HISTORICAL PLACE IN JAPAN I Yamate - Yokohama The Bluff District I Japan

Leafy Yamatecho is a historic district of 1920s and 1930s mansions once occupied by Western diplomats. The striking, wood-built Yamate Museum and redbrick Iwasaki M4k useum house period art and antiques from across Europe and Japan. The atmospheric Foreign Cemetery is popular for hillside strolls, and Harbor View Park’s elegant rose garden overlooks Tokyo Bay. Ferris University students hit laid-back bars and cafes
For most of the 250 years of the Edo Period (1603-1867), the rulers of Japan prohibited almost all interactions with foreign countries. When the period of isolation finally ended in the 1850s, Yokohama was one of only a few port towns where foreign traders, looking to profit from the newly opened country, were permitted to reside. While the Chinese made themselves a Chinatown, Westerners took up in the hills of the Yamate area, which was also called "The Bluff".

The Yamate area (山手) retains a number of sites relating to its history as the main residential district of Westerners in Yokohama. However, because of the Great Kanto Earthquake, few of them predate 1923. Present day Yamate is still for the most part a hilly residential area with some pleasant parks. As visitors travel between Yamate's sightseeing spots, they will see by the international schools and churches that the presence of Western residents continues to this day.