Yokohama is a beautiful waterfront city on the very outskirts of Tokyo. Some of the Tokyo subway lines actually reach as far as Yokohama, which tends to create some confusion among tourists that maybe Yokohama is part of Tokyo. It’s not. And if you spend even a short time in Yokohama, you’ll notice that although it’s located right on Tokyo’s doormat, it marches to an entirely different beat.

Yokohama is probably most famous (among Japanese people) for it’s Yokohama Chinatown. It is said to be the largest Chinatown in Asia. If you are visiting Yokohama, don’t forget to check out the Chinatown and get yourself some greasy Chinese food. There are many restaurants and many many unique shops.

We enjoyed our time in Yokohama. At night, we took a nice long stroll around the Yokohama Minato Mirai 21 area. If you take the subway to Bashamichi station or sakuragi-cho station, you can walk along the bridge and then walk onto the beautiful walkway - Kisha-michi promenade. This path was originally the railway in the city. It’s a beautiful walk at night while the water is by your side, beautiful city behind and ferris wheel in front. The Ferris Wheel is part of the Yokohama Cosmos World ((full Japanese website)) (yokohama kosumosuwaarudo-横浜コスモスワールド) It’s free to enter but each ride has a different cost. Unfortunately when we went for our night walk the Cosmos World was just closing so we didn’t get to ride the Ferris Wheel. We tried to go to the Ferris Wheel the next day only to find that the amusement park closes on most of the Thursdays…. (Definitely should’ve check the calendar beforehand… ) 残念. (Also, the Japanese sometimes refer to the Ferris Wheel as “Sky Wheel”)

We went up the Yokohama Landmark tower which is said to have the second fastest elevator in the whole world. The observation floor is on the 69th floor (the tallest in Japan) and you get a wonderful view of the Yokohama bay. When you purchase your ticket you get a discount coupon to use at the observation floor cafe; as usual it’s overpriced but completely necessary.

Another very romantic thing to do is to ride the sea bus. There’s a port right at Mirato Mirai 21 area and the sea bus will take you to Yokohama station. The sea bus terminal is at Minato Mirai Pukarin Sanbashi Pier (floating pier) The funniest thing is that the sea bus service is called the “Sea Bass“. It’s quite a pleasant ride. For the ride from Mirato Mirai 21 port to Yokohama station is only 400 Yen a person. When we rode the “sea bass” it was sunny and breezy. It gave us a fantastic view of the city. (There are other providers for sea bus tours as well but we just jumped on the first one we saw)

Yokohama is so close to Tokyo it can be a great day-trip location, but there’s also enough to do to keep you busy for a few days. We enjoyed our stay here and hope to visit again in the future.