Yokohama: Old and New

Our visit to Yokohama turned out to be a history lesson. Yokohama was a sleepy fishing village when American warships landed in 1853, which began a few decades of colonial occupation of Japan, sowing seeds to Japan's eventual imperial aspirations. This history may be brief, but left indelible marks on the city. Today a number of the colonial mansions high up on a bluff are public cultural venues. This time of the year they are decked out in Christmas fineries, sponsored by various embassies .e.g. Vietnam, Austria, Peru.













The number one tourist attraction for Yokohama has to be Chinatown, the biggest in Japan, among the top 5 in the world. It started by Chinese workers brought by the colonists. It harbored many anti-Qing activists, such as Sun Yat-Sen, who eventually established the Republic of China in 1911.









Another stop was the New Grand Hotel, where General MacArthur first set up shop for Occupation after WWII after he landed in Yokohama. Only a couple of commercial streets/areas are still reminiscent of that time, Motomichi and Noge.









Much of Yokohama has shiny new buildings, most notably the redevelopment of the old Mitsubishi shipyard. While there are kilometers of waterfront promenade, the shopping and amusement areas seem to attract many young people during the weekend, quite a few speaking foreign languages. There may be easy and immediate solutions to Japan's aging population.











Flying Into Haneda Airport.




Lunch spot.




Art Deco Government Building from the 1930's.


More Fall Foliage.