Did you know?: Yokosuka has a French presence

(Stripes Japan)

French engineer Francois Leonce Verny founded Yokosuka Iron Works, the former home of Yokosuka Naval Base, in 1871. He and other French engineers constructed it as the first Western-style shipyard with dry docks. Along with the shipyard, they built the nation’s first Western-style Kannonzaki Light House, modern water supply from the Hashirimizu reservoir and a French language school, which contributed to making Yokosuka a modern port town with a French twist.