Yokohama Port Festival 2016

This year marks the 35th annual Yokohama Port Festival that commemorates when the port was officially declared open to foreign trade by the Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1859. In the sixty years following, the port expanded rapidly by exporting raw silk and importing foreign technologies from abroad. Last year the festival drew crowds of approximately 750,000 people. Mostly a mix of young families, high school friends and couples attend the port festival, which finishes on the second day with a Yokohama Port Festival Fireworks in the evening. Minatomirai is the closest station to Rinko Park, the venue where the festival is held.