Yokohama

Yokohama (pop. 180,000) is the chief port of entry in Japan, and the headquarters of foreign shipping companies, banks, consulates, and commerce generally. Until the opening of the country in 1854 it was an insignificant fishing-village, contiguous to the important town of Kanagawa, originally granted as a treaty settlement. The obstructions offered by the Japanese and the impatience of foreign merchants led to the practical abandonment of Kanagawa, which, however, still remained nominally the seat of the various consulates. Yokohama is a poorly laid-out town with narrow winding streets. The Bluff, however, conceded for residence in 1867, is a beautiful spot, commanding fine views of Fuji-san and of Yokohama Bay. The bay is very beautiful, and, though only an open roadstead, affords a good and commodious anchorage, not only to extensive mercantile shipping, but also to the naval squadrons of Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and other powers. Work on a large harbour was carried out in 1889-96, the main object of which was to prevent the gradual silting up of the anchorage; it is enclosed by two breakwaters $1\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ mile long, and an iron pier, 1900 feet long, connected with the railway to the capital, 17 miles off. Yokohama is a centre for tourists visiting Japan. The foreign community here is the largest in the country; after the Chinese, British residents, chiefly merchants and brokers, bulk most largely. There is an imperial health laboratory here, admirably conducted. The entire foreign trade of Yokohama aggregates from £15,000,000 to £20,000,000 a year, the exports having a value of nearly double the imports. Silk represents three-fifths of the exports, the rest being other tissues, tea, rice, copper, curios, &c.; the imports are cottons and woollens, raw sugar, oils, metals, chemicals, arms and ammunition, watches, &c.