Yokohama Bay Side

What?
Yokohama (横浜) is a huge metropole and second largest city of Japan, located right next to Tokyo (東京). Contrary to the capital though, Yokohama is not indicated on most tourist itineraries, but it is a popular place for both Japanese and expats to live in. Tourist attractions include a large piece of the bay area with the contemporary Minato Mirai (みなとみらい) district with its shopping arcades and distinct skyline as highlight. The nearby Red Brick Warehouses and the large Yamashita Park (山下公園) with its ship-museum complete a very attractive bayside walking course. The Motomachi Chinatown (横浜中華街) next Yamashita Park is one of the biggest in the world.
Where?
Yokohama is the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture (神奈川県) and can’t be missed. Only half an hour away by normal train from Tokyo, Shin-Yokohama Station (新横浜駅) is also a major stop on the Tokaido Shinkansen line between Tokyo and Osaka (大阪).
URL
Japan Guide Yokohama Official Visitors' Site

Living in Osaka, many non-Japanese people think it is Japan’s second largest city behind the capital Tokyo. In fact, it is the third largest city, with Yokohama having even more than 1 million residents more. I don’t find it really surprising though that many people forget about Yokohama – it’s pretty hard to tell where the capital ends and where Yokohama begins. It all seems to be one big blob.

I have never really warmed up to Tokyo. It’s so incredibly huge, not only in size but also in height. I often find myself feeling claustrophobic just walking on the streets.
One would think that as there is no discernable division between the two cities, Yokohama would give me the same feeling. But that is far from the truth.
With its relatively wide boulevards and beautiful bay, Yokohama makes me feel much more at ease.

The first time I visited Yokohama was way back in 2007. I celebrated the new year in Tokyo with a few friends and we visited Yokohama the next day on a relatively warm winter day. The image of wide boulevards comes from a stroll through the Grand Mall Park in Minato Mirai. Even though I was surrounded by huge buildings, not once did I feel uncomfortable. A stupid highlight was the local McDonalds which had a bench on which Ronald McDonald sat cross legged and with wide open arms, inviting us to sit cozily next to him. The McDonald’s is gone now, but the iconic bench can still be seen at the Yamashita Park branch a few kilometers south.
Apart from strolling through the area, Minato Mirai can best be viewed from afar. The skyline is unique and at night it is beautifully lit up. Currently night cruises only ship out on weekends, but hopefully that will change again once corona-related crises are definitely behind us.

Back to Ronald McDonald, who currently resides in Yamashita Park.
It’s here that I had my second encounter with Yokohama. And my third. And fourth. And so on. Almost yearly I need to be here for work. Almost never did I have the opportunity to fully enjoy the park until recently. After a few weeks of intense work, my last day would be one in Yokohama. I initially intended to make a few side trips, but the exhaustion caught up with me, so I decided to keep it calm and just stroll around Yokohama Bay for a while. My colleagues were still hard at work at Yamashita Park, so I decided to start my walk near Hinodecho Station (日ノ出町駅), going all the way to Yokohama Station to continue my tour on boat that would bring me back to the famous Red Brick Warehouses near my starting point. From there I continued to follow the shoreline until I arrived at Yamashita Park and Chinatown to greet my colleagues – and to tauntingly have a beer in front of them.

Wide boulevard.

But big buildings.

Satoshi Rocco's street art.

View on Minato Mirai from Yamashita Park.

My starting point was the Noge-Nakamichi Street (野毛仲道) which you won’t find on any tourist map. It’s a quaint street with a few galleries and hip restaurants, but honestly I just went there for a bunch of manholes designed by local artist Satoshi Rocco. I seriously doubt whether they are actual manholes covers, but that doesn’t matter – I love the artist’s style.
I walked further along the trainline towards Yokohama Station and headed for Yokohama Bay Quarter to board the Sea Bus (シーバス). This Sea Bus – a word play in Japanese combining bus and sea bass – is a kind of taxi that connects Yokohama Station with the Red Brick Warehouses and in normal circumstances Yamashita Park. This last stop’s boarding point is under reconstruction at this point, but I planned to get off at the Red Brick Warehouses anyway. These olden day warehouses are a landmark in Yokohama, but I honestly can’t see the big deal. They are exactly what they claim to be: warehouses made from red bricks. In the same vein, the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse in Hakodate is way more interesting.
But that shouldn’t spoil the fun as these warehouses are also part of a long promenade spanning 3 km from Minato Mirai to Yamashita Park. I leisurely continued my stroll until I eventually arrived at Yamashita Park which is a lovely place to spend a sunny afternoon. There is enough space to walk, to sit yourself down on the grass, to enjoy the flower garden, to visit some special exhibitions or to enjoy a local event. It’s all relaxed and all ok.
Towards to end of the Yamashita Park, a big ship called Hikawa Maru (氷川丸) is permantly anchored. This boat was initially used in the 30’s as a passenger line between Yokohama and Seattle, was redesigned as a navy hospital ship during the war and then again used for its initial purpose until 1961 when it found its final resting place near Yamashita Park. Since 2008 the ship has been open for the public as a museum which I found particularly interesting. The design has been kept (or restored?) as it was, ensuring a trip back in time. Almost all areas of the ship are accessible, including the bridge, the captain’s office and the engine room (really fascinating, these places you would normally never enter). A little more insight in the third class section would have been even more interesting, but it’s not that the area is sealed off completely. Anyway, for a mere 300 yen, I think of this ship/museum as must see.

After around one hour of circling all decks on the boat I made my way to the World Square of the Yamashita Park where my beer never tasted so good.