Kanagawa Prefecture

A prefecture in eastern Japan on the Pacific coast, south of Tokyo, with Yokohama as its capital. It includes major port cities, mountain areas, and part of the Shōnan coast.

Yokohama: A major Japanese port city and the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture. The prefectural capital anchors Kanagawa’s economy and international history.
Kanagawa-juku: An Edo-period post station on the Tōkaidō, now within Yokohama. This historic settlement gave its name to the treaty port and later prefecture.
Greater Tokyo Area: Japan’s largest metropolitan region, centered on Tokyo and extending into neighboring prefectures. Kanagawa functions as a major residential and economic part of this wider region.
Tokyo: Japan’s capital metropolis and a prefecture-level administrative region bordering Kanagawa to the north. Tokyo is Kanagawa’s immediate metropolitan neighbor and the region’s political center.
Kawasaki: A city between Tokyo and Yokohama, known for heavy industry and dense urban neighborhoods. Its industrial corridor forms part of Kanagawa’s northeastern urban belt.
Convention of Kanagawa: A 1854 agreement between Japan and the United States that opened ports to American ships. The agreement opened the route toward Yokohama’s rise as an international port.
Keihin Industrial Zone: A major industrial belt along Tokyo Bay spanning Tokyo, Kawasaki, and Yokohama. Its factories and port facilities underpin Kanagawa’s industrial role.
Saitama Prefecture: A landlocked prefecture north of Tokyo, forming part of the Greater Tokyo Area. Unlike coastal Kanagawa, Saitama has no Pacific or Tokyo Bay shoreline.
Sagamihara: A city in northern Kanagawa Prefecture, extending from suburban districts into mountainous terrain. It shows how far the prefecture’s landscape reaches beyond its coastal cities.
Yokohama Treaty Port: The foreign-trade port established at Yokohama after Japan opened to Western commerce. The port’s development helped transform the region’s political and economic importance.

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Kantō regionBroader topic: Its port cities and suburbs form Kantō’s densely populated southern edge.