Yokohama Port — What Was the Very First Thing to Arrive?

The very first of so many things to arrive at Yokohama Harbor — there was not just one. A remarkable number of things made their very first landfall in Japan through this waterfront. Take ice cream, for example. It is said that in 1869, a man by the name of Machida Fusazō manufactured and sold Japan's first ice cream along Bashamichi — Carriage Road — here in Yokohama. That cool, sweet sensation enjoyed beneath the blazing summer sun: a pleasure we now take entirely for granted, yet one that had its beginnings at this very port. Beer, too, followed the same path. From the final years of the Edo period through the Meiji era, brewing began in the foreign settlement, and Yokohama became the birthplace of Japanese beer culture. In 1870, an American named William Copeland opened a brewery in Tenpuku, Yokohama. And it was between Yokohama and Tokyo that the telephone underwent its first practical trials in Japan. By 1890, telephone exchange services had begun operation. The first gas lamps ever to illuminate the streets of Japan were lit here in Yokohama as well. In 1872, a soft glow kindled along Bashamichi became a living symbol of Japan's civilization and enlightenment. That same year, Japan's first railway ran between Shimbashi and Yokohama, its whistle echoing out across the harbor town. When you lay it all out like this, a certain truth comes into focus. So much of what we consider ordinary in Japanese life today — the everyday, the taken-for-granted — first came ashore at this port. Yokohama Harbor was not merely a hub of commerce and logistics. It was the shore upon which new cultures and new technologies first set foot. Look out now at the water spreading before you from this observation floor. From somewhere beyond that quiet sea, the unknown came riding the waves — sweetness and bitterness, light and speed. All of it crossed this ocean, stepped down onto these quays, and in time spread to every corner of Japan. That expanse of water, so unremarkable at a glance, was nothing less than the gateway to modern Japan. Port opening: June 2, 1859 (Ansei 6) Japan's first ice cream sold: 1869 (Meiji 2), Bashamichi, Yokohama Brewery established: 1870, Copeland Brewery, Tenauma Gas lamps first lit: 1872 (Meiji 5), Bashamichi and Honchō-dōri Railway inaugurated: 1872 (Meiji 5), Shimbashi–Yokohama line Telephone exchange launched: 1890 (Meiji 23), Yokohama–Tokyo line