Things to do in Yokohama
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Yamashita-kōen area
Moored alongside a seaside park in the Yamashita-kōen area you'll find the Hikawa Maru (641-4362; adult/child ¥800/400; ;09:30-18:00 conditions permitting), a retired luxury 1930 passenger liner (one of the staterooms was used by Charlie Chaplin).
IAcross the street from the Hikawa Maru, the Silk Museum (641-0841; 1 Yamashita-kōen-dōri; adult/child/student/senior ¥500/100/200/300; ;09:00-16:30 Tue-Sun) pays tribute to Yokohama's history as a silk trading port. Nearby, Yokohama Archives of History (201-2100; 3 Nihon Ōdōri; adult/child ¥200/100; ;09:30-17:00 Tue-Sun) chronicles the city (displays in English) from the opening of Japan to the mid-20th century; it's inside t…
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Motomachi & Yamate
This area south of Yamashita-kōen (;Motomachi-Chukagai, Ishikawa-chō) combines the gentle intimacy of Motomachi's shopping street with early 20th century Western-style architecture and fantastic views from the brick sidewalks of Yamate-hon-dōri ('Bluff Street'). Private homes and churches here are still in use. Attractions include Harbour View Park and the Foreigners' Cemetery, final resting place of 4000 foreign residents and visitors - the headstones carry some fascinating inscriptions.
A stroll from near Yamashita-kōen to Ishikawa-chō station should take about one hour.
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Minato Mirai 21
This district of man-made islands used to be shipping docks, but the last two decades have transformed them into a metropolis-of-the-future ('Minato Mirai' means 'port future'), with a buzzing street scene by day and glowing towers by night (Landmark tower and the three-towered Queens Square). In addition to the attractions listed here, there's one of the world's largest convention complexes, several hotels, and lots of shopping and dining.
These sights are arranged as a possible walking tour.
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Chinatown
Always wanted to go to China? Yokohama's Chinatown has the sights, sounds, aromas of Hong Kong without the airfare, rivalling Minato Mirai in popularity. Within its 10 elaborately painted gates are all manner of Chinese specialty stores and some 500 food shops and (often expensive) restaurants and enchanting neon displays at night. Chinatown's heart is the Chinese temple Kantei-byō (admission free;;10:00-20:00), dedicated to Kanwu, the god of business.
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Shopping Centres
In Minato Mirai, Yokohama World Porters is a huge shopping complex with lots of restaurants on the ground floor including Vivre, possibly the world's cleanest supermarket. Landmark Tower and Queens Square are similarly filled with shopping and dining, and Akarenga Sōkō with craft, antique and specialty shops. There are often street performances throughout Minato Mirai. The more intimate shopping strip of Motomachi is lined with lovely boutiques.
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Shin-Yokohama Rāmen Hakubutskan
In 1994, Shin-Yokohama Rāmen Hakubutskan opened, inaugurating the age of the food theme park throughout Japan. This museum of rāmen continues to show the history and culture of these Chinese-style noodles about which it's fair to say Japan is bonkers. Downstairs, nine rāmen restaurants from around the country were hand-picked to sell their wares in a replica of a 1958 Shitamachi (downtown district).
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Manyō Club hot spring facility
The fact that there is no onsen in Yokohama (that we know of) doesn't matter. This new hot spring facility trucks in water daily from Atami and gives you five storeys' worth of ways to enjoy them: pool to pool, sauna to sauna in your custom yukata. Spa treatments are available (extra charge), and 'relax rooms' have hundreds of TVs in front of hundreds of comfy chairs. Check-in is on the 7th floor.
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Sankei-en
Opened to the public in 1906, the beautifully landscaped gardens of Sankei-en feature walking paths among ponds, 17th-century buildings, several fine tea-ceremony houses and a 500-year-old, three-storey pagoda. The inner garden is a fine example of traditional Japanese garden landscaping. From Yokohama or Sakuragi-chō Station, take the No 8 bus to Honmoku Sankei-en-mae bus stop (10 minutes).
