The capital of Kanagawa Prefecture, the second largest city in Japan and the most populous municipality in the country, Yokohama, located on the coast of Tokyo Bay, is part of the Kanto region of the main island of the Japanese archipelago – Honshu. See citypopulationreview.com for weather information.
How to get there
Yokohama does not have its own airport, and the closest ones are located in Tokyo – these are Narita and Haneda airports.
Some Narita Express trains from Narita Airport stop in Yokohama (1hr 30min, JPY 4290). Buses operated by Limousine Buses run between Narita and Yokohama City Air Terminal YCAT (2-3 hours, 3600 JPY). And the most economical way is to take the Keisei line to Nippori and then the Keihin-Tohoku line to Yokohama (2 hours, about 3000 JPY).
From Haneda Airport to Yokohama, you can take the Keikyu Express Line (30-35 min., 480 JPY), but keep in mind that the express train has several destinations. If the train’s destination is Shin-Zushi Station or Kanazawa Bunko Station, you can safely go straight to Yokohama. If the train follows a different route, you must change at Keikyu-Kamata Station for the express train departing from platform No. 2.
By train
The connection from Tokyo to Yokohama is carried out by several railway lines. From Western Tokyo, in particular from the stations of Omiya, Akabane, Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Osaka, trains of the Shonan-Shinjuku line leave for Yokohama. The Tokaido Line serves Tokyo and Shinagawa stations, from Ueno and Akihabara stations Yokohama can be reached by trains on the Keihin-Tohoku line, from Ebina station on trains on the Sotetsu line.
History of Yokohama
In the 19th century, after the collapse of the Sakoku policy (Japan’s self-isolation from the outside world), Yokohama became the country’s first port open to foreign trade. In 1865, Japan’s first ice cream and beer are produced in Yokohama. In 1870, Japan’s first daily newspaper appeared, and in 1872, gas lamps appeared. Japan’s first train line opens in Yokohama, linking the city to Tokyo. That same year, Jules Verne included Yokohama, which he had never visited, in an episode of his then-popular book Around the World in Eighty Days, describing it as a booming, Western-oriented Japanese city. However, as a result of the severe destruction caused by the Great Kanto Earthquake and the bombing of World War II, Yokohama has still not been able to restore its former prominence.
Entertainment and attractions in Yokohama
One of the largest business centers of Greater Tokyo is the futuristic Minato-Mirai-21, or the “Port of the Future” of Yokohama, the symbol of which is the Landmark Tower (296 m), or the “Landmark Tower” – the tallest building in Yokohama and the third tallest in Japan. To the top of the tower, which offers stunning views of the city, you can climb the elevators, they say, the fastest in Japan. Right there, in Minato Mirai-21, there is a Ferris wheel (at the time of its construction in 1989, the tallest in the world), concurrently performing the functions of a clock, currently the largest in the world.
In the Shin-Yokohama area, located at some distance from the Port of the Future, there is the Yokohama Arena stadium with a capacity of up to 17 thousand people, the Ramen Museum and the Nissan Stadium, also known as the Yokohama International Stadium – one of the arenas of the World Cup football in 2002.
Yokohama Chinatown, with a history of about 150 years, is the largest in Japan and one of the largest in the world. Located between Yamashita Park and Ishikawacho Street, the neighborhood grew up around the Chinese Kanteibyo Temple, built in 1887.
Not far from Chinatown are the Yokohama Stadium, the Silk Center with an exposition of the Silk Museum, dedicated to all stages of its production and processing – from breeding silkworms to hand-dyeing fabrics for expensive kimonos; as well as a doll museum with over a thousand toys from all over the world.
Ramen museum
Opened in 1994 in Yokohama, the Ramen Museum dedicated to the “ubiquitous” Chinese noodles is more than just a museum – it is both a theme park and a hypermall. The ground floor of the museum is dedicated to numerous exhibits; there is also a gift shop here. The rest of the museum, located on two underground levels, is a miniature historical park. So, the year is 1958, and in a noisy working-class quarter filled with tiny shops, houses and restaurants, work is in full swing – sellers sell cotton candy and cakes, “old-fashioned” bars offer sake. But perhaps the main attraction of the park are eight restaurants, each of which specializes in its own unique variety of noodles. The museum is open daily from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm, the entrance fee is 500 JPY, food and drinks are sold separately.
Parks of Yokohama
Yokohama has the most beautiful parks – this is the Sankeien Landscape Park and Open Air Museum, Yamashita Park and Minato-no-Mieru-oka-koen Park with beautiful views of the bay.
Sankeien is a landscaped park and open-air museum that showcases traditional wooden structures, temples, and residences from all over the country. Park with an area of 175 thousand square meters. m, designed by Tomitaro Hara, known under the pseudonym Sankei Hara, was opened in 1906.
The pearl of Yamashita Park, opened in 1923, is the passenger liner Hikawa Maru, known as the Queen of the Pacific. In 1961, the liner was opened as a museum dedicated to the history of the Japanese Navy. In 2006 the museum was closed. And the further fate of the liner is unknown. However, after the restoration of the liner, launched by Japan’s largest shipping company Nippon-Yusen in 2007, on the day of its 78th anniversary, Hikawa-maru was reopened to the public.
Amusement parks
Other attractions in Yokohama include the Hakkeijima marine entertainment center with the largest aquarium in Japan located on an artificial island, as well as Joypolis and Yokohama Dreamland amusement parks. Of considerable interest is the so-called theater street Isezaki-Cho – the largest and most famous commercial and entertainment district of the city with a wide variety of restaurants, nightclubs, cafes, discos and theaters.
