Uraga, Kanagawa
Uraga (Japanese:浦賀) is a town and a harbour at the entrance of Tokyo Bay, located on the eastern side of the Miura Peninsula, at the northern end of the Uraga Channel.
Due to its strategic location at the entrance of Edo Bay, Uraga has often been the first point of contact between visiting foreign ships and Japan. On July 14, 1853,[1] Commodore Perry lowered the anchor of his ships in front of Uraga.[2] On the return of the Commodore's squadron in 1854, the ships by-passed Uraga to anchor closer to Edo at Kanagawa, which is where the city of Yokohama now stands.[3]
As a modern municipality the town of Uraga in Miura District, Kanagawa Prefecture began in 1889. It was merged into the city of Yokosuka in 1943. It is now considered a bedroom community for commuters to Yokohama and Tokyo.
Notes
- ^ "Perry Ceremony Today; Japanese and U. S. Officials to Mark 100th Anniversary." New York Times. July 14, 1953,
- ^ Sewall, John S. (1905). The Logbook of the Captain's Clerk: Adventures in the China Seas, pp. 177; Cullen, L.M. (2003). A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds, p. 178.
- ^ Sewall, p. 243.
References
- Cullen, L.M. (2003). A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82115-X (cloth) ISBN 0-521-529918-2 (paper)
- Sewall, John S. (1905). The Logbook of the Captain's Clerk: Adventures in the China Seas, Bangor, Maine: Chas H. Glass & Co. [reprint by Chicago: R.R. Donnelly & Sons, 1995. ISBN 0-5482-0912-X ]
External links
- National Archives of Japan, Digital Gallery: Marine survey chart: Uraga harbor, published 1878
35°14′N 139°43′E / 35.233°N 139.717°E
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