Yokohama
Yokohama is an international port city with a 150-year history, in stark contrast to other Japanese cities. Yokohama was a small sleepy village of about 100 households living on farming and fishery when it was chosen as the site for a port, following the treaty with the United States in 1858.( Now Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan with the population of 3.67 million as of March, 2010.) Japan had previously been a reclusive country and had had narrow diplomatic ties only with China, Korea and the Netherlands. After this treaty was signed, Yokohama and four other ports were opened for international trade.
Since then, Yokohama has become a crossroads between Japan and the West, and it is always here that new things are first brought into Japan. The age of passenger ships was brouht to an end with arriving the age of travel by aircraft in the early 1960s. Some say Yokohama has lost its shine. That is not true. There are many foreign residents and it boasts the large Chinatown in east Asia: these creates a very international atmosphere. Yokohama has a large port with the most advanced facilities for freighters and passenger ships. Not only being a major tourist destination both with the modern architecture in Minato Mirai area and historical heritage like the scenic area of Yamate with old western-style houses and the foreign cemetery, Yokohama has now taken a role in the international stages by hosting the 4th TICAD meeting in 2008 and a APEC meeting this November. Yokohama is still a crossroads between Japan and the West. It will never cease to attract people.