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.

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