Hotels in Yokohama, Japan

A little about Yokohama...

Yokohama is the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture, located in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshū and is a major commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area.

Yokohama's population of 3.6 million makes it Japan's largest incorporated city and second most populous urban area after Tokyo (during nighttime - Yokohama ranks 3rd in daytime population).

Yokohama developed rapidly as Japan's prominent port city following the end of Japan's isolation in the late 19th century, and is today one of its major ports along Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, Hakata, Tokyo, and Chiba.

The places of interest are mainly around the historic port area of Kannai. Next to the waterfront Yamashita Park is Yokohama Marine Tower. Further inland lies Yokohama Chinatown, the largest Chinatown in Japan and one of the largest in the world. Also in the vicinity is the Yokohama Stadium, the Silk Center, the Yokohama Doll Museum. There is also a large immigration office, near Yamashita Park. Nearby Isezakicho and Noge areas offer many colourful shops and bars and, with their restaurants and stores catering to residents from China, Thailand, South Korea, and other countries, have an increasingly international flavour.

The small but fashionable Motomachi shopping area (where there are various shops starting with Cyrillus, Godiva, and so on) leads up to Yamate, or "The Bluff" as it used to be known, a 19th/early 20th century Westerners' settlement overlooking the harbour, scattered with foreigners' mansions. A foreigners' cemetery and the Harbour View Park is in the area. The Rose Garden can be found in the park.

There are various points of interest in the futuristic Minato Mirai 21 harbourside redevelopment. The highlights are the Landmark Tower which is the tallest building in Japan, Queen's Square Yokohama (a shopping mall) and the Cosmo Clock, which was the largest ferris wheel in the world when it was built in 1989 and which also doubles as "the world's biggest clock".

The Shin-Yokohama district, where the Shinkansen station is located, is some distance away from the harbour area, and features the 17,000 capacity Yokohama Arena, the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, and Nissan Stadium, once known as the International Stadium Yokohama when it was the setting for the final for the 2002 FIFA World Cup held on June 30, 2002.

The city is also home to the Central League baseball team, the Yokohama BayStars, and the soccer teams, Yokohama F Marinos and Yokohama FC.