Gity Guide - Yokohama

Thanks to its open harbour-frontage and generally low-rise skyline, YOKOHAMA feels far more spacious and airy than neighbouring Tokyo. Locals are proud of their city's international heritage, and there's definitely a cosmopolitan flavour to the place, with its scattering of Western-style buildings, Chinese temples and world cuisines, and its sizeable foreign community.

Though it can't claim any outstanding sights, Yokohama has enough of interest to justify a day's outing from Tokyo. It might seem strange to come all this way to look at nineteenth-century European-style buildings, but the upmarket suburb of Yamate is one of the city's highlights, an area of handsome residences, church spires and bijou teashops. Yamate's "exotic" attractions still draw Japanese tourists in large numbers, as do the vibrant alleys and speciality restaurants of nearby Chinatown . There's a clutch of assorted museums along the seafront, and north to where Kannai boasts a few grand old Western edifices, in complete contrast to Minato Mirai 21 's high-tech skyscrapers in the distance. This half-completed "harbour-city of the 21st century" forms the focus of Yokohama's ambitious plans to grab some of the initiative away from Tokyo.

A tour of these central sights will easily fill a day, but with a little extra time Sankei-en , just south of Yokohama, makes a good half-day excursion. This extensive Japanese garden provides a perfect backdrop for its collection of picturesque temples and other ancient buildings. If modern culture's more your thing, don't miss Shin-Yokohama's Ramen Museum en route back to Tokyo, which celebrates Japan's answer to the hamburger.

With the harbour bounding its east side, hills to the south and a couple of useful landmark towers, Yokohama is an easy enough place to get your bearings. On the north side of town, Yokohama Station functions as the city's main transport hub, offering train, subway, bus and even ferry connections, and featuring several gargantuan department stores. From here the JR Negishi line, part of the Keihin-Tohoku line, runs south through central Yokohama, passing the majority of sights and tourist facilities which lie scattered between the train tracks and the harbour. Kannai , two stops down the line, is the traditional downtown area and a focus for banks and prefectural offices.

Though much of Yokohama was destroyed in the 1923 earthquake and again in bombing raids during World War II, it retains a few European-style buildings from its days as a treaty port, some of which lie scattered around Kannai , the traditional city centre. For a more evocative atmosphere, climb up to Yamate (also known as "the Bluff"), a genteel residential area of clapboard houses, tennis clubs and church spires on the southern hills. Chinatown , back down on the levels, makes for a lively contrast, with its hoards of colourful trinket shops and bustling restaurants. From here it's a short stroll down to the harbour front Marine Tower and a couple of nearby museums, or a train ride north to where the aptly named Landmark Tower , Japan's tallest building, pinpoints the futuristic Minato Mirai 21 (MM21) development. Among its gleaming hotels, shopping malls and conference centres, there are a couple of specific sights, notably a modern-art museum and an incongruous four-masted barque, the Nippon-maru . All these central sights can be covered in an easy day's outing.

Most visitors to Yokohama head straight for Chinatown to eat, but there's also a huge variety of other world cuisines to choose from, including plenty of Japanese restaurants , of course. The shopping malls such as Landmark Plaza, Queen's Square and Shinko-cho's World Porters are the best hunting grounds, and all the major department stores have a restaurant floor, of which Soggo's has the greatest choice.

Though less boisterous than when the American GIs were passing through town on their way to the Vietnam War in the 1960s, Yokohama has no shortage of lively drinking holes. The west side of Yokohama Station comprises the main nightlife area, but the area around Chinatown and across to Kannai Station also has a sprinkling of bars. Summer brings the beer gardens : both Luminè department store (near Yokohama Station) and the Star Hotel sport the rooftop variety, or there's a real garden next to Yamate Jubankan .