The Negishi Housing Complex (

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: 根岸住宅地区 ''Negishi Juutaku Chiku'') was an enclave of

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operated by

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. It served as a residence complex for the

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Facilities

The area was approximately 42.8

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s in size and contained some 387

housing unit A housing unit, or dwelling unit (at later mention, often abbreviated to ''unit''), is a structure or the part of a structure or the space that is used as a home, residence, or sleeping place by one person or more people who maintain a common hous ...

s, a

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Elementary School, Branch Health Clinic (medical/dental), Combined Bachelor Housing, swimming pool, community center, Security Detachment, and other small infrastructural services to support the residents of the community.

History

Negishi Heights was originally a

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

complex founded in 1866. Modern horse racing was introduced to Japan in 1862 and shortly thereafter an

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architect was commissioned to build the Negishi

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...

s on the land currently occupied by

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family members. The area surrounding the grandstands was occupied by numerous foreigners and was built to support their entertainment needs. The

Meiji Emperor , posthumously honored as , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ended the Tokugawa shogun ...

made 14 trips to the stadium to view horse racing. The grandstands was one of the few structures to survive the

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of 1923. It was later rebuilt by American J. H. Morgan and still stands today. The new stands could hold up to 20,000 spectators, and

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was known to frequent the events held in Negishi. Horse racing at Negishi was ended in 1942 when the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

took over the site and the racing grounds at Negishi were used for the operation of a

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

and, in the lower horse stables, the housing of Australian

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. In 1945, when

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discovered the printing presses during the

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, the

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used the presses to print over 450,000 surrender documents in English, Japanese, and

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to be distributed across the country. In 1947 the U.S. Army took over the complex completely and built housing units and other support structures; they used the grandstands for administrative offices. In what is now Negishi Shinrin Park, they built a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

course. The U.S. Army occupied this land area until it was given over to the U.S. Navy on 1 July 1951 and became the first overseas Navy housing facility. The U. S. Navy Housing Activity, Yokohama, Japan was commissioned on 1 July 1959. CDR J. L. Wallace, USN was its first commanding officer with CDR Harland Bowman, CEC, USN as its first executive officer. The U.S. Navy and the

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organized the return of the Naval Housing and Support Complex to the Japanese landowners who leased the land, in 2015. Additional units were built in the

Zushi is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of June 2012, the city has an estimated population of 58,087, and a population density of 3,350 per km². The total area is . Geography Zushi is located at the head of Miura Peninsula, facin ...

Housing Area for military members. The area was officially closed Jan. 1, 2015 and the property returned to the original Japanese landowners.

References

External links

* Commander, Fleet Activities, Yokosuka Website (2009). History of Negishi (nd), Retrieved on 9 January 2009 fro

* Bergman, K. R. (2008). Negishi Community Tours a Yokohama Historic Landmark (20 August 2008), retrieved on 9 January 2008 fro

* Yokohama City (2007). Listing of Sightseeing in Yokohama (nd). Retrieved on 8 January 2009 from https://web.archive.org/web/20081225094403/http://www.welcome.city.yokohama.jp/eng/tourism/spot/spot1080.html * Kyodo News (1999). U.S. navy may return Yokohama land, but seeks housing (10 November 1999). Retrieved on 8 January 2009 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0XPQ/is_/ai_57602204 {{Authority control Installations of the United States Navy in Japan Cantonments