#32 Yokohama

Although it is Japan's second most populated city, Yokohama really doesn't have a lot to offer in comparison to nearby Tokyo, and the main attractions can easily be done in a weekend. The fact that is only about 30 minutes by train from Tokyo makes it a good place to visit. The highlights include Chinatown, a museum about cup noodles, and an amusement park.

Minato Mirai 21

The Cosmoworld Ferris wheel/Clock

Landmark tower (on the left) at night

This is where most of Yokohama's entertainment is to be found. Home to the Landmark Tower, Japan's tallest building (keeping in mind Skytree is a tower!) Minato Mirai 21 is located beside the water which makes it much more spacious and pretty than many of Tokyo's bustling locations. It's also home to two great shopping centres, the Cup Noodles Museum, a large boat and maritime museum, and the Cosmoworld amusement park.

Cup Noodles Museum

It's a good laugh alright

It costs only 500 yen, which is probably the most appealing thing about this museum. The highlight is a workshop in which you design your own cup and pick out the flavours for your own custom made noodles, which costs a further 500 yen. This fills up very quickly and should be booked in advance (I didn't get to do it, sob sob). All of the exhibits are visual and don't require a knowledge of Japanese, plus you get an English leaflet. Honestly, it's not very exciting but I thought it was a good symbol of the quirky Japanese!

 

It was a whole room of every cup noodle ever. . . .there was a lot

Momofuku, the father of cup noodle

Once again the souvenir shop was overpriced and didn't have any interesting goods, so I just bought 2 logo pencils for about 20 yen each. Overall, it's not that exciting and it won't take you awful long to get through it, but it should be worth a visit just to tell your friends!

Cosmoworld

It's fun fun fun!

Cosmoworld is actually split in two, there's the more kiddy entertainment rides on the side with the Landmark tower, and then the rollercoasters and gaming arcades are over the water at the Ferris wheel. You can just walk through it and only pay for the rides you want to go on, which are all about 500 yen - 800 yen each.

There's a cute little street with indoor amusements

The Cosmoworld clock and the 2 rollercoasters

To go on the Cosmoworld Clock/Ferris Wheel (once the world's largest clock) costs 800 yen. It takes about 8 minutes to go around, and when you go in the evening you will be surrounded by cute young Japanese couples, although you will get a carriage to yourself (it fits about 6 people usually I imagine). It gives a good view of Yokohama and once again although it's not very exciting, it was quite pleasant. Also on the Ferriswheel side are some attractions that I didn't go on, so I can't verify if they are very worth the money.

There's a haunted house type thing, you walk through it with a torch (that also measures your scream on an amusing scale from wuss to nerves of steel both in English and Japanese). Outside the attraction were two scary looking doors and buttons that said "push me". My friend dared to push one, and the glass panel at the top of the door was actually a tv screen. They showed a film that made it look like we were looking into the room on the other side, and it was scary as hell (and I don't scare easily, honestly!). It showed a deranged looking girl in a bloody hospital gown and an axe walking steadily towards you, and when she eventually reaches the door, she slams the axe into it, at which point the door actually pushes out a little. Then it's over. We really weren't expecting the door to move and overall it was really scary!

Even with the scary movie outside, my friend and I still assumed it would be not scary like most haunted houses, but actually standing outside we heard horrified screams from inside, and a few minutes later a group of Japanese guys in their late 20s came out laughing hysterically and talking about how scary it was. It is now my biggest regret in life that I did not try out this haunted house, so if anyone dares to try it please let me know!

Chinatown

There's alot of this going on

This Chinatown is the biggest in Asia (apart from actual China perhaps). Basically it's full of streets with restaurants selling Chinese food, especially street vendors selling roasted chestnuts (I think) and the hugely popular Chinese dumplings (gyoza). There's also a lot of colorful Chinese temple-shrine things around, the nicest one I have pictured above. Overall it's a nice day out and I'd recommend a visit but again I didn't think it was the most fantastic thing in the world.

Panda kitty!

So, to recap Yokohama is a good place to visit, and I enjoyed it the few times I went. I haven't mentioned everything there is to do there, there's also a ramen museum, a zoo, an aquarium type theme park, a high class shopping street and a famous park/gardens. So go investigate and maybe you'll find some hidden gems. And to repeat, Yokohama is easily accessible from Tokyo, taking about 30 minutes on the Tokyu Toyoko line (it's the train with the red line on the side). 

I'll finish up with this picture I took of the Cosmoworld Clock at night. It lights up in all these wonderful colors!

Pretty