Yokohama in 3 days

Sankeien Garden (三渓園 — "Three-Valley Garden"; in the Honmoku district, 5 km south of Yamashita Park; created by the silk merchant and collector Hara Sankei (1868-1939) between 1906 and 1922 as the most important private Japanese garden-and-architecture museum in the Kanto region): the creator (Hara Sankei (原 三溪 — born Hara Tomitaro; the silk merchant who became one of the wealthiest men in Meiji Japan from the Yokohama raw silk export trade (the Yokohama silk export was Japan's most important export commodity in the Meiji period (1868-1912) — the Yokohama port handled 70-80% of all Japanese silk exports; the silk merchants of Yokohama (the "kiito nakagai" — the raw silk brokers) were the most internationally connected Japanese businessmen of the Meiji era)); the garden (the Sankeien covers 175,000 m²: the "Inner Garden" (the private garden of the Hara family, the most carefully curated zone): 10 significant historic Japanese architectural structures transplanted from their original locations (primarily the Kyoto, Nara and Kyushu temple and shrine complexes that were being demolished or allowed to decay) and re-erected in the Sankeien garden (the most important: the Rinshunkaku (臨春閣 — the 17th century Shoin-style villa (the "overlooking-spring-pavilion"): the villa built c. 1649 for the Kii Tokugawa domain (the sub-branch of the Tokugawa shogunal family at Wakayama); transplanted to Sankeien 1917: the finest example of late Edo Shoin residential architecture surviving in the Kanto region); the three-storey pagoda (the "Tomyoji-to" (燈明寺塔 — the 1457 Muromachi-period pagoda from the Tomyoji Temple in Kyoto): the most visually prominent structure in the Sankeien garden, visible above the treetops from the entrance area)); the seasonal beauty (the Sankeien is famous for seasonal flowers: the cherry blossom (late March-early April), the wisteria (late April-early May), the iris (June), the plum blossom (February)).

Yamate Bluff (山手 — Yamate; "the mountain hand/side": the hillside district above the Motomachi commercial street and the Chinatown, rising to 40-60 m above sea level; the most historically significant residential area in Yokohama): the history (the Yamate district was designated as the foreign residential zone of the Yokohama treaty port settlement from 1867 (when the Japanese government moved the foreigners from the low-lying Kannai settlement to the hilltop above the harbour, ostensibly for better ventilation but primarily to separate the foreign community from the Japanese population more completely): the "Bluff" (the "Bluff" — the Meiji-era English name for the Yamate hillside (derived from the nautical term "bluff" for a headland): the term used by the foreign community to refer to the entire foreign settlement area on the Yamate hillside; the Negishi Gaijin Bochi (根岸外人墓地) — the Foreigners' Cemetery (the cemetery on the Yamate hillside containing the graves of approximately 4,200 foreign residents of Meiji-era Yokohama (40 nationalities represented): the most significant single monument to the international history of Yokohama (the cemetery dates from the treaty opening period (the first burial 1854 — a US sailor from Commodore Perry's expedition who died before the treaty port opened)); the Western-style houses (the Yamate district contains 7 Western-style residences from the 1920s (the post-1923 Kanto Earthquake reconstruction period — the 1923 earthquake destroyed the original Victorian-era foreign settlement buildings; the surviving Western-style buildings in Yamate are all post-earthquake reconstructions from the 1920s in the colonial Dutch-style and Spanish Mission Revival style): the 7 buildings are publicly accessible for free as the "Yokohama Yamate Western-Style Houses").

Cup Noodles Museum Yokohama (カップヌードルミュージアム横浜 — the Andō Momofuku Museum in Minato Mirai 21; dedicated to the story of instant ramen (the "chicken ramen" and the "cup noodles" — the most widely consumed processed food in the world: approximately 120 billion servings of instant noodles consumed per year (2024) — more than 15 servings per person per year for every human on earth)): the inventor (Andō Momofuku (安藤百福 — 1910-2007): the Japanese-Taiwanese inventor and entrepreneur who invented instant ramen at age 48 (1958) and cup noodles at age 61 (1971): the two most important food technology inventions in 20th-century Japan): the invention story (the Chicken Ramen invention (1958): Andō observed people queuing for food in post-war Osaka (the food shortages of the 1950s recovery period) and set himself the challenge of creating a ramen that could be prepared in minutes by adding hot water: the process (the flash-frying method: the noodles are pre-cooked, flavoured, and then flash-dried in hot oil to remove moisture (the "flash frying" — the key insight: frying the pre-cooked noodles removes the water while creating the porous structure that allows rapid rehydration when boiling water is added): the resulting product: "Chicken Ramen" (the first instant noodle product); the Cup Noodles invention (1971): the insight of placing the noodles in a polystyrene foam cup that serves as both the cooking vessel and the eating container (the "Cup Noodle" — the invention of the eating-from-the-cup-with-fork concept: Andō noticed American supermarket buyers in 1966 breaking his chicken ramen into small pieces and placing them in a paper cup with hot water — leading to the cup noodle concept); the Museum (the Cup Noodles Museum: the My Cup Noodles Factory (the most popular interactive exhibit — visitors design their own cup noodle cup (the label design: ¥500 (€3.25) per cup) and choose from 4 soup flavours and 12 toppings): the highest queues are for this activity (average wait: 45-90 minutes on weekends).

