Yokohama is a great port on the east of Honshu, the
largest island of Japan. It is close to Tokyo, the Japanese capital,
and the combined port areas of the two cities are known as Keihin. With Tokyo, Yokohama forms a huge metropolitan area. It has a large, rather exposed harbour. Inland there are many factories. Iron-smelting, the manufacture of chemicals, engineering, and oil refining are important industries. Yokohama is also a shipbuilding centre.
Yokohama, which stands on a plain enclosed by hills, was only a small fishing village in the early 19th century. European traders settled there after 1859. As Japan’s trade grew, Yokohama became a flourishing
city and one of the country’s two great ports. At the time when raw silk was Japan’s
largest export, Yokohama was the world’s chief port for raw silk. In 1923 a disaster overtook Yokohama when an earthquake destroyed most of the city. Thousands of the inhabitants were killed. Little is left of the old settlement.
The population of Yokohama is about 3,220,350.