YOKOHAMA TOURS | VISIT THE BLUFF HOUSES
Yokohama is a port city that opened up to foreign trade for the first time in the mid 1800s. When the port opened up, Yokohama also welcomed foreigners to live in Japan. However, foreigners were designated to live in certain areas - the low hills of the Yamate Bluffs for western settlers and the small area by the river in Motomachi for the Chinese settlers. The western settlers in the Yamate area became to be known as a place for a luxurious western style neighborhood. Giant, glamorous houses made of bricks were unknown to the Japanese eye in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Some of these residences remain to this day and has been converted to small museums where you can see where westerners once lived in.
The Bluff No. 111 is one of the houses that remain from the early 1900s. It was the former house of John Edward Laffin, a ship maker who moved to Japan from the US in 1890. It was designed by Jay Morgan, who came to Japan as the chief architect for George A Fuller Company. Jay Morgan designed a number of the houses in the Yamate area and designed them based off of Spanish Architecture.
Along with the Bluff No. 111, you can also go visit Berrick Hall, the British House and Foreign Cemetery if you are looking for things to do in Yokohama.
Yokohama Guide: Walk through a resident house of the early western settlers in Yokohama on a day tour from Tokyo with Hello! Tokyo Tours.
Access:
111 Yamatecho, Naka Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 231-0862
Hours of Operation: 9:30-17:00. Closed every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month.