THE Yokohama Guide: Family-Friendly Fun, from Cup Noodles to Chinatown!

THE Yokohama Guide: Family-Friendly Fun, from Cup Noodles to Chinatown!

Considered one of the most stylish cities in Japan with so much to do and only 30 minutes from Tokyo. Hi everyone, it’s Abby from Pctor. I’m a photographer and guide in Japan. And this is Yokohama. [Music] I have a feeling you guys would love to live here and I’m excited to show you as much as humanly possible in this city. So, let’s quickly look at a map of Yokohama so you can understand it better. Most of you will probably be coming here from Tokyo. So, if you leave from Tokyo Station and go to Yokohama Station, um it only takes around 26 minutes and that is pretty quick. So, this is a good day trip as well. So, most of the stuff you’ll be accessing in Yokohama will be on the Minato Midi line, which is a subway. And you can see it goes over to Yokohama Chinatown from Yokohama Station. And then right in the middle here is where like the Cup Middle Museum is, the red brick warehouse is and that’s in walking distance of Bashamichi station there. So you probably won’t be going anywhere outside of places within walking distance of the Minato Midi line. For that reason, Yokohama is extremely easy to get around. All right, we are here at our first stop, the Cup Noodle Museum. Very important location on the itinerary. So you have quite a few different options in order to get here. Your first would be if you are coming especially from Tokyo or really anywhere you can go to Sakuragi Cho station and that is very close to Yokohama station and what you can do is if you arrive after around this time you can take the ropeway over. If you don’t want to take the ropeway but you want to try something else interesting you can take the sea bus from Yokohama station to Hammerhead Pier. And third, if you don’t want to do either of those, or if you arrive here earlier in the morning, what you might want to do is just take the normal train. And what you can do is go to Minato Midi Station and you can walk around 11 minutes from there to here or just take a cab. All right, we’re here on a nonh holiday weekday in the morning. It opens at 10:00 and if that is when you will be here, you’re probably fine to not make a reservation online. But otherwise, and also if you’re just, you know, want to make sure you can get in. Uh you’d want to go online in advance and make the reservation. So I’ll have more info on that in my blog so that you can make sure you can get in and make your cup noodle. But I’m super excited. We have been to the one in Osaka before, which is so fun. but it’s a little bit out of the way. So, this is really nice that it’s sort of, like I said, right here in the middle of everything. And it’s been years since I have made my cup noodle. So, I’m so excited to make another one. [Music] All right. After you finish your cup decoration, you will get in line and then you will choose from four different types of cup noodle and that will be the regular, the curry, the seafood, and the chili tomato. And then you’ll choose four different toppings that you can put inside of that. So, while we’re making a cup noodle, they also have a place where you can actually make like instant noodles in here. And of course, you will need to check the availability for that. [Music] Once you’re done, you can make this super sick purse with your cup noodle tie. If you go up to the next floor, they have the cup noodles park for actual children. They have a restaurant. We’re in the restaurant, which feels like I’m in like Vietnam. I think that’s the point. Okay, so they have different types of noodles from different places. That’s their thing. So, we have China, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Italy, Indonesia, and normal Japan. What are you getting? You’re getting this?
Yeah.
Okay. I’m going to get Indonesia. This is It’s like so cute in here because they have uh each location that you can kind of get their noodles, they have a little area that looks like it. So like it’s more like Italian looking over here and then more like China. And then that’s why they look like kind of like Vietnam or Southeast Asia over here. I want to sit in Southeast Asia. This is This is hilarious. Oh my god. They even have like a motorcycle thing. This is so funny. So, this might look like it is a cup noodle, but it’s soft serve ice cream. Yes. I’m so excited for this. I like the no cherry on top, but ebie on top. Heck yeah. We also got to yama.
I’m surprised that it has shrink.
It has an actual shrimp on it. 500 yen for this. It’s 200 yen to get a juice from around the world. And I am waiting for mine. Some mood lighting in here though. I’ll give you that.
Spicy though.
