yokohama echo

Yokohama Through the 20th Century

The year 2000 will soon be upon us, accompanied by possible Y2K problems and many other worrisome issues. Here, let us take a brief pause in our march forward and, refocusing our vision somewhat, look back on the last century of Yokohama's history. Needless to say, the following historical events have been selected by the Echo editorial board at its own discretion.

1900
In 1858, Japan signed a treaty of amity and commerce with the United States, and the port of Yokohama was opened as Japan's gateway to the world. After that, Japan signed treaties with various other Western countries, but these were what came to be called "unequal treaties."Japan eventually managed to scrap the unequal treaties in 1889, as a result of which foreigners, who until then had been able to reside only in foreign settlements, became able to live anywhere in Japan. Extraterritorial rights were abolished, which meant that foreigners became subject to Japanese law.

In January 1900, an American became the first foreigner in Japan to receive the death penalty. On July 17 of the previous year this American killed two Japanese women and an American man in a Yokohama bar called the Rising Sun. The incident created an enormous stir at the time and was even made into a drama. He gained the doubtful honor of being the first foreigner in Japan to be given the death penalty because the crime was perpetrated on exactly the same day that the unequal treaties were abolished. On that day, the foreign settlement was returned to the City of Yokohama, and a grand party was held in Yokohama Park. In other words, in January 1900, Yokohama celebrated the coming of a new year for the first time with Japanese and foreigners as equals under the law.

In 1909, Yokohama celebrated the 50th anniversary of its opening as a port. The rate of population increase was higher than in other cities, reaching more than 400,000 in this year. A grand commemorative festival was held for three days from July 1. It was also in this year that the present mark and song of the city were established, and a construction plan was formulated for the current Port Opening Memorial Hall, which was completed in 1917.

1923
Yokohama was achieving prosperity as a large city, having expanded its municipal boundaries on two occasions, but then all of a sudden disaster struck in 1923 with the Great Kanto Earthquake. Centered in Sagami Bay and with a magnitude of 7.9, the earthquake hit 95.5 percent of households in Yokohama, even more than the 73.4 percent in Tokyo. The number of deaths exceeded 21,000. As in Tokyo, amid the enormous chaos, rumors spread about Korean riots and so on, and Koreans and Chinese were murdered. One memorable incident occurred in Tsurumi, where a mob that believed the rumors called for the handing over of Koreans who were being protected by the police in Sojiji temple, but the police chief risked his life by refusing the demand.

The port of Yokohama had flourished thanks to the export of raw silk and silk products, but exports plunged following the earthquake, and the port of Kobe emerged instead. Moreover, since the government's reconstruction plan put the emphasis on Tokyo, Yokohama suffered for many years from the problem of repayments for municipal bonds issued in connection with reconstruction projects. Nevertheless, reconstruction gradually made progress, and in 1935, the Grand Yokohama Exposition to Commemorate Reconstruction was held in Yamashita Park. After that Yokohama moved away from the silk trade and was transformed into an industrial city centered on the Keihin industrial belt.

1945
World War II ended on Aug. 15, 1945, and the U.S. military moved into Yokohama. Much of Yokohama was occupied; excluding Okinawa, the requisitioned area in Yokohama accounted for 70 percent of the national total, and requisitioned buildings for 61 percent. In particular, 34.6 percent of Naka Ward, the city center, was requisitioned, and places, such as Yamashita Park and the Hotel New Grand, were used as accommodations for U.S. troops. Also, a temporary airport for U.S. military planes was built behind Isezaki-cho. It was in this way that English became a common language in Yokohama, and American culture caught on in the city before spreading elsewhere in Japan.

Although it faced extremely disadvantageous conditions compared with other Japanese cities, Yokohama gradually achieved reconstruction from the devastation of the war. The city's population, which had shrunk to 60 percent of the prewar level just after Japan's defeat in the war, exceeded 1 million in 1952, when Japan regained its independence, surpassing the prewar peak. The volume of foreign trade topped the prewar peak in 1957.

Yokohama continued to expand, with the population exceeding 3 million in 1985. Now it is the second-largest city in Japan behind Tokyo.

1989
In 1989, Yokohama feted the 100th anniversary of its establishment as a city and the 130th anniversary of its port opening. In that year the Yokohama Exotic Showcase (YES '89) was held in the Minato Mirai area. Many of the symbols of present-day Yokohama have appeared since that time, including museums, the Nihon-maru sailing ship, Bay Bridge and the Seaside Line.

Yokohama has had its ups and downs during this century. What does the next century have in store?

*If you want to know more about Yokohama's history, "Yokohama Past and Present"(Yokohama City University, 1990) is recommended reading.

E-mail:intlyoke@iris.or.jp

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