Glenn described the following options for our four days in Yokohama:

Daytime Options

(Most take between one and two hours and can be combined with others in a single morning or afternoon.)

Go to Sankeien Garden and enjoy the natural beauty and the classic architecture transported from all parts of Japan in the late 19th century by the silk merchant who poured all of his money into the park and then presented it to the city

Walk around Yamashita Park and the nearby area, including the Doll Museum and the Yokohama Archives of History (a small historical museum in the former British Consulate), as well as the Marine Tower and the Hikawa Maru passenger liner (with a beer garden on deck in the evening)

Walk around Chinatown, shopping or not, buying or not, soaking up atmosphere at the restaurants, stores, and the old temple, and go to China Museum for one-stop-shopping, dining, and entertainment

Walk around the old residential area of Yamate, including the Foreign Cemetery, Harbor View Park, four Christian churches and a number of missionary schools (including Saint Maur), seven restored Western-style houses (including that of the British Ambassador), and an atmosphere redolent of the days when it was an extraterritorial treaty settlement

Walk from Yamashita Park along the harborside Kaikō-no-Michi promenade to the Aka-Renga (red brick) warehouses, now restored with shops and restaurants, and beyond the Minato Mirai area, including the harborfront Rinkō Park with a great view of the bay and the Bay Bridge

Explore the Minato Mirai area, including Landmark Tower (with an observation platform on the 75th floor), Landmark Plaza and Queens Square shopping malls, and the Maritime Museum with the Nippon Maru sailing ship

Travel by water taxi from Yamashita Park to Minato Mirai (Inter-Continental Hotel) or Aka-Renga (or the reverse), or take a longer cruise around Yokohama harbor and under the Bay Bridge

Ride the brand-new Minato Mirai subway line from Motomachi to Queens Square and back and/or ride a rickshaw around Yokohama

Shop in Motomachi street at Chie’s favorite stores

Another Morning Option: On Friday morning at 8:15, come to Sacred Heart Cathedral for the Senior Graduation Mass—but only if you really want to! It is a small parish church despite its diocesan status. It will be filled with the seniors, their parents and guests, and the students of Grades 6–11, so there will not be many empty seats. Please don’t feel compelled to come. Dad is guaranteed a seat (with the 9th graders), but the rest of you would probably have to sit behind the 11th graders at the back of the balcony.

Dinner Options

(for Thursday, Friday, and Sunday nights)

Chinatown is the culinary core of restaurants in Yokohama. There is cuisine from every region of China (although Cantonese predominates) and there are restaurants for every budget.

For Japanese food, there is an all-you-can-eat buffet on Friday and Sunday at the Mielparque Hotel, as described earlier. There are more upscale Japanese restaurants in the areas below.

The biggest concentration of all kinds of restaurants is in the four new shopping malls in and around Minato Mirai: Landmark Plaza, Queens Square, World Porters, and the Aka-Renga red brick warehouses. You can find many types of Western, Chinese, Japanese, and Asian food.

Most restaurants have a menu outside to gauge the prices and/or plastic models of food to indicate what you’re likely to get. Some will have an English menu. You are all adventurous, so go for it!