on the Tokaido, a strategic highway that linked Edo to Kyoto and Osaka. However, the Tokugawa shogunate decided that Kanagawa-juku was too close to the Tokaido for comfort, and port facilities were instead built across the inlet in the fishing village of Yokohama. The Port of Yokohama was officially opened on June 2, 1859.

Yokohama quickly became a base for foreign trade