Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
From the early 1860s until the first decades of the twentieth century, Yokohama
flourished on the back of raw silk exports, a trade dominated by British merchants.
During this period the city provided the main conduit for new ideas and inventions
into Japan: the first bakery, photographers', ice-cream shop, brewery and - perhaps
most importantly - the first railway line, which linked today's Sakuragichō with
Shimbashi in central Tokyo in 1872. The Great Earthquake levelled the city in 1923,
and it was devastated again in air raids at the end of World War II; the rebuilt city is,
however, among the world's largest ports.
Motomachi and Yamate
The narrow, semi-pedestrianized shopping street of Motomachi ( ݩொ ) exudes a faint
retro flavour with its European facades. You'll get more of the old Motomachi feel in
the two streets to either side, particularly Naka-dōri ( ஥௨Γ ), to the south, with its
funky cafés and galleries.
At the northeast end of Motomachi, a wooded promontory marks the beginning of
the Yamate ( ࢁख ) district. The panoramic view from Harbour View Park is particularly
beautiful at night; if you look really hard, just left of the double chimney stacks, you'll
see the Tokyo Skytree blinking away.
Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery
֎ࠃਓุ஍ , Gaikokujin Bochi • 96 Yamate-chō • March-Dec Sat & Sun noon-4pm • ¥200 • T 0456 22 1311, W yfgc-japan.com
Just a few minutes' walk south of the Harbour View Park, you'll likely happen upon
the Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery (Gaikokujin Bochi), which sits on a west-
facing hillside. Over 4500 people from more than forty countries are buried here, the
vast majority either British or American.
20
Yamate Museum
ࢁखത෺ؗ , Yamate Hakubutsukan • 254 Yamate-chō • Daily 11am-4pm • ¥200 • T 0456 22 1188
The stunning Yamate Museum , housed in the city's oldest wooden building (erected in
1909), is most interesting for its collection of cartoons from Japan Punch , a satirical
magazine published in Yokohama for a while in the late nineteenth century.
Chinatown
த՚֗ , Chūka-gai
Founded in 1863, Yokohama's Chinatown is the largest in Japan: its streets contain
roughly two hundred restaurants and over three hundred shops, while some eighteen
million tourists pass through its narrow byways every year; few leave without tasting
what's on offer, from steaming savoury dumplings to a full-blown meal in one of the
famous speciality restaurants.
Kantei-byō
ؓఇ඲ • 140 Yamashita-chō • Daily 9am-7pm • Free; ¥500 to see main altar
The focus of community life is Kantei-byō , a shrine dedicated to Guan Yu, a former
general and guardian deity of Chinatown. The building is a bit cramped, but
impressive nonetheless, with a colourful ornamental gateway and writhing dragons
wherever you look. You can pay to enter the main building to see the red-faced,
long-haired Guan Yu, but it's not really worth it.
The harbour
From the eastern edge of Chinatown it's a short hop down to the harbour, fronted by
Yamashita-kōen , a pleasant seafront park - more grass than trees - created as a
memorial to victims of the Great Earthquake. Here you can pick up a Sea Bass ferry
(see p.243) or take a harbour cruise (see box, p.242) from the pier beside the
Hikawa-maru .
 
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