Yokohama Port Opening Anniversary

What Is Yokohama Port Opening Anniversary?

Every June 2nd is "Yokohama Port Opening Anniversary" (横浜港開港記念日, Yokohama-kō Kaikō Kinenbi). On the 2nd day of the 6th month of Ansei 6 (July 1, 1859, in the modern calendar), Yokohama Port opened for international trade under the Ansei Five-Power Treaties, including the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce (日米修好通商条約, the Harris Treaty) signed the previous year. Along with Nagasaki and Hakodate, Yokohama became one of the first Japanese ports open to foreign commerce after over two centuries of national isolation under the Tokugawa Shogunate's sakoku policy. The anniversary was moved from July 1st to June 2nd by a Yokohama city council resolution in 1928.

Yokohama's Transformation from Village to City

Before 1859, Yokohama was a small fishing village, chosen in part because the Shogunate preferred to conduct foreign trade at a location slightly removed from the main highway and major towns. The port's opening triggered one of the most rapid urban transformations in Japanese history. Foreign merchants and diplomats arrived; warehouses, trading houses, and consulates were built along the waterfront; and a distinctive neighborhood called the "Foreign Settlement" (外国人居留地, gaikokujin kyoryūchi) developed with Western-style architecture, churches, and clubs. Yokohama grew into one of Japan's largest and most cosmopolitan port cities.

Yokohama as Gateway to the World

Through Yokohama flowed the goods, technologies, and ideas that drove Japan's Meiji modernization: Western textiles, machinery, foodstuffs, and books arrived while Japanese silk and tea departed. Many Western novelties were first seen in Yokohama. The city's Chinatown (中華街) -- the largest in Japan -- and its Motomachi shopping street are living legacies of the cosmopolitan diversity that the port's opening brought.

Yokohama Today

Yokohama is Japan's second-largest city by population, with over 3.7 million residents. Its waterfront Minato Mirai 21 district combines historic landmarks with modern skyscrapers, and the city remains one of Japan's major international trade gateways. The anniversary is celebrated with the Yokohama Port Opening Festival (横浜開港祭), held around June 2nd each year with fireworks and stage events. Yokohama's municipal schools are closed on June 2nd, and facilities such as the Yokohama Archives of History and the Yokohama Museum of Art offer free admission.

Fun Facts

• Silk port: Raw silk was Yokohama's leading export in the Meiji era, much of it bound for Europe and the United States.
• Yokohama Chinatown: Formed in the 1860s by Chinese people who came with Western merchants, Yokohama's Chinatown is packed with hundreds of restaurants and shops and attracts large numbers of visitors every year.
• Different dates, same opening: Hakodate, which opened the same day, marks its port-opening anniversary on July 1st instead.