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If you wish to visit Japan sure you will want to visit Yokohama.
Yokohama is the second –largest city of Japan, a powerful commercial port with a foreign identity.
You can get there by bus or train, the city does not have an airport.
From the moment you will step in the city you will be surrounded by hundreds of people of many nationalities, giant buildings and a suave, thin breeze of the Japanese culture which will make you wonder if you are in the same country.
Because of the invasion of Western after the Edo period many foreign people settle down here especially Chinese and inaugurate the Chinatown, an important sightseeing in Yokohama.
The town has four colorful gate stands at the entrance and another inside, a Chinese temple Kanteibyo, dedicated to the Chinese god for prosperity. A large number of Chinese stores and restaurants can be found in the narrow, colorful roads where you can enjoy the traditional Chinese and Japanese dishes.
In this area during the year many festivals are held, like the New Year festival.
The foreign business people, living in Yokohama, favored the Motomachi and Yamate area for their residence, a calm area with international schools and shopping centers giving a Western touch to the city.
The futurist area of the city is represented by the Minato Mirai,” the harbor of the future” located in the center of Yokohama, with many offices, restaurants, shopping centers, hotels and the Landmark Tower, the symbol of this area.
For tourists with children and not only, Yokohama offers a range of attractions from amusements parks and zoo’s to aquariums and sports centers. Most popular are Kodomo no kuni, Hakkejima Sea Paradise or one of the most big zoo Yokohama Zoo “Zoorasia”.
The city has a variety of museums, started with the famous ethnological one, the Hasseiden Museum –with many statues, followed by historical one like Yokohama Archives of history and not the least the Yokohama Doll Museum where you can be captivate by more then 300 Japanese dolls. After you feed your brain with so many historical or technical information that you collect in your tour through this museums, maybe it will be a good time to try visit the Skin Yokohama Ramen Museum , where you can taste the flavor of the Japanese and Chinese noodles, after you will enjoy the “ramen’s” history and culture.
To take a piece of the heart of Yokohama with you and share with the closed one, the city offers a range of shopping centers like Aya where you can find beautiful shells, the Antique Garage which sells a large assortment of antiques or Chikuho-do, a charming shop that specializes in ukiyo-e, an old Japanese woodblock prints dating from the Edo period.
The tour can make any visitor wishing to settle down for a while and a nice place for this is the Kirin Yokohama Beer Village where you can taste the flavor of Japanese beer and not only.
The panoramic view is very beautiful in the night because of the lighting system that shows a busiest city, who doesn’t sleep, with nightlife attractions made to warm up the tired visitor.
Yokohama is a place with multicultural festivals, concerts or theaters meant to make a bridge between countries, like Yokohama Annual Jazz Festival.
After visiting so many foreign spots, maybe should be the time to remember the Japanese culture and traditions and visit the Sankeien Garden, a spacious Japanese garden with historic buildings, ponds, flowers and rivers, which will make wonder if you are in Yokohama, make your spirit to calm and relax, giving you the peace that you wanted so long, one of reasons for visiting Japan.
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