Where the name Bashamichi comes from, what stood here before the station, and what you can still spot on a walk today. Then the events near the station that we have checked on the official pages.
Bashamichi literally means Horse-Carriage Street. The name emerged after Yokohama opened to international trade, when foreign residents began traveling through the port district in horse-drawn carriages. After the devastating fire of 1866, a wider road was constructed at the request of the foreign community. Completed in 1867, it was approximately 18 meters wide and ran toward Yoshida Bridge. The unusual sight of carriages moving along it inspired the popular name.
Leave Bashamichi Station and walk southwest. The road leads toward Yoshida Bridge, where a checkpoint once controlled entry into the international port settlement. Beyond it lay the Japanese commercial district. Walk northeast instead and you approach Honcho-dori and the harbor. The street was an important connection between the waterfront, trading offices, and the surrounding town.
In 1869, a Japanese-operated horse-carriage service began near Yoshida Bridge. Gas streetlights appeared in 1872, and planted trees helped create a modern streetscape. Follow the brick-colored sidewalks today and imagine the movement of horses, carriages, merchants, and travelers through a city rapidly adapting to international trade.
→ Walk southwest from Bashamichi Station through the shopping street. Look for reconstructed gaslights and the monument commemorating early modern street trees. Continue toward the former Yoshida Bridge checkpoint to follow the route once taken by carriages entering and leaving the port district.
Sources (in Japanese): 横浜高速鉄道「馬車道駅・駅名の由来」, 横浜市「横浜港周辺散策ガイド」
On October 31, 1872, Japan's first full-scale gas streetlighting began in Yokohama. A gas company established by Takashima Kaemon and others lit more than a dozen lamps around Bashamichi and Honcho-dori. At a time when streets were mainly illuminated by lanterns and traditional oil lamps, the new lights were extraordinary. People traveled from Tokyo as well as elsewhere in Yokohama to see the spectacle.
Walk southwest from Bashamichi Station toward the imposing stone building of the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History. Completed in 1904, it originally served as the headquarters of the Yokohama Specie Bank, reflecting the city's importance in international finance. Continue toward Yoshida Bridge, once guarded by a checkpoint controlling access to the port settlement. Trade, banking, and transport were closely connected along this street.
Other Western-influenced businesses flourished nearby. In 1869, Machida Fusazo sold a frozen dessert called aisu kurin, often celebrated as an early milestone in Japanese ice cream history. Today, monuments to gaslighting and ice cream, reconstructed lamps, and a replica drinking trough for working animals preserve the atmosphere of Yokohama's early modernization.
→ Find the gaslighting monument and reconstructed lamps along Bashamichi, then visit the former Yokohama Specie Bank building, now the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History. A replica animal drinking trough stands nearby. Continue to the Yoshida Bridge checkpoint site to explore the old port entrance.
Sources (in Japanese): 資源エネルギー庁『エネルギー白書2018』日本のガス利用の始まり, 横浜市中区「よこはま中区の歴史を碑もとく絵地図」
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We list events we could confirm on the official page or official Instagram of the venue or organiser. Details can change, tickets sell out and venues close, so check the official page before you go. Distances are straight-line and travel times are rough estimates. Photos show the venue or its surroundings, not the event itself. Titles and descriptions are our own translations from Japanese. This site contains affiliate links (ads).