The port city of Yokohama

Its history of requisition by foreign occupation forces and redevelopment in the aftermath due to citizen–local government collaboration

Abstract

Yokohama was not a colonial port city, but foreign forces seized the city for decades after the Japan’s defeat in the war. The author clarifies the historical background of the process of derequisition and its redevelopment. Since opening its port in 1859, Yokohama has developed as an international trading city. The city was destroyed by a major earthquake in 1923. Although it recovered as a modern city in the 1930s, it was again devastated in air raids during the war. After the US military seized the city in 1945, the state government had to lease land from landowners and provide it to the US, which continued to be stationed in Japan under the US–Japan Security Treaty. The city government continued to request the land’s release to the original owners. The Honmoku District was seized as a residential area for US families. Due to the prolonged requisition, landowners sold their land to the state to pay taxes, and half of the district became state property. The city planned to use the state property for civic purposes. Intense negotiations between the state and the city dragged on for a long time, finally concluding in 1982.