of total cargo volume, at 121,326 freight tons , and is ranked 37th in terms of TEUs (

Twenty-foot equivalent units The twenty-foot equivalent unit (abbreviated TEU or teu) is an inexact unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports.Rowlett, 2004. It is based on the volume of a intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box whic ...

). In 2013, APM Terminals Yokohama facility was recognized as the most productive container terminal in the world averaging 163 crane moves per hour, per ship between the vessel's arrival and departure at the berth.

Rail transport

= Railway stations

= ; East Japan Railway Company (JR East) :

Tōkaidō Main Line The is a major Japanese railway line of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) network, connecting and stations. It is long, not counting its many freight feeder lines around the major cities. The high-speed Tōkaidō Shinkansen largely parallel ...

:* – – – : Yokosuka Line :* – Yokohama – – – Totsuka – : Keihin-Tōhoku Line :* – – – – Yokohama : Negishi Line :* Yokohama – – – – – – – – – – – : Yokohama Line :* Higashi-Kanagawa – – – – – – – – – : Nambu Line :* – – : Tsurumi Line :* Main Line : Tsurumi – – – – – – :* Umi-Shibaura Branch : Asano – – ; Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) :

:* – Shin-Yokohama – ; Keikyu : Keikyu Main Line :* – – – – – – – – – – Yokohama – – – – – – – – – – – – – – :

Keikyu Zushi Line (), also known as or, more recently, , is a private railroad that connects inner Tokyo to Kawasaki, Yokohama, Yokosuka and other points on the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture. It also provides rail access to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. me ...

:* Kanazawa-Hakkei – – ; Tokyu Railways : Tōyoko Line :* – – – – Kikuna – – – – – Yokohama : Meguro Line :* – Hiyoshi : Den-en-toshi Line :* – – – – – – – – Nagatsuta – : Kodomonokuni Line :* Nagatsuta – – ; Sagami Railway : Sagami Railway Main Line :* Yokohama – – – – – – – – – – – – – : Izumino Line :* Futamatagawa – – – – – – ; Yokohama Minatomirai Railway : Minatomirai Line :* Yokohama – – – – – ; Yokohama City Transportation Bureau (Yokohama Municipal Subway) : Blue Line :* – – – – – Totsuka – – – – – Kami-Ōoka – – – – – – Kannai – Sakuragichō – – Yokohama – – – – – Shin-Yokohama – – – – – – – : Green Line :* Nakayama – – – Center Minami – Center Kita – – – – – Hiyoshi ; Yokohama New Transit :

:* Shin-Sugita – – – – – – – – – – – – – Kanazawa-Hakkei

Education

Public elementary and middle schools are operated by the . There are nine public high schools which are operated by the Yokohama City Board of Education, and a number of public high schools which are operated by the

Kanagawa Prefectural Board of Education The is the board of education for Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. The board consists of six members; one of them is elected as the chair, and one of them is appointed by the board as the superintendent. The board administers municipal education and ...

. Yokohama National University is a leading university in Yokohama which is also one of the highest ranking national universities in Japan. * 46,388 children attend the 260 kindergartens. * Almost 386,000 students are taught in 351 primary schools. * There are 16 universities including Yokohama National University. The number of students is around 83,000. * 19 public libraries had 9.5 million loans in 2016.

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Yokohama is twinned with: * Constanța, Constanța County, Romania (since October 1977) *

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France (since April 1959) *

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

, Philippines (since July 1965) *

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...

, India (since June 1965) * Odessa,

Odessa Oblast Odesa Oblast ( uk, Оде́ська о́бласть, translit=Odeska oblast), also referred to as Odeshchyna ( uk, Оде́щина) is an oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its admin ...

, Ukraine (since July 1965) *

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, CA, United States (former partnership, October 1957–October 2021) *

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, CA, United States (since October 2021) *

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

, China (since November 1973) *

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

, BC, Canada (since July 1965)

Partner cities

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

, Ivory Coast *

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

, China (since May 2006) *

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia (since June 2008) *

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea ...

, South Korea (since June 2006) *

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...

, Germany (since September 2011) *

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...

, Vietnam (since November 2007) * Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (since October 2007) * Incheon, South Korea (since December 2009) * Seberang Perai, Penang, Malaysia (since August 2016) * Taipei, Taiwan (since May 2006) *

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, Israel (since July 2012) * Tianjin, China (since May 2008)

Sister ports

* Port of Barcelona, Spain (since November 1989) * Port of Dalian (friendship port treaty, since September 1990) * Port of Hamburg, Germany (since October 1992) *

Port of Melbourne The Port of Melbourne is the largest port for containerised and general cargo in Australia. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria, and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at the head of Port Ph ...

, Australia (since May 1986) * Port of Oakland, United States (since May 1980) *

Port of Vancouver The Port of Vancouver is the largest port in Canada and the fourth largest in North America by tonnes of cargo, facilitating trade between Canada and more than 170 world economies. The port is managed by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, whic ...

, Canada (since May 1981) * Port of Shanghai (friendship port treaty, since October 1983)

Notable people

Toru Furuya TORU or Toru may refer to: * TORU, spacecraft system * Toru (given name), Japanese male given name * Toru, Pakistan, village in Mardan District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan *Tõru Tõru is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County in western ...

, singer and seiyū * Yuma Kagiyama, figure skater * Miki Koyama, racing driver * Takehito Koyasu, singer and seiyū *

Ryuji Kumita Ryuji Kumita (born 25 January 1967 in Yokohama), better known by his pseudonym "Dragon", is a racing driver and team owner from Japan. A late starter to motorsport at 46, he mostly competes in Japanese junior formulae, such as the All-Japan Fo ...

, racing driver and CEO of B-Max Racing *

Keisuke Kunimoto is a Japanese/Zainichi Korean race car driver who races with Japanese racing license. His mother is Japanese. His father, Yoshihiro Ri, also known as Yoshihiro Kunimoto, is the 1983 All Japan Karting Champion and his uncle, Yoshihiko Ri, won same ...

, racing driver * Yuji Kunimoto, racing driver * Minoru Suzuki, professional wrestler *

Yuta Watanabe is a Japanese professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball in the United States for the George Washington Colonials, becoming the first Japanese-born student a ...

, NBA player for the Toronto Raptors.

References

Citations

Sources

* Hammer, Joshua (2006)
''Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II''
. New York:

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publi ...

. (cloth). * Heilbrun, Jacob
"Aftershocks"
. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', September 17, 2006.

External links

Official Website

Yokohama Tourism Website
* {{Authority control Environmental model cities Populated coastal places in Japan Port settlements in Japan Cities in Kanagawa Prefecture Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan