General Introduction

Yokosuka was founded in 1907, and is located in the center of the Miura Peninsula in the southeastern part of Kanagawa Prefecture.  The Miura Peninsula is surrounded on three sides by the sea: Tokyo Bay to the east, Sagami Bay to the west, and the open Pacific Ocean to the south.  Its location is close to Tokyo, about 42 kilometers away, and travel from Tokyo is quick and convenient.  There are also many ways to travel from the Narita Airport and Haneda Airport to Yokosuka.

While it is considered part of the greater Tokyo metropolitan area, Yokosuka is abundant with nature and renowned for its comfortable climate throughout the year.  Farms in the rural parts of Yokosuka area able to grow fruits and vegetables in all the seasons.     

Yokosuka is an international city with about 6,000 international residents from around 70 different countries, and it is also home to over 23,000 Americans due to it hosting a large U.S. Naval Base.  In addition, the amount of overseas tourists have been increasing due to inbound tourism efforts. 

Yokosuka promotes international exchange and connects to the world through ties to various countries such as its four sister cities (Corpus Christi, U.S.A.; Brest, France; Fremantle, Australia; and Medway, U.K.)

Yokosuka has also hosted international competitions and athletes from around the world.  Starting from 2017, it was the site for the Windsurfing World Cup, and during the 2018 competition, top-class windsurfers from 30 different countries and regions and around 50,000 spectators visited.  Many citizens were also volunteering and providing support for this competition.

Yokosuka's Huge New Year's Party

I did some checking around, and it appears that Yokosuka's "New Year's Eve Countdown" celebration was first held back in 2004.

Pretty amazing event, where thousands of people show up at the Verny Park site .... food booths .... stage performances .... portable shrine carried around (Washoi! Washoi!) .... all the Navy ships in the harbor lit-up .... and then a 10-9-8-7-6... countdown and it's "Happy New Year!"  "Ake-mashite Omedeto!" .... and all the ships sound their horns + fireworks are launched .... dramatic, memorable, lots of fun .... then it’s off to Dobu-Ita Street for drinks and partying, or make the Hatsu-Mo-De visit to one's neighborhood shrine...

     

An International & Cultural City-by-the-Sea

I was out for a walk and came across a unique-looking clock tower located by the entrance to Yokosuka City Fire Department's main building (see the photos below).

Interesting design .... maybe shaped like a "Y", for Yokosuka...?

But the inscription also caught my eye:  国際海の手文化都市 よこすか ... "Koku-sai Umi-no-Te Bunka Toshi" .... which can be translated as "Yokosuka, an International & Cultural City-by-the Sea"

Turns out this City motto (or vision statement) was created and promulgated back in June 1950, as Yokosuka municipal government laid out a plan to transform, by 2025, its economy and infrastructure from being dominated by the huge pre-World War II presence of the Japanese Imperial Navy (JIN) .... Under a special law passed by the National government, regulations were loosened and tax breaks made available so private sector companies could establish new ventures and businesses in Yokosuka .... and things moved forward after that, with factories, commercial buildings, and parks, etc., getting set-up on former JIN property...
  　
Words printed on a clock ... and the history they represent...   

Kurihama's Tenjin Shrine --- A place to make you smart

Originally founded in 1601, when new rice fields were being developed in what is now the Kurihama area (southern part of Yokosuka City) ....  天神社  Tenjin-Sha (Tenjin Shrine) is the only one among the 88 shrines in the Yokosuka/Miura Peninsula area, to host a god of learning... 

In mythology, folklore and the Shinto religion of Japan, Tenjin (天神) is the kami (deity) of Academics, Scholarship and Learning.  It is the deification of Sugawara no Michizane (845–903), the famous scholar, poet and politician of the Heian period.  Ten (天) means sky and jin (神) means god or deity. The original meaning of Tenjin, sky deity, is almost the same as that of Raijin (a god of thunder).

So, many students visit the shrine before taking examinations, and oldsters even visit to keep their minds from getting cloudy .... It is a beautiful & a well-maintained place, and it still plays a vital role in the culture and tradition of the Kurihama community .... As with most shrines, it sells amulets for good luck, successful studying, driver safety, and protection during business trips, etc.

    

Free WIFI Has Arrived In Yokosuka's Main Shopping Streets

On 10 December 2019, NTT Higashi Nihon (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation) started free WIFI service in several shopping street (Sho-Ten-Gai 商店街) locations around Yokosuka City.

NTT's business initiative was spurred by the increase in recent years of foreign visitors and the growth of Japan's tourism industry.

"Yokosuka-Free-WiFi" has been installed at Kinugasa-Oh-Dori, Kinugasa Naka-Dori, Dobu-Ita Dori (The Honch), Kurihama, Mikasa Mall/Sho-Ten-Gai, and Wakamatsu Sho-Ten-Gai.

The objective is obviously increase the convenience factor for those visiting the shopping street areas .... using smart phones to learn about stores, restaurants, bars, and sales, etc .... also, helps with navigation, language translation, future use of cashless payment systems, communicating during natural disaster situations, etc.

