Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
286
www.nippon-maru.or.jp), which concentrates on Yokohama's history as a port, beginning
with the arrival of Perry's “Black Ships.” Other displays chart the evolution of ships from
Japan and around the world from the 19th century to the present, with lots of models of
everything from passenger ships to oil tankers and a full-scale simulator that lets you
bring a cruise ship into Yokohama's port. Kids like the three telescopes connected to
cameras placed around Yokohama and the captain's bridge with a steering wheel; sailing
fans enjoy touring the 96m (315-ft.), four-masted
Nippon-Maru
moored nearby, built in
1930 as a sail-training ship for students of the merchant marines. Admission is ¥600 for
adults and ¥300 for children. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 5pm.
The most important thing to see in Minato Mirai is the
Yokohama Museum of Art
,
3-4-1 Minato Mirai (
&
045/221-0300
), which emphasizes 20th-century art by West-
ern and Japanese artists in its ambitious goal to collect and display works reflecting the
mutual influence of Europe and Japan on modern art since the opening of Yokohama's
port in 1859. The light and airy building, designed by Kenzo Tange and Urtec, Inc.,
features exhibits from its permanent collection—which includes works by Cézanne,
Picasso, Matisse, Leger, Max Ernst, Dalí, and Japanese artists—that change three times a
year (you can tour its four rooms in about 30 min.), as well as special exhibitions on loan
from other museums. Open Friday through Wednesday from 10am to 6pm. Admission
is ¥500 for adults, ¥300 for high-school and college students, and ¥100 for children.
Special exhibitions cost more.
It would be hard to miss
Yokohama Cosmo World
(
&
045/641-6591
), an amuse-
ment park spread along both sides of a canal: It boasts one of the largest Ferris wheels in
the world. Other diversions include a roller coaster that looks like it dives right into a
pond (but vanishes instead into a tunnel), a haunted house, a simulation theater with
seats that move with the action, kiddie rides, a games arcade, and much more. Admission
is free but rides cost ¥300 to ¥700 apiece. The park is open 11am to 8pm in winter and
11am to 10pm in summer; closed most Thursdays (except in summer).
IN & AROUND YAMASHITA PARK
You can walk to Yamashita Park from Minato
Mirai's Cosmo World in less than 30 minutes along a waterfront promenade. Along the
way you'll pass the
Red Brick Warehouse
(Aka Renga),
located in the Shinko-cho dis-
trict of Minato Mirai (
&
045/227-2002
). This restored waterfront warehouse is home
to dozens of shops selling crafts, furniture, housewares, clothing, and jewelry, as well as
restaurants, with most shops open daily 11am to 8pm. If you don't want to walk, take
the Minato Mirai Line to either Nihon Odori or Motomachi Chukagai Station, from
which Yamashita Park is about a 5-minute walk.
Laid out after the huge 1923 earthquake that destroyed much of Tokyo and Yoko-
hama, Yamashita Park is Japan's first seaside park, a pleasant place for a stroll along the
waterfront where you have a view of the city's mighty harbor and Bay Bridge. Across the
gingko-lined street from Yamashita Park are two worthwhile special-interest museums.
At the west end (closest to Minato Mirai) is the Silk Center, where you'll find both the
prefectural tourist office and the excellent
Silk Museum
, 1 Yamashita-cho, Naka-ku
(
&
045/641-0841;
www.silkmuseum.or.jp; station: Nihon Odori). For many years after
Japan opened its doors, silk was its major export, and most of it was shipped to the rest
of the world from Yokohama, the nation's largest raw-silk market. In tribute to the role
silk has played in Yokohama's history, this museum has displays showing the metamor-
phosis of the silkworm and the process by which silk is obtained from cocoons, all well
documented in English; from April to October, you can even observe live cocoons and
silkworms at work (compared to the beauty they produce, silkworms are amazingly ugly).
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