A small village in the 1850s, Yokohama became one of the early treaty ports which was open to foreign residence and trade. As a port, Yokohama was ideally situated: close to Tokyo and on a good deep-water bay. The city quickly grew and is now part of the metropolis which encompasses Chiba, Saitama, Tokyo, Kawasaki and Yokohama into a single vast city with a population in excess of 25 million.
