Yokohama, 1860-1923: Confinement and Clashes, Exchange and Hybridization

Yokohama, meaning “broad beach”, was Japan's biggest free trade port opened in 1859, under so-called "unequal treaties" with Western powers. It became Japan's most important venue of economic exchange with the world, technological and cultural imports, hybridization and innovation - such as Japan's first railway link to Tokyo, first daily newspaper, first brewery, first gas-powered street lamps and first waterfront urban park. Yokohama provided space for international communities - American, European as well as Filipino, Korean and Chinese. The paper analyses some of the processes - confinement and clashes, exchange and hybridization - that ultimately led to the "rise of Asia" out of (semi-)colonial dependency.