Tomyum was good. Tom Yum was spicy. I tried it and I thought I was going to have a coughing fit, but it was really good. And then I got mango juice and mi boren, which is like took forever, but it’s fine. And it’s kind of like yaki soba. So it’s like fried noodles. I was literally just watching him fry these. But I like that it has these actual shrimp on top. So that’s nice. It’s like a kind of sweet yaki soba. And no, I have not had actual me gorin, which I’m probably saying completely wrong. I apologize before, but now I want to have the real thing if this is the cup noodle version being that good. Asia has such good food. Thank you, Asia. Well, they have they have like seven Asian countries and then they have Italian pasta. So, by the way, this ice cream, which I had some of while I was waiting, is literally cup noodle flavor. So, it literally says that and I did not read it, but it is it is cup noodle and it tastes like cup noodle. And the other one is cup noodle curry flavor. Yeah, that’s actual green onion and actual shrimp that I just ate on my soft serve. All right, folks. Get in. Get in. We’re We’re departing for our next location. Once you’re done at the Cup Noodle Museum, you have a few different options. You can either head over to Cosmo World behind me and enjoy the amusement park, or perhaps you can head over to the mall behind me, which is called World Porters. and you can enjoy some shopping in there. You have quite a few different lunch options. You can either have some noodles inside the cup noodle museum like we did. You have restaurants inside of World Porters behind me or you can eat at the Red Brick Warehouse, which is where we are going. So, let’s go. Getting from the Cup Noodle Museum, Cosmo World area to the Red Brick Warehouse only is like 5 minutes walking. So, it’s super convenient to get to. Honestly, I don’t even think it’s 5 minutes. I’m looking at it right now. All right, here we are at the Red Brick Warehouse, which is right on the water. So, this place was, as you might guess, originally used as a warehouse, uh, mainly for customs storage, but in 2002, it was reopened as a hall for food and shopping and events and basically everything you could possibly imagine. So, let’s go inside. We have everything from pizza to burgers to a Disney cafe to Japanese food. Oh my gosh, there’s so much Korean food. Omur ice. These are all um apple pies. This reminds me so much of that place in New York that I can’t think of the name of right now. Quarter pounder with cheese. Wow. We’re We’re in America. I’m home. Truly home. Who needs a Japanese themed skajang when you could get this? Wait, I like that. We got to get out of here. I was pose number one fan at one point in my life. Secondhand stores, of course. Can’t go to Japan and not run into these all the time. Honey, I found you a shirt. Thank god they have this something that’s actually themed after this place. Ramen. This is literally instant noodles. That’s so funny. If you watched my souvenir video, you’ll know that um Japanese denim is a good thing to buy while you’re here. And they literally sell Momoto jeans here, which is like one of the major major players in the game. This is a threat. Here it is, folks. The Shogun Burger. Some of you watching are probably like, “Why would I eat a burger in Japan?” But trust me, when you get here, you’ll get it. Also, it’s cute. It came with fries. I like this. This is so cute. Wow. Let’s eat it. And the reason I say you’ll be surprised is because I have a surprising number of people that I talk to uh on my tourism photo shoots and they say that they get a little bit tired of Japanese food sometimes. So, it’s nice to get something that’s familiar but still like fun and delicious. So, this is enormous. It’s on par with a pretty good American burger. It is incredibly easy to lose track of time in there. We just walked around looking at stuff and then ate a burger and it took like 90 minutes. So, there’s actually two buildings here. There’s the one that’s behind me that we were just in. And then there’s the other warehouse, which is this one that is now behind me. And we’re going to look at both. Next is a little coffee break at Uni Coffee Roasters, which is also in here. And this place is actually from Yokohama. This is its origin point. And now it’s sort of spread out a little bit throughout Japan. But they have lattes, they have drip coffee, they have food as well, and they have sweets. So, you have a variety of options of things to enjoy. And I’m a big proponent of staying caffeinated while you travel. So, it’s really good, good latte. They also have almonds, oat, and soy milk for you fellow lactose intolerance out there. Really nice. So, I gave Tape this wallet like six years ago, and it has uh done a good job. But we got a new one. Show me your new wallet. Is made in Japan leather special Yokohama edition. So, we love this. Lots of places to put stuff, including coins because this is Japan and you have to have that. But this was from inside the red brick warehouse by Sot Saut. After spending a little bit too much time and a little bit too much money at the red brick warehouse, we’re continuing on to Yamashta Park where we will then continue on to a really cool uh old ship museum because this is a port after all. So, got to see a ship at least once or twice. Here we are at Yamashta Park. Have a place you can sit and eat here, hang out with the view. This is a great place just to come and chill if you want to enjoy the the water. They also literally have a rose garden in the middle of Yamasha Park. Very cute. Once you’ve taken all your obligatory flower garden selfies, you can come over to the ship. This is the Hikawa Mu. This is a 1930s ocean liner that has made it this far. It’s been restored and turned into a maritime museum. So you can go aboard and you can see it as it would have been pretty much at the time. I feel like we’re on Titanic. Yeah, I know. That’s your That’s your meal right there. That’s for you. In preparation for the imbarcation of their Imperial Highnesses, Prince and Princess Chi-Chibu. They had food including snapping turtles. Maybe snapping turtles are high in protein for you. Yeah, I’d eat that. That looks good. Could you spend 13 days on this ship going to Seattle?
