HOME Tokyo and Surroundings Kanagawa Minato Mirai 21 / China Town Yokohama Guide: Top 9 Most Popular Landmarks in Yokohama (July 2019 Ranking)
Yokohama Guide: Top 9 Most Popular Landmarks in Yokohama (July 2019 Ranking)

Yokohama Guide: Top 9 Most Popular Landmarks in Yokohama (July 2019 Ranking)

Date published: 17 August 2019

Here are the best Landmarks in the Minato Mirai 21 / Chinatown district of Yokohama, with travel tips and more, according to LIVE JAPAN, a top-class travel website for visitors to Japan. Our ranking is based on the most popular pages viewed by foreign visitors in a given category. For instance, Yokohama Landmark Tower, Osanbashi, The Home of a Diplomat and other related spots will be listed. Be sure to check them out during your visit to Yokohama!

No.1:Yokohama Landmark Tower

No.1:Yokohama Landmark Tower

The skyscraper that stands 296 meters high with 70 floors above ground is a super high-rise commercial complex featuring a shopping mall, hotel, and offices. The observation deck, Sky Garden, is located on the 69th floor, which is accessible by the highest-speed elevator in Japan. The 360 degree view from 273 meters above ground includes not only city of Yokohama and its surroundings but also Tokyo Tower, the Tokyo Skytree and even Mt. Fuji. The Dockyard Garden located in the basement of the Tower has an event space and an alley of restaurants. The Dockyard Garden is a restored and preserved dock of the former Yokohama Senkyo No. 2 dock, which was previously the oldest stone dockyard in Japan. The Dockyard Garden was designated as a piece of National Important Cultural Property. There is a variety of shops in the Landmark Plaza, which occupies the area from the first floor to the fifth floor, offering brand-name and casual clothing and goods as well as merchandise found only in Yokohama.

No.2:Osanbashi

No.2:Osanbashi

Since its original construction in 1894, it has gone through extension work, restoration work after the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake, and requisition by the U.S. occupation army. In 2002, it was renovated into an international terminal that Japan boasts about to the world. The terminal can accommodate up to four 30,000-ton class passenger liners, or two if over that class. You can see the attention paid not only to the function as a passenger terminal but also the interior and exterior design of the terminal building. The rooftop, which gently curves like the heave of the sea, was created with the design concept of ”a port like a garden.” It has a wooden deck area and a lawn area where visitors can relax. It is also a popular spot to see the whole view of Yokohama. The second floor is a huge, column-free space. The terminal building has restaurants, cafes, and shops.

  • Osanbashi
    • Address 1-1-4, Kaigandori, Naka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa, 231-0002
      View Map
    • Nearest Station Nihon-Odori Station (Minatomirai Line)
      7 minutes on foot
    • Phone Number 045-211-2304

No.3:The Home of a Diplomat

No.3:The Home of a Diplomat

This house was originally built in Shibuya, Tokyo in 1910, as the residence of Sadatsuchi Uchida, a diplomat in the Meiji Government. It was designed by the American architect, J.M. Gardiner, who initially came to Japan to teach at Rikkyo school. The building was donated to The City of Yokohama in 1997 by Uchida's granddaughter, Hisako Miyairi, and moved to Yamate Italian Garden to open to the public. It was designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan in the same year. It is a wooden two-story structure with a dining room and two reception rooms on the first floor and bedrooms and a study on the second floor. The furniture and fixtures have been recreated so visitors can experience the life of a diplomat in the Meiji era. Materials related to the building's features, other works by Gardiner, and a Meiji era diplomat's life are on displayed in the exhibition room. There is a café in the annex where you can enjoy your teatime with a view of the city of Yokohama.

No.4:Yokohama Marine Tower

No.4:Yokohama Marine Tower

Yokohama Marine Tower was built in front of the Yamashita Park as the symbol of the Port of Yokohama in 1961. It also played a role of the lighthouse until 2008. It is a 106 meters high and was once registered in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's tallest lighthouse. It was refurbished in 2009 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Port of Yokohama. It is a very popular date spot for couples as it is illuminated at night. In the tower there are shops selling the Marine Tower original goods and items related to Yokohama, a restaurant serving menus cooked with seasonal ingredients, and a cafe and bar offering a relaxing time. You can also enjoy a view of the Minato Mirai 21 area and the Yokohama Bay Bridge as well as Mt. Fuji and the Tokyo Skytree if you are lucky with the weather from the observation deck located on the 29th and 30th floors.

