YOKOHAMA, DIOCESE of. – Situated in the central-eastern part of the large island of Hondo (Japan), it comprises four civil prefectures, namely Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Shizuoka, and Nagano, whose total area is 28,225 sq. km.
It was erected on 9 November 1937, by division of the archdiocese of Tokio, of which it is a suffragan. On 5 January 1939, the apostolic prefecture of Drawa was detached from II. On 30 November 1940, the diocese was transferred from the Society of the Foreign Missions of Paris to the Japanese secular clergy.
YOKOHAMA - YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
The principal city is Y., with approximately 950,000 inhabitants, and is one of Japan’s most important commercial ports. Among others, the city of Kamakura deserves mention, illustrious for its history and antiquity: it was once, in fact, the center of civil government and of popular and religious culture, both Buddhist and Shinto. It attracts many visitors who go there to admire the vestiges of that ancient culture. Near the city of Shizuoka lies the famous site of Toro, which is, as it were, the Pompeii of Japan.
Of a population of 7,736,000 inhabitants, Catholics number 11,217, with 2,917 catechumens; 18 national priests; 9 collaborating foreign missionary institutes; 330 sisters; 13 major seminarians; 33 catechists; 327 teachers; 3 physicians and 119 nurses; 2 hospitals; 3 pharmacies; 3 orphanages; 1 home for the elderly; 1 leprosarium; 7 primary schools; 11 middle schools; 11 high schools; and 1 vocational school.