Kanagawa

Kanagawa , prefecture (1990 pop. 7,980,421), E central Honshu, Japan. Yokohama is the capital. Other important cities include Kawasaki, Yokosuka, and Kamakura (a religious center). The urban belt of the eastern part of the prefecture merges with Tokyo to the north. Flowers and dairy products are produced in Kanagawa, and fishing is an important industry.

Kanagawa, Treaty of a treaty signed in Japan at Kanagawa, now part of Yokohama, on March 31, 1854, by Japan and the United States to allow U.S. ships into the ports of Hakodate and Shimoda, where a U.S. consul was also accepted. It was proposed by U.S. Commdore Matthew C. Perry after he arrived in Tokyo Bay in July 1853 with a fleet of warships and demanded supplies. The Japanese accepted it when he returned in February 1854, and it was the first treaty Japan signed with a Western country.

Kanagawa, Treaty of (or Perry Convention) (31 March 1854) A treaty between Japan and the USA. After three years of negotiation, the US Commodore Perry came to an agreement with the Tokugawa SHOGUNATE, opening two ports to US vessels, allowing the appointment of a consul, and guaranteeing better treatment for shipwrecked sailors. The Treaty of Kanagawa was followed within two years by similar agreements with Britain, Russia, and the Netherlands, and in 1858 by the more wideranging Treaty of EDO with the USA, and marked the beginning of regular political and economic intercourse between Japan and the Western nations.