Hilma

Where Hilma would send you

1. 1 Nippon Maru Memorial Park & Yokohama Port Museum Attraction Sep 14
   Nippon Maru Memorial Park & Yokohama Port Museum

   ★★★★★ Hilma's pick

   The four-masted barquentine Nippon Maru moored in a harbour basin, with the Landmark Tower rising behind it — the whole story of modern Japan in one view. Combined ticket gives you the ship's deck, the crew quarters, and the port museum next door. An hour, easy.

   1-1-1 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 220-0012

   
2. 2 Yokohama Chinatown Attraction Sep 14
   Yokohama Chinatown

   ★★★★★ Hilma's pick

   Japan's largest Chinatown, 500+ restaurants representing ten Chinese regional cuisines. Enter through the Suzaku (Vermilion Bird) Gate and follow the steam. The yaki shoronpo (pan-fried soup dumplings) from the street-side window stalls are the walk-and-eat move. Peak crowd at lunch; aim for 15:00 if you want space.

   Yamashita-cho, Naka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 231-0023
3. 3 Yokohama Museum of Art Attraction Sep 14
   Yokohama Museum of Art

   ★★★★★ Hilma's pick

   Kenzo Tange building housing the Yuko Mohri Venice Biennale homecoming exhibition (Jul 24–Nov 23) and the Marie Antoinette costume survey (Aug 1–Nov 23) in the same ticket. One of the strongest contemporary art programmes in the Greater Tokyo Area right now. Closed Thursdays.

   3-4-1 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 220-0012
4. 4 Cup Noodles Museum Yokohama Attraction Sep 14
   Cup Noodles Museum Yokohama

   ★★★★ Hilma's pick

   Not ironic, not cheap: a genuinely reverent monument to Momofuku Ando's invention of instant ramen. You can design your own cup noodles in a 1970s-style assembly line. Ando's original backyard shed is reconstructed inside. The food court serves noodle dishes from eight countries.

   2-3-4 Shinko, Naka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 231-0001
5. 5 Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum Attraction Sep 14
   Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum

   ★★★★ Hilma's pick

   Not actually a museum — it's a basement food hall designed as a 1958 Tokyo street, lined with nine ramen shops from different regions of Japan. You order small bowls, eat your way across Hokkaido to Kyushu. Weekdays 11:00–21:00, weekends 10:30–21:00. Near Shin-Yokohama Station.

   2-14-21 Shinyokohama, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 222-0033
6. 6 Sankeien Garden Attraction Sep 14
   Sankeien Garden

   ★★★★ Hilma's pick

   A 175,000 m² Japanese garden with a three-storey pagoda moved here from Kyoto, a thatched farmhouse from the Gifu mountains, and an elegant 17th-century teahouse. Quiet even by Yokohama standards — most visitors stay in Minato Mirai and miss this. 9:00–17:00, last entry 16:30.

   58-1 Honmoku Sannotani, Naka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 231-0824
7. 7 Keitokuchin Restaurant Sep 14
   Keitokuchin

   ★★★★ Hilma's pick

   The reliable Sichuan specialist in Chinatown — mapo tofu, dan dan noodles, lunch sets under ¥1,000. No queue at odd hours, which is its own kind of recommendation in a district where every second shop has a line. Order the mapo tofu and eat it fast; it cools in three minutes.

   149 Yamashita-cho, Naka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 231-0023