Yokohama: back to the future

The weekend just gone I took a day trip to Yokohama, Japan's second biggest city. While it is technically a different city, it's only half an hour away by train and has become almost connected to Tokyo due to continuing expansion of the urban sprawl.

Due to the arrival of an American fleet in 1853, Yokohama rapidly went from small fishing village to major international port as the Japanese finally embraced other countries. It became the gateway for Western influence and as a result, there is a palpable sense of history, which you tend not to get in Tokyo.

I started by ascending the Landmark Tower, which stands at 296 metres and is the country's tallest building. The lift to the top was incredibly quick, taking 40 seconds to reach the summit at 45km/h. It was a slightly overcast day, but you could see the Tokyo skyline approaching like an army on the horizon with Mount Fuji peaking out of the clouds on the opposite side.

I then went to the Yokohama Art Museum. It included Japanese paintings, sculptures and scriptures from the 1800's as well as some more modern works. There were also pieces by Picasso and Cezanne. In addition, I enjoyed looking at a collection of photos taken on the remote islands of Okinawa (off the South coast). They focused on the US forces that were stationed there following World War II and revealed interesting tales of island life. To give you an idea of how remote these islands are, they are reachable via a 25 hour boat ride from the bottom of Japan.

After the Art Museum, I visited the 'Yokohama Archives of History', which gave greater detail on how Yokohama was such an important part of modernising Japan. It was interesting to look at the maps and see how the city transformed. Everything was destroyed by the Earthquake of 1923 and then again during World War II, but it was built back almost identically. The second picture below is from the original 'Guide to Yokohama', first published in 1860, although this version is from 1865/66.

For lunch I went to Chinatown, having overdosed on Japanese food the last few weeks. It's the biggest of its kind in Japan as over 6,000 Chinese came to Yokohama (mainly from Shanghai) when the trade agreement was signed and they still have a big population in the city today.

I finished the day wandering around the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse. Originally used as customs buildings, they have now been converted into a trendy shopping and restaurant promenade.