The silk road at Yokohama: A history of the economic relationships between Yokohama, the Kanto region, and the world through the Japanese silk industry in the nineteenth century.

摘要

This thesis analyzes the economic relationships between the merchants of Yokohama, the producers and merchants of the Kanto region, and the consumers of their silk products throughout the world to examine Japanese economic development in the nineteenth century. The opening of Yokohama as a treaty port also opened the possibility that the region surrounding Yokohama would benefit enormously from international trade. The residents made it into a reality by focusing on silk and other export products. Rather than cover multiple products from a macroeconomic perspective, the thesis focuses on silk products, the most important Japanese export until World War Two, and the merchants and producers of those silk products.