YOKOHAMA (Japagese for " cross shore"), a t. of Japan, in the island of Nipou, and the port for the foreign trade of Tokio. It is situated on the s. side of a bight of the bay ' of Yedo, about 17 m. from Tokio, and oppOsite to Kanagawa. In 1854, it was only a small fishing village, but after it supplanted Kanagawa as the treaty port of Tokio in 1859, it rapidly increased. The Japanese government built at a great outlay solid granite piers and lauding-places, a large custom-house, official residences, and shops for Japanese traders; besides houses and godowns for the foreign community and merchants. It now extends along the sea-shore for about 1+ m., and is two or three streets deep. Pop. '72, 61,553. The custom-house is nearly in the center of the town; and e. and w. of it, lie respectively the foreign and native quarters. The shops are filled with goods to suit the foreign taste—such as lacquered ware of rare quality and bronze-work, baskets and por celain, fancy silks and embroidery, curiosities and articles of vertu. Since the recent
changes in the policy of the Japanese government, great improvements have taken place in the native quarter. Broad and cleanly streets are rapidly superseding the former dirty and narrow thoroughfares. A canal is drawn as a cordon around the settlement on the land-side, and in 1871 the Japanese government widened and deepened it very considerably. Other important undertakings have recently been carried out, the chief of which is a railway from Yokohama to Tokio. Gas was introduced in 1872.
In 1877, the imports (cottons, woolens, metals, etc.) were valued at $20,000,000; the exports (silk, tea, rice, copper, etc.), at $16,000,000. In 1876-77, 214 ships, of 309,178 tons, entered Yokohama.