Hi
I have been loaned a copy of my great grandfather's 1905 Tour Round the World diary and he talks about Yokohama, The Bluff, etc...
He mentions Mississippi Bay (he spells "Missippi"), where the cliffs resembled, a little, the white cliffs of Dover (for more information and photos (not mine):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3975647069/):
"Oct 30th 1905: After breakfast went to see W.?Mr? Samuel to whom I had an introduction, and then took a rickshaw on to a photo developing place. After that we hired a Sampan & meant to go over the Russian ship, Poltava, in Tokyo Bay, which was sunk and salvaged at Port Arthur, but saw her just steaming away [ship was recommissioned to the Japanese Navy as Tango], so instead we went over the Japanese flagship, H.I.M.S. Shikishima (1st Class Battleship) [built in London, 1897] – we were taken over by a very nice little jap sub-Lieut. Yamagato [Yamagata?], we saw several places where she had been battered about, we also went in Admiral Togofs private room. This ship was outside Port Arthur [now Lüshunkou] during the siege and was also in the Battle of Tsushima. On the way there I worked the Sampan for a mile or two it is quite easy & is a cross between gondoleering and deep-sea punting. We did not get back to the hotel till 1.30. After tiffin we went in rickshas to Samurai Shokai & went through a tea ceremony in a Japanese garden. This did not remind me of an American quick lunch as each cup of tea for each person takes from 10 to 15 minutes to prepare. After the tea party we went on for a drive, (one man pulling and one pushing) to the Yokohama nurseries, Race Course [at Negishi?] and Missippi Bay [Negishi town and Honmoku, called eMississippi Bayf by foreigners]. This is an awfully pretty drive and the little Japanese cottages on Missippi Bay were awfully fine, on the way back we went through lovely country and some large rice fields. We did not get back till dark, and each ricksha had a Japanese lantern."
"Oct 31st: After breakfast went in rickshas to photo & silk shops in Benten-Dori [Photographersf Row – and shopping district]. Then on to Cloisonné factory, where several purchases were made and pale green tea was drunk then to carved furniture factory & back to tiffin. Afterwards drove out in rickshas to a porcelain factory outside the town, very pretty little houses & gardens, more tea, then round the town a bit & back to the Hotel. I went for a stroll up the Bluff and prowled around one or two curio shops. Got back to the Hotel at 6."
"Nov 1st 1905: After lunch I went with Williamson & Dautricourt up Benten-Dori, we went in and looked round about every curio shop but bought nothing. In the evening went out to dinner with Samuel and 2 other English fellows at their house on the Bluff. Surprise evening."
I am trying to find out who Mr Samuel could be, that lived on the Bluff in 1905...
Regards
Oliver