Uraga Dock Company

When Commodore Perry's flagship anchored off Uraga in 1854, one of the officials of the Tokugawa shogunate who boarded the American vessel was a trained shipwright, Nakajima Saburosuke.

He subsequently participated in the repair of the Dutch-built Kanrin maru, during which time he constructed the first dry dock built in Japan in 1859.

However, the Tokugawa government decided to establish its own shipyards at nearby Yokosuka, and the Uraga facilities went out of business in 1876.

Uraga Dock Company was also characterized by its organized labor force, one of the earliest in Japan, which went on strike in 1905–1907, 1910–1911, and in 1915.

It was modernized extensively on several occasions, but increasing competitive pressures from overseas ship builders forced Sumitomo to close down operations in 2003.