150th Anniversary: Yokohama and the Opening of Japan to World Trade

The capitol city of Kanagawa prefecture in Japan is the city of Yokohama, straddling the south coast of Tokyo Bay. It is Japan's most prominent port and Japan’s second largest city.

Yokohama’s place in the history books came in 1853-54 when Commodore Matthew Perry’s American fleet arrived in the waters just south of the city. With the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Amity by Perry and representatives of the Tokugawa Shogunate Yokohama was opened as an international port city on June 2, 1859. This year marks the 150^th anniversary of the opening of the city to international commerce and trade.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as part of its Visualizing Cultures initiative published in 2005 an online exhibit in collaboration with the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian titled Yokohama Boomtown: Foreigners in Treaty-Port Japan, 1859-1872.

This online exhibit features a rich and colorful selection of visual representations of the port city’s early years, especially on the foreigners who made the city their home in a time when modern notions of commerce and westernization were taking root.

A large online gallery "Boomtown, the story: the new treaty port", and a gallery 'Sadahide The Observer: Yokohama Harbour' is also featured.

A Flash Shockwave presentation displays the 35 steps involved in the making of a woodblock print. There is a full database of images, searchable by keyword, title and medium. Highly recommended for history buffs, classroom students and educators.