No.5:Bluff No.18

No.5:Bluff No.18

The Bluff No. 18 House was built in the late Taisho Era, after the Great Kanto Earthquake, as a residence for foreigners and later used as the parish house of the Yamate Catholic Church until 1991. It was moved and restored inside the Yamate Italian Garden in 1993. It is a wooden, two-story structure with a hallway in the middle of both floors. Although it retains features of a residence for foreigners before the great earthquake, such as a fireplace, a chimney, bay windows, double hung windows, storm shutters, a south facing balcony and a sun room, new features, such as exterior walls with a mortar finish, have been added to prepare for disasters. The interior replicates life in a foreign residence after the great earthquake, with, for example, recreations of Yokohama furniture which were produced in the Motomachi area during the recovery period. It is open to the public. The annex, which is connected to the main building, is available for rental. The house also hosts events such as salon concerts in the room with a 100-year-old piano on the weekends.

No.6:Yokohama Bay Bridge

No.6:Yokohama Bay Bridge

The Yokohama Bay Bridge was opened in 1989 and is an 860-meter-long, cable-stayed suspension bridge connecting the Honmoku Pier and the Daikoku Pier, serving part of the Bayshore Route of the Shuto Expressway. The bridge consists of two levels. The upper level is a part of the expressway, and the lower level is a part of National Route 357. The bridge serves a crucial role as a transportation route for the port logistics but is also a very popular spot for tourists in Yokohama. At dusk, 264 lights illuminate the top section of the bridge. The illumination changes its colors, sometimes to white and sometimes to blue, at different hours. The illumination, along with the lights from the industrial area below, produces a stunning night view of the Yokohama Port. The bridge can be seen from many tourist spots, such as the Daikoku Pier, Osanbashi Pier, the Landmark Tower in the Minato Mirai area, and the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse.

No.7:Ehrismann Residence

No.7:Ehrismann Residence

This is a mansion built as a private residence of a silk yarn trader, Mr. Ehrismann, in 1926. It was designed by Antonin Raymond, who had a great influence on the Japanese architectural world. The residence was moved to the current location and reconstructed in 1990, and on its first floor, there is a drawing room with a fireplace and a sun parlor from which the garden can be viewed. Displaying photographs and drawings and holding events, the second floor is used as a reference library for the European-style buildings in the Yamate area. The hall in the basement is a rental space. The former kitchen area is now used as a coffee shop, and there are counter seats as well as table seats by a big window. The view from the big window is full of green, and you can have tea there while feeling the season.

No.8:Berrick Hall

No.8:Berrick Hall

You may want to visit the Berrick Hall during your walk around the area. This Spanish-style building was built in 1930 as a residence of an English import-export merchant B. R. Berrick. It was designed by an American architect J. H. Morgan and is one of the largest properties among the residences of Westerners in the Yamate area existing to date, with 1,980 square meters of land. Various decorations, such as the triple-arched entrance and quatrefoil windows, will impress visitors. You will enjoy viewing not only the property but also the concerts or events held seasonally.

No.9:NYK Hikawa Maru

No.9:NYK Hikawa Maru

Hikawa Maru was built in 1930 for the purpose of running a regular journey to Seattle and back. She was equipped with a large diesel engine, which was the cutting-edge technology at that time, and was requisitioned for the Navy and served as a specially set-up hospital ship during the war. Despite the fact that the liner touched underwater mines on three separate occasions during the war, among all large vessels of Nippon Yusen, it was the only liner that escaped from sinking until the end of the war. Hikawa Maru was restored as a cargo-passenger ship after the war and put into the regular service until she was retired in 1961. Since her retirement, she has been kept at the Yokohama port, where she is open to the public for sightseeing visits, as a hotel, and as a venue for weddings and other events, and she was registered as a Yokohama Cultural Asset in 2003 and presents a familiar sight to many local people today. It reopened in 2008 as NYK Hikawa Maru and the Passenger area where you can see guest rooms, the Crew area, which introduces the workplace of the crews, and the Exhibition room where you can trace the wake of Hikawamaru are available. You can also enjoy a view on the outdoor deck while relaxing in a deck chair.

*This information is from the time of this article's publication.
*Prices and options mentioned are subject to change.
*Unless stated otherwise, all prices include tax.

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