YOKOHAMA, Japan – In the Miyazaki movie “From Up on Poppy Hill,” the Yokohama of the past is on full display. Stone-paved streets along hilly roads demarcate a certain bucolic port-side town.
Now, Yokohama straddles the line between the old and new. Industrial structures in Chinatown neighbor temples, rebuilt after a particularly strong earthquake. The youth line doorways to fortune-tellers. Instead of a mere re-telling of your palm, the brave are given a colored printout labeling their charts to peruse on the rail home.
Just outside of the town lines is the great Buddha statue, Kamakura Daibutsu. The bronze statue from 1252 sits watch over its many visitors each year. Surrounding this site are the hills of Kamakura, which forests wind through the area.
As a port town, it feels relatively quiet for the amount of commerce that is imported through its berth. Diverse tastes can be had in Yokohama, as stands and restaurants advertise the latest Chinese fad. It is an interesting stop to see the first Chinatown in a refreshingly modern take.
Though only one subway ride from Tokyo, it takes you outside of the cosmopolitan mindset into a transitory place where the past is still ever-present.
Yokohama Book Recommendations:
Sisters in Yellow, by Mieko Kawakami, 2026.
A young girl, growing up in harsh circumstances, connects with a mother figure, gets embroiled in the Tokyo underworld, and learns that appearances are not always what they seem
The Master of Go, by Yasunari Kawabata, 1938.
Play-by-play of the mundane and brilliant game of Go in a bygone era
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