Yokohama, a Japanese city just 37km south of Tokyo, was one of the first Japanese ports to open in foreign trade in 1859.
Yokohama, a Japanese city south of Tokyo, was one of the first Japanese ports to open in foreign trade in 1859. It contains a large Chinatown with hundreds of Chinese restaurants and shops. It is also known for the Sankei-en Garden, a botanical park containing preserved Japanese residences from various eras and the Minato Mirai seaside district, a 296-meter Landmark Tower.
1. Sankeien Garden
Sankei-en is a traditional Japanese-style garden in Naka Ward, Yokohama, Japan, which opened in 1906. Sankei-en was designed and built by Tomitaro Hara, known by the pseudonym Sankei Hara, who was a silk trader. Almost all of its buildings are historically significant structures bought by Hara himself in locations all over the country, among them Tokyo, Kyoto, Kamakura, Gifu Prefecture, and Wakayama prefecture. Ten have been declared Important Cultural Property, and three more are Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan designated by the City of Yokohama.
2. Minatomirai
Minato Mirai 21, often known as simply Minato Mirai and abbreviated as MM, is the central business district of Yokohama, Japan. Initially developed in the 1980s, Minato Mirai 21 was designed as a large master-planned development and new urban center planned to connect Yokohama’s traditionally important areas and commercial centers of Kannai and the Yokohama Station area. Today, Minato Mirai is a major center for business, shopping, and tourism, attracting visitors and business persons throughout the Greater Tokyo Area. The business district is host to several major hotels, office towers including the Yokohama Landmark Tower, the Pacifico Yokohama convention center, art museums, and numerous cafés and shops in shopping centers and along its central pedestrian mall. The area continues to be developed as originally envisioned in the 1980s.
3. Yokohama Chinatown
Yokohama Chinatown is located in Yokohama, Japan, which is located just south of Tokyo. Its history is about 160 years long. Today only a few Chinese people still live in Chinatown, but it has a population of about 3,000 to 4,000. Most of the residents are from Guangzhou but many come from other regions. Yokohama Chinatown is the largest Chinatown in Japan and it is one of the largest in the world.
4. Hokokuji
Hōkoku-ji is an old temple in the Kenchō-ji school of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism located in Kamakura, Japan. Famous for its bamboo garden, it is also known as “Bamboo Temple”. A statue of Gautama Buddha, called Shaka Nyorai in Japanese, in a sacred hall is the temple’s principal image. The original of statue of Sho Kan’non is on display at the Kamakura Museum of National Treasures. The temple is sometimes called Takuma-dera after the artist of a statue of Kashyap which was destroyed by a fire in 1891 in an adjacent hall.
5. Engakuji
Zuirokusan Engaku Kōshō Zenji, or Engaku-ji, is one of the most important Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan and is ranked second among Kamakura’s Five Mountains. It is situated in the city of Kamakura, in Kanagawa prefecture to the south of Tokyo, founded in 1282.