Japan: Hakone to Yokohama scenic drive 4k

A scenic drive from Hakone to Yokohama.
July 19, 2023
"The town of Hakone is situated in western Kanagawa Prefecture, and is part of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park . It is famous both inside and outside of Japan as a resort area brimming with natural hot springs of the highest quality, and for its stunning views of Mt Fuji.
Hakone is made up of seven hot spring resorts, one of which is Miyanoshita, which began operating in the Edo period (1603-1867). Miyanoshita's Fujiya Hotel opened in 1878 to attract foreign visitors, thus increasing the popularity of the area. Many well-known celebrities, including John Lennon, have stayed at this hotel over the years. Like Hakone's other hot spring towns, the retro atmosphere of the town works in its favor."
--www.japan.trav...
"The small fishing port has grown a lot: today the second largest city in Japan with 3.7 million inhabitants, Yokohama is divided between business districts and foreign communities which give it a unique face. This city which is part of the gigantic megalopolis of Tokyo is easily accessible and offers to discover another face of Japan."
"Yokohama, with a population of about 3.5 million people, is Japan's second biggest city, and is the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture. Yokohama is close to Tokyo - about a 30-minute train ride from Shinjuku Station on the Shinjuku Shonan Line to Yokohama Station.
Yokohama is also Japan's second largest port and luxury cruise destination. Historically, the city has been Japan's gateway to the world, giving it something of a cosmopolitan air.
The city's seafront location and pleasant parks also give it a relaxed atmosphere, enhanced by the smattering of historic sites and buildings in the Yamate district.
Yokohama is noted, too, for having Japan's largest and most colorful Chinatown. It is also home to the futuristic Minato Mirai 21 Development on the waterfront."
"Yokohama opened to overseas trade in 1859 - the first time in over two centuries that foreigners were allowed to live and trade on the Japanese mainland. The last time before that was in 1635 when the Dutch were confined to what at the time was Dejima Island in Nagasaki. Moving the Dutch offshore was the final measure of many in the expulsion of foreigners from Japan, which had begun with the expulsion of foreign missionaries in June 1587.
The opening of Yokohama can be traced to the signing in the port of Shimoda of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce (the "Harris Treaty") of July 29 1858 which America, with its military might, forced on Japan - as did other Western powers, each with its own treaty. However the Harris Treaty actually specified nearby Kanagawa, not Yokohama, as the port of extraterritoriality in Tokyo.
The first resident British ambassador to Japan, Rutherford Alcock, arrived in Tokyo on 26 June 1859. Shortly afterwards he discovered that the Japanese government was putting the finishing touches on an elaborate settlement for foreign trade, complete with granite piers and custom house, built at great effort and expense, but on the marshes of what was at that time the tiny fishing village of Yokohama, not the treaty port of Kanagawa.
Kanagawa was on the Tokaido highway, the main thoroughfare between Kyoto and Edo (current day Tokyo), and was therefore ideally suited to quick and easy communications. Yokohama on the other hand was several miles from the Tokaido, and with only a single road for access, making all trade between Yokohama and the rest of Japan easy to monitor and control. At the start, Japanese citizens had to purchase a licence just to access Yokohama.
The Japanese government was adamant in the face of protests by the British ambassador, Alcock, and the American ambassador, Harris. The Japanese government had its hand strengthened by the fact that the foreign merchants, eager to start trading with Japan quickly, moved in to Yokohama with its extensive, ready-made, facilities, oblivious to political wranglings when the long-awaited chance to begin trade with Japan beckoned. The foreign trading community thus lived in Yokohama, while the diplomatic community lived in Kanagawa.
The founding of Yokohama, rather than the treaty port of Kanagawa, as a port of extraterritoriality, was therefore a fait accompli, and this marshy, remote fishing village thus found its place in Japanese history."
--www.japan-expe...