Yokohama evening at the Red Brick Warehouses (the Yokohama Akarenga Sōko — the two 1911-1913 customs bond warehouses converted to the most atmospheric evening venue in Yokohama): the Yokohama craft beer scene (the Yokohama craft beer tradition: the most historically important beer city in Japan (the first Western-style beer brewery in Japan was established in Yokohama in 1869 — the Spring Valley Brewery (established by the Norwegian-American William Copeland in the Yamate district): the Spring Valley Brewery became the Kirin Brewery Company (キリンビール) in 1907 (the Kirin brand name taken from the mythological Chinese creature — the "qilin" — on the Spring Valley label): Kirin is now one of the largest beer companies in the world; the Spring Valley Brewery name (the "Spring Valley" brand) was revived in 2016 as a Kirin craft beer sub-brand); the modern Yokohama craft beer scene (the Red Brick Warehouse houses two permanent craft beer establishments: the "Yokohama Beer" taproom (the oldest Yokohama microbrewery, established 1998, producing ales and lagers in the Yokohama style — the "Katen Wheat" (the cloudy wheat ale most associated with the Yokohama Beer brand)) and the "Baird Beer" Minato Taproom (the Numazu-based craft brewery with the Yokohama waterfront taproom)); the view (the evening view from the Red Brick Warehouse terrace across Minato Mirai 21 (the Landmark Tower illuminated at night, the Cosmo Clock 21 ferris wheel (the 112.5 m Ferris wheel — once the largest in the world (1989-1999)), the Yokohama Marine Tower (the 106 m lighthouse-tower at the Yamashita Park entrance) and the lights of the cargo ships in Tokyo Bay.

Yokohama Museum of Art (横浜美術館 — the Yokohama Bijutsukan; in the Minato Mirai 21 district, adjacent to the Queen's Square shopping complex; the most important permanent art collection in the Yokohama-Kanagawa region): the building (the Yokohama Museum of Art was designed by Tange Kenzō (丹下健三 — the most important Japanese architect of the 20th century: the designer of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, the Yoyogi National Gymnasium for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and dozens of other landmark Japanese public buildings): the Yokohama Museum (1989) is one of Tange's last major public commissions: the building (the 1989 museum building: the symmetrical concrete and granite facade with the central atrium (the "grand gallery" — the 18 m high glass-roofed atrium that forms the central circulation space of the museum)); the collection (the permanent collection: 12,000+ works (the largest permanent collection in Yokohama): the most important holdings: the 20th century Japanese Western-style painting (the "yōga" — the Japanese modernism in Western oil-paint technique: the Meiji-era Japanese artists trained in Paris (Kuroda Seiki, Fujishima Takeji) and the post-war Japanese avant-garde (the Gutai group (Shiraga Kazuo, Murakami Saburō — the artists who in 1955 began performing "painting" by dragging their bodies through pools of paint on canvas while gallery visitors watched (the first performance art in Japan)))); the European photography collection (the museum holds one of the largest collections of European and American fine art photography in Japan (Man Ray, André Kertész, Diane Arbus, Cindy Sherman)); the 20th century Japanese photography (Domon Ken, Araki Nobuyoshi)

