Japan: Yokohama aims for tourism boost, sustainability with Smart City initiatives

Tokyo [Japan], February 8 : Nestled in the heart of Japan, Yokohama stands as a coveted tourist destination, captivating visitors with its allure. With a vision for sustainable growth, the city now aims to enhance its charm and appeal by embracing smart initiatives, fostering a more sustainable and intelligent urban experience.
To realise this vision, Yokohama City organised the Y-Ship global event in December last year. It aimed to establish an innovative and smart city with collaborations with start-ups from across the world and companies from Asia-Africa's emerging countries.
Mayor Taake Haru Yamanaka explained the history of Yokohama and appealed for the cooperation of participating countries to realise the Smart City vision.
Toru Hashimoto, the organiser of Y-Ship, said that Yokohama has been a city that created new technologies to be introduced into Japan since the opening of the port some 160 years ago.
"There are major urban problems and climate change around the world, and various new innovations are necessary. Together with our colleagues from all over the world and people; developed countries and developing countries, we will create new innovations in Yokohama. This is an international conference aimed at this purpose," he said.
He added that many international collaborations are expected through this event and the Japanese incinerator company has established a Branch in the Philippines to develop its business further.
Hashimoto further said that it is very important to have a city that is "liveable, safe and secure".
"I think it is necessary to make Yokohama a low-carbon, eco-friendly city that can embrace everyone. After establishing it, Yokohama will be respected all over the world, and I think there will be more friends who would like to try to build a town like Yokohama together with us," stated.
Joji Kitamura from Amcon said, "Since we are doing business both domestically and internationally, I think we can look forward to our business in Asia".
A participant from the Philippines admired Y-Ship's achievement and said that this is something he would like to see in his city.
"It's very different from our city. It's very nice. Everything is very nice. You can walk around and it's very pretty. The park is very nice and it's very modern. It's something that you would also like to see in our city. We have already established ties and we want to build it much stronger," the participant said.
The Yokohama city has already confirmed its charm and is now prepping to grow up as a more sustainable, innovative and liveable city.