Sankeien Garden, a Japanese garden in Yokohama City, is highly praised as the Katsura Imperial Villa(Katsura Rikyu) of greater Kanto area.

Makazu-yaki, a type of pottery that has earned a reputation as the pride of Japan for its high relief characteristics.

Both of these works have become world-famous thanks to the achievements of two great men associated with Yokohama, Sankei Hara and Kozan Miyagawa. We have focused on the life stories of these two legendary guys, and have conducted initial promotional activities while researching methods that will help build Yokohama’s signature experiences.

This time, we are offering a high-value-added prototypes that covers the historical heritage and culture owned originally by YOKOHAMA, the first opening port, in addition to  “Stories of Yokohama’s Super Japanese”.

We name it ‘YOKOHAMA TRUST’

Since Admiral Perry’s arrival in Japan, Yokohama has been the first opening port and gateway to the rest of the world, welcoming different cultures while also undergoing major changes of its own and fostering a unique culture now we called “YOKOHAMA”.

In the pioneering period when the Port of Yokohama opened and the influx of different cultures began to swell, two great men we can call them Super Japanese from Yokohama, Sankei Hara and Kozon Miyagawa, have left their footprints firmly behind. It goes without saying that the story of these two men is at the core of the existence value of “Yokohama,” which has been passed down to the present age, as they shaped different cultures into their own while responding to the turbulent times from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji and Taisho periods.

SANKEI HARA

-Basically a businessman, known as an art collector and tea master. He began collecting art around the age of 25, amassing a collection of over 5,000 pieces. He also founded the Hotel New Grand and served as the first president of the Bank of Yokohama. Sankeien, Sankei’s final residence, is a huge Japanese garden that has retained its reputation as the Katsura Imperial Villa(Katsura Rikyu) in the east and has become a place of relaxation for citizens in Yokohama nowadays.

KOZAN MIYAGAWA

Potter, ceramic artist. One of the most famous Japanese potters of the Meiji era, who was an actual founder of Makuzu-Ware (Makuzu-yaki, sometimes people called it Yokohama-yaki in those days. At the age of 35, he studied Satsuma ware, which was initially popular in Europe and the U.S., and developed a new technique called “Taka-Ukibori” (high relief). Makazu-yaki made with this technique was exhibited at the World’s Fair in Philadelphia and was highly praised by many countries, making Makazu-yaki and Kozan Miyagawa well known throughout the world, as a pride of Japan.

This time, we have mixed the strengths of Yokohama, such as a number of “mono-no-hajime” (the beginning of things), Super Japanese that Yokohama has created, and created once-in-your-lifetime experience called “YOKOHAMA TRUST,” a signature product that can only be experienced in Yokohama.

The anticipated experiences

An exclusive guided experience at the Yokohama Archives of History where Japan-U.S. Treaty of Peace and Amity was signed, a “Special Signing Ceremony as a guest of YOKOHAMA TRUST” under the camphor tree where the signing ceremony actually took place, and the Yokohama History Asset NFT Presentation Ceremony. The “Perry Dinner Experience,” a Michelin-starred dinner inspired by the menu that was served to Perry at the actual dinner venue at the time;

The “Sankei Breakfast Experience,” a special menu at the Hotel New Grand, the hotel where Sankei Hara founded; Hotel New Grand Nostalgia” to experience various aspects of the hotel’s history exclusively by the hotel concierge, including the General MacArthur Suite,etc

“Makuzu Experience” with an exclusive guide by a famous collector at the Makuzu Ware Museum, where you can view one of rare surviving pieces of Makuzu ware by Kozan Miyagawa as well

Sankeien Garden Experience” at Sankeien Garden, “Memorable Experience” where you can enjoy Sankei soba noodles and hear directly from his descendants at the Sankeien’s taishunken restaurant, “Sankei Art Collection Experience” where a curator guides you through the collection of Sankei Hara exclusively,; “On-site Experience” at Rinshunkaku, which will be renovated in 2022, normally you cannot enter ; “Green Tea Tasting” by Swedish tea master Brekell Oskar; and other custom-made Japanese cultural experiences such as incense-smelling ceremony, flower arrangement ceremony, and old carpentry experience named Miyadaiku specialized in repairing shrines and temples only. The program is a hidden-gems of a two-day and one-night that allows you to experience Japanese culture, which even Japanese nowadays do not know.

Special customized plans are also available for second honeymooners and business owners.

Go to a short movie here.