Yokohama and Kajima, 150 years on
Takao Nomura
General Manager and Executive Officer, Yokohama Branch

Basha-michi Street is not far from Kajima’s Yokohama Branch. Formerly used by horse carriages, it is lined with elm trees, and everywhere there are historical markers and statues commemorating all sorts of significant breakthroughs in Yokohama’s past. You really get a feel for a lot of what happened here back in the city’s early days. And it’s a livelier place than ever these days, with all the little blue pennants flapping in the sea breeze to mark the 150th anniversary of the port’s opening. There’s no better place for a stroll.

One stately building on this road houses the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History. It used to be the head office of the Yokohama Specie Bank, and is one of the most notable examples of Western-style neo-baroque architecture from the 1880s and 1890s. Here there is a model of the old foreign settlement of the 1870s and 80s, and in it you can see the Eiichiban Kan and the America Ichiban Kan.

Both of the very impressive Ichiban Kan buildings were built by Kajima in the most important part of the foreign settlement in 1859. Kajima had been in business 20 years at that point, and thus had enjoyed ample opportunity to build up its capacity by the time the big boom got started. The company’s fortunes have served as something of a bellwether for the rising prosperity of the construction industry as a whole. The Silk Center International Trade and Sightseeing Building now occupies the same site, and was also built by Kajima. Looking back over the history of these buildings, the depth of the ties between Yokohama and Kajima is very clear.

In 1983, the city of Yokohama began building Minato Mirai 21 with an eye to creating an ideal 21st-century city which, through a totally new type of community development, brings together the diverse functions of business, commerce, and culture. Kajima has played a key role by taking part in the construction of the National Convention Hall at Pacifico Yokohama, as well as many other projects that have contributed to the modernization of the city.

I’ve spent my entire 34 years with Kajima at the Yokohama Branch. I joined the company right after the end of the post-war economic boom, and have seen Yokohama change continually during my time here. It has become a beautiful place that visitors find full of charm, thanks especially to the very exotic atmosphere of the harbor district. I am very happy to have contributed in some way to the community development effort that has made Yokohama one of the most remarkable port cities in Japan.

The main auditorium at Pacifico Yokohama’s National Convention Hall was the venue for the opening ceremony of “A Grand Exposition for Yokohama’s 150th Year” on May 31.Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan were in attendance. I was invited to the opening ceremony, and while there I was reminded yet again of the deep ties between Yokohama and Kajima.

I’ve taken over as head of Kajima’s Yokohama Branch in the same year as the 150th anniversary of the opening of the port of Yokohama to foreign trade, and somehow I feel it was just meant to be. I think Yokohama will continue to evolve into a city whose residents all share common dreams and aspirations. And Kajima, too, intends to develop hand-in-hand with the local community by relying on its technical capabilities as well as its expertise in planning and development. I believe that is the mission that I am called upon to achieve.