Yokohama

METコラム「横浜」

11000619_769305596493179_5981174445344190113_nEntrance gate of Chinatown *Photo by Megumi Honzawa  

 

Daniel Penso
Columnist/Proofreader/Translator

Yokohama – This is a household name even in America.
I went here for the first time in 1998 with some friends for cuisine in Yokohama’s famous Chinatown on the way to visiting a friend’s relative house.
Unlike much of Tokyo, Yokohama has wide streets and feels quite spacious. It is riff with foreign influences dating back to the days of Commodore Perry and the smoke bellowing black ships that he brought in to open Japan to the West.

As a dating area, I was interested in bringing someone special here so took the train from Shibuya which is also shared by many commuters from Kanagawa Prefecture who work in the Tokyo area. After 40 minutes of a ride through southwest Tokyo, you pass by Yokohama station and reach Sakuragi-cho, a suburb of Yokohama.
The night view from that station is dazzling with neon lights and a ferris wheel backed by the Akarengagai (Red Brick District), teeming with delicious restaurants and quaint shops. Yokohama Bay Bridge is another site to enjoy driving over or viewing.  

 

Daniel Penso

11268037_1134958533187338_6034269962714488589_n

Lived in Tokyo from 1999 – 2009 and calls it his second home. Currently he resides in Oregon and is a Japanese-English translator. He enjoys traveling, learning languages and cuisine. When visiting Japan, he enjoys watching rakugo shows.
*J-E/E-J Translation: http://www.myeyestokyo.jp/translation
*His columns: https://www.myeyestokyo.com/tag/daniel-penso/