Things to do in Yokohama

Landmark · Nishi ward, waterfront

The redeveloped dockland — Landmark Tower, the Ferris wheel, the red brick warehouses and a long waterfront promenade.

Local tip: The observation deck charges; the free view is from the top floors of the Landmark Tower's shopping levels, and the better one is from the Ōsanbashi pier terminal, whose wooden roof deck is open, free and almost empty at sunset.

Food · Naka ward

The largest Chinatown in Japan, established by traders after the port opened in 1859, and still a working neighbourhood.

Local tip: The main streets are priced for visitors and heavy on all-you-can-eat. The genuine cooking is on the side lanes toward Ishikawachō station, and the Kantei-byō temple in the middle is free and worth the ten minutes.

Neighborhood · Naka ward, on the bluff

The old foreign settlement on the hill — Western-style houses, the foreign cemetery, and an elegant shopping street below it.

Local tip: Several of the Western houses are open free of charge and almost nobody goes in. Motomachi below is where Yokohama's old money shops. The whole area is a climb from the station, which is precisely why it stayed quiet.

Culture · Naka ward, southeast

A large traditional garden assembled by a silk merchant from historic buildings moved here from Kyoto and Kamakura.

Local tip: Genuinely one of the best gardens in the Kanto region and consistently overlooked because it is a bus ride from the station. Go in November for the maples or in February for the plum blossom, both well before Tokyo's crowds start moving.

Nightlife · Naka ward, behind Sakuragichō

A dense grid of tiny post-war bars and standing izakaya, five minutes from Minato Mirai's towers and a century away in feel.

Local tip: This is where locals drink rather than where visitors do. Most counters seat six people, cash is expected, and the etiquette is to have one or two and move on rather than to settle in.

Nature · 30–50 minutes south by train

Temples, a coastline and hiking trails, at the southern end of the same railway lines that run into Yokohama.

Local tip: Yokohama residents get to Kamakura in half an hour where Tokyo residents need an hour, and the Miura peninsula beyond it is emptier still. This proximity is one of the genuine, under-discussed advantages of living here rather than in Tokyo.