NTT has been busily setting-up WIFI all over Japan .... And Yokosuka is one of the latest additions

http://www.ntt-bp.net/jcfw/en.html

Video Game Meets Reality

Apparently Yokosuka is the setting for a really popular video game called "Shenmue"

Here is one blogger's description...

"Dobuita Street welcomes you with the lovely scent of burgers, fries and old grease. Yummy! Despite its now overwhelming number of restaurants, Dobuita Street still has the look and feel of its digital counterpart in the first Shenmue game. It’s packed with little shops, some of which you might remember from your last playthrough of the game. Not all of them are directly located on Dobuita Street, so you need to wander around a bit."

https://shenmuereal.wordpress.com/dobuita/

Here is a video which explored "The Honch" ... aka, Dobu-Ita Street

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9I1pkBg7fQ

Here is another one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm_qozj6J94

Aerial Robot Doing Its Job In Yokosuka

During July 2019, in a first for all of Japan, Yokosuka was chosen as the test site for a drone-borne groceries delivery service .... On-demand supplies are flown from the roof of the Seiyu supermarket and out to Saru-Shima (Monkey Island), the only naturally-formed island in Tokyo Bay, which is located off-shore from Yokosuka port...

     



















"Rakuten and supermarket chain Seiyu announced launch of the first commercial drone delivery service to a remote island designed for general users in Japan.  This latest drone delivery project of Rakuten will take place on Saru-Shima island in Yokusuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, just south of Tokyo, which is a popular destination for barbeques and sightseeing.  The new service will deliver hundreds of products to the island including fresh foods, beverages, daily sundries, and emergency supplies from Seiyu’s "LIVIN" Yokosuka store on the opposite bank."

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/innovation/rnn/2019/0705/

Yokosuka's New Connection With Nepal

For those who have lived in Yokosuka over the past 10 years, one noticeable trend has been the appearance of numerous Indian Curry restaurants .... There are over a dozen of them now, all small businesses, and often built in old Japanese shops which had closed .... Names like Nirvana, Delicious, Sarina, Gorkha Palace, Lotus, Kalika, etc.

And it turns out the people who run these establishments are actually from Nepal.

Japan is aging and its population getting smaller, so it is beginning the experience a serious labor shortage, and the government has revised immigration laws to allow more foreigners to come work and live in Japan.

Not sure how things developed, but looks like some of the Nepali restaurant managers must have reached-out to Yokosuka City government with a proposal to help actualize the National Government's new foreign labor policy.

What subsequently happened is that Yokosuka signed a three-year immigrant labor agreement (memorandum of understanding) with Bharatpur City in south-central Nepal. 

Yokosuka Mayor Kamiji traveled to Nepal (15-19 October 2019) to meet with National Government officials, and then went to to Bharatpur for a signing ceremony with Mayor Dahal.

Don't know the details of the agreement, but its intent is to bring more Nepalis into Yokosuka to work at local small- and medium-sized Japanese businesses which are suffering due to the overall labor shortage.

         

                

No Summer Fireworks In 2020

According to a 05 December 2019 Kanagawa Shimbun newspaper report, Yokosuka's large annual fireworks ( 花火 Hana-Bi ) display, which happens during the early-August  会国際  "Kai-Koku-Sai" festival, will be cancelled in 2020.

The reason being that most of the Yokosuka-area police will be up in Tokyo helping with security for the 2020 Olympics.

Kai-Koku means "Opening of the Country" .... and it refers to the arrival of the U.S. Navy "Black Ships" off of Yokosuka (Uraga Bay) in 1853, which served as the historic first step to "open" Japan to international trade and relations, after over 220 years of isolation.

The Kai-Koku summer festival is Yokosuka's largest, and draws over 200,000 visitors to see thousands of fire works getting launched, as well as parades, concerts, and performances .... Additionally, both U.S. Navy an JMSDF bases and ships are opened for public visitation, which is a big draw for visitors from outside of Yokosuka and all around Japan.

     

       

2020 Tokyo Olympics Training Spot In Yokosuka

For some of the Olympic shooting events athletes, training is available among the greenery & flowers of Yokosuka's  くりはま花の国  "Kurihama Hana No Kuni" .... Kurihama Flower Park .... An area which was formerly property of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the converted into a park (like some other places in the City.)

From the website: 

"Kurihama Flower Park Shooting Range standards are approved by the National Rifle Association of Japan.  This indoor facility is a converted air raid shelter fitted with electronic targets and soundproofing to maintain stable conditions that will allow you to stay completely focused while training.  In addition, a training room, pool, and gym amenities are available within walking distance, to ensure multiple types of training necessary for competitive air rifle shooting (the training room and pool near the park are about 500 meters away from the shooting range, and Minami Gymnasium is about 800 meters away).  Meeting rooms are also available in Kurihama Flower Park Pool and at Minami Gymnasium.  Every year, competitions to decide Japan's air rifle and air pistol ranking are held in Kurihama Flower Park Shooting Range."

https://pregamestraining.tokyo2020.jp/en/module/camp/facilities/8784fe18e8659839c7af7e235544a909

Four Former Imperial Navy Ports

Below is the symbol for the four Japanese port cities which hosted major bases and shipyards for the Japan Imperial Navy (JIN).

