Why is port yokohama important

The rapid resumption of foreign trade brought an expansion in international business and with it an increased role of importance for Japanese Ports.

In order to support the increasing amounts of ships and handled cargo, the Port put into affect a plan to add additional piers. Daikoku Pier also began to move toward completion in With this rapid construction the Port of Yokohama began to change rapidly. Factory development in the area surrounding the Keihin Industrial Zone grew exponentionally along with the chemical industry. To accommodate this, land was reclaimed off the shore near Daikoku Pier. Please click on the banner to download a free copy of Adobe Reader.

All Rights Reserved. Skip to main content. Return to top of page Go back to list. Port of Yokohama Link to an external website. Thus, the Port of Yokohama was opened in to both domestic and foreign traffic. The Port of Yokohama soon became the main hub for Japan's foreign trade. An English-language newspaper was published in , and foreigners began to move into the Kannai district, protected by a moat and special legal status.

After the downfall of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Meiji Restoration in , the Port of Yokohama began to trade silk, primarily with Great Britain. The same year, Kanagawa Prefecture was established with the Port of Yokohama as its capital. The Port of Yokohama became the first entry point to Japan for foreign influences, boasting the first daily newspaper and the first gas streetlamps. The Port of Yokohama's first coal-burning power plant was constructed in by British merchant Samuel Cocking.

While he built it for his own use, it soon became the base for the Yokohama Cooperative Electric Light Company. The Port of Yokohama was officially incorporated in , and it was Japan's most international city, hosting large "foreigner areas" and Japan's biggest Chinatown. In , the Yokohama Harbor Pier was completed. In , the first section of the Port of Yokohama was completed with the end of construction of the inner breakwater and Osanbashi Pier.

In , the reclamation work for the Shinko Pier was finished. The 20th Century brought rapid industrial growth to the Port of Yokohama. New factories arose on reclaimed land located between the port and Kawasaki. This eventually became the Keihin Industrial Area. Industrial growth brought affluence and poverty to the Port of Yokohama.

Newly wealthy families built mansions, and incoming migrants from Japan and Korea created Japan's largest slum, Kojiki-Yato. In , the Port of Yokohama's No. Believing that Koreans from Kojiki-Yato had caused the earthquake by black magic, angry mobs murdered many unfortunate immigrants in the months following the quake.

Much of the Port of Yokohama was rebuilt with the rubble left by the quake, particularly the city's parks. Yamashita Park, the most famous park built upon the old city's rubble, opened in