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Japan has three chinatowns in Yokohama, Nagasaki and Kobe. All of them originated as residential areas of Chinese merchants, who settled in Japan during the early 20th century, the second half of the 19th century and earlier.
Today, Japan's chinatowns are tourist spots, popular for their restaurants and "exotic" atmosphere, rather than residential areas of Chinese immigrants, even though Yokohama's Chinatown, for example, is still home to several thousand residents of Chinese descent.
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Nagasaki Chinatown
No other Japanese city has experienced more Chinese influence and feels more Chinese than Nagasaki, whose port remained the only major Japanese port open to Chinese trade during the country's period of isolation.
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Yokohama Chinatown
In 1859, Yokohama Port became one of the first ports to be opened to international trade after Japan's two centuries of isolation. The chinatown was established soon afterwards, and remains Japan's largest today.
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Kobe Chinatown
Like Yokohama's chinatown, Kobe's chinatown started to develop, after the city's port had become one of the country's first to be opened to international trade in 1868.
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