They are: Yokosuka, Sasebo, Kure, and Maizuru.

In Sasebo, Kure, and Maizuru, the former JIN shipyards, maintenance facilities and dry-docks were taken over by private companies.

In the case of Yokosuka, however, things remained under U.S. Navy control and managed as a Naval Ship Repair Facility: https://www.srf.navy.mil/

The U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility Japan Regional Maintenance Center (SRF-JRMC)’s proud tradition and "root" were firmly implanted in 1865 under the patronage of the Tokugawa Shogunate when the "Yokosuka Iron Works" was established.  Since that time, the shop and waterfront facilities have been extensively developed and expanded.  During World War II, the shipyard was one of the largest shipbuilding and repair sites of the Imperial Japanese Navy, employing over 40,000 people and building over 100 combatant ships.  Among these were the 62,000 ton carrier Shinano, along with 10 other aircraft carriers, the 33,800 ton battleship Mutsu, and six other battleships, six cruisers and 20 submarines.

The facility was opened by U.S. Forces on Apr. 28, 1947 as the "Ship Repair Department" Fleet Activities, Yokosuka, with an Officer-in-Charge and a staff of 75 U.S. Navy personnel and 576 former Japanese Imperial Navy employees.  At that time the facility occupied about 72 acres, approximately one quarter of the former Imperial Japanese Naval Shipyard.

On Aug. 15,1951, the facility was officially designated the "U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility" by the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, and a Commanding Officer was assigned. 

Today the facility employs both U.S. military and U.S. civilian personnel as well as over 2,000 full-time Japanese Nationals who are assigned throughout the organization, including top management.

Dry-docking facilities can support timely dry-docking of most ships in the U.S. Navy inventory. Facilities include six dry docks with a combined displacement of 530,000 tons, 19 wet berth locations, 10 industrial buildings with combined workshop space of 730,000 square feet, and 15,300 combined feet of pier to support maintenance.

Small And Right In The Middle Of Urbanity

Walking after exiting the very busy Keikyu Yokosuka Chuo train station, and only a few blocks away I came across a small shrine, sandwiched between a busy road and a large parking lot .... a tiny bit of green serenity in the middle of all the concrete .... even with a tree loaded with Japanese みかん "mikan" citrus fruit...

     

Multiple vermilion-colored 鳥居 "torii" gates .... Inari shrines typically have many torii because those who have been successful in business often donate in gratitude a torii to Inari, kami of fertility and industry .... so I walked inside to pay respects...

The wash basin for ritual cleansing before approaching the altar .... marked with the characters 奉納 "Ho-no", meaning to make an offering or dedication...

     

I later talked to a local historian who said that in the old days, there were many large gas and fuel tanks situated in what is now the adjacent parking lot, and the regional headquarters building of Tokyo Gas Company (owner of the tanks) is still located close-by .... The small shrine was likely built to pray for safe operations in handling the gas .... and has remained in place while everything else around it transformed... 

O-Mikoshi Parade

This past October, on Sunday the 20th, Yokosuka City held its 43rd Annual Portable Shrine ( お神輿 "O-Mikoshi" ) parade

Dozens of shrines & neighborhood associations from around the Yokosuka and Miura Peninsula areas participate .... and the O-Mikoshi's are carried down the main street and then into the U.S. Navy and JMSDF base

And, I believe this is the only place in Japan where one of the portable shrines is exclusively carried by Americans -- mainly sailors and civilians from Yokosuka Navy Base

Last Days Of A Political Art Object

There is a large and distinct-looking memorial located on a bluff overlooking Yokosuka's downtown harbor district.

Part of Yokosuka's 中央公園  "Chuo Koen" or Central Park .... really good view from there, overlooking Tokyo Bay .... the site was originally developed & used by Japan Imperial Army's coastal defense heavy artillery regiment

Earlier related post in this blog:

https://deepyokosuka.blogspot.com/2017/09/mysterious-monument.html

Well, a decision has been made by the City to remove the monument in January 2020 as part of a park renewal project .... Lack of maintenance and safety cited as the cause.  But it will be replaced by another "Hope For Peace" monument during 2020.

The soon-to-be removed 20-meters-tall structure is an artistic statement against atomic bombs .... And it was funded as part of Yokosuka City's declaration to be "Peace City For Abolition Of Nuclear Weaapons" in 1989

Made of stainless steel, the monument was erected in 1992, at a cost of about $1.4 million (about a fourth of which came from private donations.)

It was designed by a famous Yokosuka native sculptor, the late-Hiroyuki MOGAMI.   

Also designed by MOGAMI, at Yokohama's Landmark Tower 

     

Tri-Color Battleship

Yokosuka's Mikasa Park .... And the old memorial battleship is being lit-up, Red, White, and Blue, from 06-13 December 2019.

Part of a collaboration with the Yokohama Marinos soccer team.

Yokosuka also is closely tied to the Yokohama DeNA Baystars baseball team.