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Japan Overseas Migration Museum
Yokohama has long welcomed the world, but this fine museum looks at Japanese who went overseas. Agricultural labourers, fishermen and performers later became merchants, doctors and priests in the USA, Brazil and more. It's a must for anyone of Japanese heritage, with signage in English. It's inside the offices of the charitable organisation Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
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Yamate Jyuban-kan
Overlooking the Foreigners' Cemetery in Yamate, this French restaurant serves consistently good cuisine in a building like a mansion from the American south. A casual café occupies the 1st floor, while upstairs is the classic restaurant, dishing out longstanding favourites like the Kaika steak set. Reservations recommended.
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Yokohama Heli Cruising
For a less-simulated airborne adventure than the Mitsubishi Minato Mirai Industrial Museum, take a helicopter tour of Yokohama. Yokohama Heli Cruising offers short but exhilarating flights from its heliport in Rinko Park, a seven-minute walk northeast of Queen's Sq. Flights depart around sunset.
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Yokohama Curry Museum
Japan is obsessed with curry rice, a large bowl filled with rice on one side and meat or vegetables in curry sauce on the other. The Yokohama Curry Museum offers nine styles of curry including Indian, Okinawan and, er, French. The cocktail bar here serves a 'currytini'. We dare you.
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Heichinrō Honten
Neck and neck with Manchinrō, the equally elegant Heichinrō is another Cantonese favourite. Separate dining rooms for main dishes and yum cha (¥420 to ¥1020), including ebi no kingyo (shrimp in the shape of goldfish) and popular noodle soups.
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Manchinrō Honten
This elegant Cantonese restaurant is one of Chinatown's oldest (1892) and most respected, with chefs from Hong Kong. Look for the stone lions out the front. The newer annexe around the corner, Manchinrō Tenshinpo, specialises in yum cha (dim sum; dishes/courses from ¥725/3300).
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Yokohama Maritime Museum
On the harbour in front of Landmark Tower, this fan-shaped museum is largely dedicated to the Nippon Maru sailing ship docked adjacent. The ship (built 1930) retains many original fittings including captain's and officers' rooms and the engine room.
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Yokohama Daisekai
In Chinatown, the eight-storey Yokohama Daisekai models itself on Shanghai's gilded age of the 1920s and '30s, with silks, carvings and crafts, performances of jazz and Chinese opera, and three floors of restaurants. To beat the crowds, visit on weekdays.
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Silk Museum
In the Yamashita-kōen area, across the street from the Hikawa Maru, the Silk Museum pays tribute to Yokohama's history as a silk trading port, with all aspects of silk production and some lovely kimono and obi (sashes).
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Sirius
Cocktails with a view from the 70th floor of the Yokohama Royal Park Hotel.
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Landmark Tower
Japan's tallest building (70 storeys and 296m high) has one of the world's fastest lifts (45km/h). The Landmark Tower Sky Garden observatory is on the 69th floor; on clear days there are views to Tokyo and Mt Fuji.
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Bank ART Studio
This art gallery has flexible space for exhibitions, views of Minato Mirai skyscrapers, and a simple bar and snack menu. It will erase any doubts whether Yokohama is cool. Look for the arcade made of wire clothes hangers.
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Yokohama Stadium
If you're looking to see a Japanese baseball game, Yokohama's stadium is a great place: it's centrally located, and the local team, the Bay Stars, is usually middling, meaning that tickets are generally easy to come by.
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Baikōtei
This weathered classic with red-velour seating is famed for its hayashi rice (hashed beef in demi-glace sauce), and a mean katsu-don (pork cutlet). Look for the window that announces Baikō Emmies.
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Yokohama Museum of Art
Behind Landmark Tower, this modern-art museum hosts exhibitions that swing between safe-bet shows with European headliners and more daring ones with contemporary Japanese artists. It's noted for its building, designed by Pritzker Prize winner Tange Kenzō (1989).
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Hikawa Maru
Moored at the eastern end of the park, this restored 1930s passenger liner has art-deco fixings and stories to tell. Inside, you can wander from the 1st-class cabins (one of the staterooms was used by Charlie Chaplin) to the engine room.
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Akarenga Sōkō
Akarenga Sōkō means 'red-brick warehouse', and these century-old structures have been refurbished into boutiques, restaurants, cafes and event spaces.
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