YOKOHAMA, JAPAN

Yokohama is Japan’s third largest city and one of its leading seaports. In 1854, US Commodore Matthew C. Perry visited Yokohama, which was then a small fishing village. In 1859, it became a port for foreign trade and the site of a foreign settlement that enjoyed extraterritorial rights. Yokohama formally became a city in 1899, and extraterritoriality was abolished in 1899. Virtually destroyed by an earthquake and fires in 1923, Yokohama was quickly rebuilt, and the city was modernized. Yokohama suffered heavy bombardment during World War II, but it revived and prospered. The city has four universities, several Christian churches, Shinto shrines, and temples, and numerous parks and gardens.