Yokohama

About Yokohama

Yokohama is Japan's second-largest city and the primary cruise port for the Tokyo area, with ships docking at the Osanbashi International Passenger Terminal — a wave-roofed structure that is itself a photo stop. The Minato Mirai waterfront, the Landmark Tower observation deck, the Akarenga red-brick warehouses, and Yokohama Chinatown are walkable. Direct trains into Tokyo take 30–40 minutes; HND airport is 45 minutes by coach.

• Yokohama is Japan's most populous municipality and second-largest city by area, with 3.7 million residents — yet it sits just south of Tokyo on Tokyo Bay.
• When Japan ended its policy of national seclusion in 1859, Yokohama was one of the first ports to open for Western trade, instantly establishing itself as Japan's most cosmopolitan port city.
• Yokohama claims a remarkable string of Japanese 'firsts' from the Meiji era: the country's first foreign trading port, first Chinatown (1859), first English-language newspaper (1861), first beer manufacturing (1865), first railway station (1872), and first power plant (1882).
• The waterfront Minato Mirai 21 district — whose name means 'Harbor of the Future 21' — is a purpose-built business and leisure hub featuring the landmark Yokohama Cosmo World Ferris wheel and the 296-meter Landmark Tower.
• Yokohama is headquarters to major Japanese companies including Nissan, Isuzu, and JVCKenwood.