Editing Yokohama (section)

===Meiji and Taisho periods (1868–1923)===
After the [[Meiji Restoration]] of 1868, the port was developed for trading [[silk]], the main trading partner being Great Britain. Western influence and technological transfer contributed to the establishment of Japan's first daily newspaper (1870), first gas-powered street lamps (1872) and Japan's first [[railway]] constructed in the same year to connect Yokohama to [[Shinagawa]] and [[Shinbashi]] in Tokyo. In 1872 [[Jules Verne]] portrayed Yokohama, which he had never visited, in an episode of his widely read novel ''[[Around the World in Eighty Days]]'', capturing the atmosphere of the fast-developing, internationally oriented Japanese city.

In 1887, a British merchant, [[Samuel Cocking]], built the city's first power plant. At first for his own use, this coal power plant became the basis for the Yokohama Cooperative Electric Light Company. The city was officially incorporated on April 1, 1889.<ref name="interesting1">{{cite web|url= https://www.yokohamajapan.com/about/|title= Interesting Tidbits of Yokohama|website= Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau| access-date= February 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090505110044/https://www.yokohamajapan.com/about/ | archive-date=May 5, 2009}}</ref> By the time the [[extraterritoriality]] of foreigner areas was abolished in 1899, Yokohama was the most international city in Japan, with foreigner areas stretching from Kannai to the [[Yamate|Bluff]] area and the large [[Yokohama Chinatown]].

The early 20th century was marked by rapid growth of industry. Entrepreneurs built factories along reclaimed land to the north of the city toward [[Kawasaki, Kanagawa|Kawasaki]], which eventually grew to be the [[Keihin Industrial Area]]. The growth of Japanese industry brought affluence, and many wealthy trading families constructed sprawling residences there, while the rapid influx of population from Japan and Korea also led to the formation of Kojiki-Yato, then the largest slum in Japan.
[[File:Kusakabe Kimbei - Yokohama Foreign Settlement Pano.jpg|thumb|700x700px|Yokohama {{circa|1880}}|center]]