Kamakura day trip (鎌倉 — the historical capital of Japan from 1185 to 1333, 25 km southwest of Yokohama: 40 min from Yokohama Station by the Yokosuka Line or the Enoden Line (the narrow-gauge electric railway that follows the Pacific coast of the Miura Peninsula)): the history (the Kamakura shogunate (鎌倉幕府 — 1185-1333) was the first military government (the "bakufu" — the "tent government") in Japanese history: the samurai class (the "bushi") of eastern Japan under Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147-1199) defeated the rival Taira clan in the Genpei War (1180-1185) and established the Kamakura Shogunate in 1185 as an alternative power centre to the imperial court in Kyoto — the beginning of 700 years of samurai rule in Japan (1185-1868)); the Great Buddha (the Kotoku-in Daibutsu (高徳院大仏 — the Great Buddha of Kamakura): a 13.35 m seated bronze Amida Buddha statue (the second largest bronze Buddha statue in Japan (after the 18.03 m Todai-ji Nara Daibutsu): the Great Kamakura Buddha was cast in 1252 CE during the Kamakura Shogunate — its original wooden structure that originally enclosed it was destroyed by the 1334 and 1498 tsunamis (the 1498 Meiō earthquake tsunami (the Nankai megathrust earthquake estimated at M 8.6 — the same fault zone that generated the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake): the wooden hall was never rebuilt after 1498, leaving the Buddha exposed to the elements for 500+ years); the Tsurugaoka Hachimangū (the central Shinto shrine of Kamakura (dedicated to Hachiman — the god of archery and war, the patron deity of the samurai class): the shrine built by Minamoto no Yoritomo 1180 at the city's founding.

Yokohama Marine Tower (横浜マリンタワー — the 106 m lighthouse-tower at the eastern entrance to Yamashita Park, on the edge of the Yokohama harbour front): the history (the Yokohama Marine Tower was built in 1961 for the 100th anniversary of the Yokohama treaty port opening (the centenary of June 2, 1859 — the date when Yokohama opened to foreign trade under the Harris Treaty of 1858); the tower was designed as a functioning lighthouse (the Marine Tower was the tallest lighthouse in the world when completed in 1961 (106 m — the previous record was held by the Genoa Lighthouse in Italy (77 m))); the lighthouse function (the Marine Tower served as an active lighthouse in Tokyo Bay from 1961 to 1999 (the advance of maritime electronics (GPS and AIS navigation) made the lighthouse function obsolete); the tower reopened as a pure observation tower in 2022 after a major renovation (the new high-speed elevator to the 95 m observation deck, the glass floor section on the observation deck)); the view (the Marine Tower sunset view (from the 95 m observation deck at sunset): the west-facing windows (toward the Minato Mirai skyline): the Landmark Tower (296 m), the Cosmo Clock 21 Ferris wheel (112.5 m), the MM21 towers illuminated in the last light; the east-facing windows (toward Tokyo Bay): the harbour traffic (the container ships of the Yokohama port — Japan's largest port by cargo volume, second only to Kobe historically but now the primary gateway for Tokyo metropolitan area imports), the Boso Peninsula horizon, the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line bridge-tunnel (the 15.1 km Tokyo Bay crossing completed 1997)

Yokohama farewell dinner (the most characteristic Yokohama food for the departure evening — the Yokohama Kiyoken shu-mai (崎陽軒シウマイ)): the Kiyoken siu mai (the Kiyoken (崎陽軒 — "Auspicious-Sunrise Pavilion"): the Yokohama-based food company founded 1908 (the most famous of all Yokohama food brands): the shu-mai (the siu mai — the open-topped steamed pork dumpling of Chinese origin (the "shāomài" — the Cantonese-style steamed dumpling with the pork and prawn filling wrapped in the thin round wonton wrapper, the top open and filled with a single pea or prawn): the Kiyoken "Shiumai" is the most famous ekiben (the train-station bento box) in Japan: the small round pork dumplings (each approximately 3 cm diameter) made to a recipe unchanged since the 1920s: the pork-and-dried-scallop filling (the dried Hokkaido scallop (Patinopecten yessoensis) that gives the Kiyoken shu-mai its distinctive sweetness and umami different from the Cantonese original) in a thin wheat flour wrapper, steamed and served cold (the most innovative aspect of the Kiyoken product: unlike all other shu-mai, the Kiyoken product is designed to be eaten cold (the shu-mai is not as good when reheated — the texture of the wrapper and the meat filling is optimised for room temperature), which makes it the ideal train food); the shoyu-tare (the small shoyu (soy sauce) condiment bottle in the shape of a reclining lion (the Kiyoken "Hyotan-tare" — the gourd-shaped soy sauce vessel: the most famous food packaging in Japan) that comes with every Kiyoken shu-mai purchase)