13 days only.
Only 13 days. Don’t say only 13 days. That’s too long. It’s 13 days too long on a boat. We’re finally off. I stopped filming like halfway through that. Boat people, you know who you are. You will enjoy this. Uh there’s a lot to see. So if you if that sounds like you, check this out. If that sounds like your kids, check this out. It’s so cheap. Why not? But if that does not sound like you, well, at least you know it’s here. So, here’s the sea bass that goes to all the different piers. So, instead of taking a bus, you can just take this boat. Right across from Yamasta Park is Yokohama Marine Tower. It was built in 1961. And you can get a nice view of the Yokohama skyline. and of course of the water. But don’t expect to see Mount Fuji. If you want to see Mount Fuji, you’re gonna want to check out one of the towers in Tokyo, which I actually have a video on if you need some help deciding which one to go to. All right, we took a little break at the hotel because my feet were tired and now we are at Chinatown. This place is awesome at night. This feels kind of like the Taiwan night markets, but uh to the cleanliness standard that Japan has. [Music] So, Yokohama was one of the first cities that opened up to the world after a period of isolationism from Japan. And for that reason, lots of Chinese traders would come here and move here and make this their home. And so, Chinatown has made it around 160 years. So, I think it’s definitely developed a lot, especially to Japanese people’s tastes. So, we’re almost to our all you can eat restaurant and I’m super excited. I am hungry. All right. So, the one that I chose because it was famous online with Japanese people is Cocho. See, it was on TV Tokyo different shows. All right. We sat down at Cochure and you can make a reservation online if you want and then you get to choose from an absolutely insane amount of things uh all you can eat for a certain period of time. And I’m so excited. I think we just ordered way too much food. So, we will see. Also, one thing to note about all the uh Chinese restaurants here is they do the same thing where if you um leave a Google review, they’ll give you something either like uh 500 yen off your total or a drink or whatever. Uh you have to take all the Google reviews for the restaurants of this area with a grain of salt. This is not really like a normal thing in Japan, but it is a normal thing in some other cultures. It’s It’s kind of against the rules, but I’m not the uh Google police. So, just letting you know that if you see places, they they’re probably going to have thousands of like five star reviews. That doesn’t necessarily mean it was five stars worthy. So, as far to take a gamble on this place because it seemed popular with Japanese people and it was on TV. So, uh it’s looking good so far. Our duck has come. Mako tofu. Duck. Wow. Seal of approval. The duck. Uh, ebie chili. Just uh shrimp and chili sauce. This is brazed pork. This is just the beginning. This is my duck wrap. The duck is surprisingly tender. We when we were in Taiwan, we ordered like incredibly expensive dots.
And to be honest, this is not like that much worse. It’s pretty it’s pretty satisfying. Also, it’s extremely loud in here because the people are drunk. One of my favorites is ebie chili. So, shrimp chili. That was good. Wow. I’m kind of surprised. No offense. Next, I have brazed pork. Why is this so good? I just spilled brazed pork on my pants. Okay, y’all. This is like actually pretty decent. Charon pork, a little dumplings, and a pork bun and shrimp. Shumai.
All right, people. I’m reporting back. Um, I am absolutely insanely full. I am so full. I want to lie down and just stay there for a while. I really enjoyed it. So, this is the highest praise. Was it the best Chinese food I’ve ever had? No. Did it hit the spot? 100%. I particularly recommend this kind of like all you can eat to people. Um, mainly because it allows you to try so many different things. If I wasn’t just extraordinarily full, I would keep going and eating. So, you’ll notice off the bat that a lot of buildings here have a very western looking influence. And that’s of course not only because it’s a port, but because after two centuries of uh isolation, Japan opened to the world uh with the Treaty of Amity with the US in 1854. And then only four years later, Yokohama was officially opened as a port city. And if you’re wondering why Yokohama was opened like right off the bat, it’s because it was somewhat close to Tokyo, uh, which was Edeto at the time, the capital, but it wasn’t close enough that they thought the outside influence would, uh, influence the capital. They wanted to keep the capital Japanese. So, we’re going to take the Minato Midi line. We’re going to head down here. And this is going to be one of the most convenient ways to get around a lot of Yokohama. [Music] So, we hopped on the train at platform 1 going to Moto Machi to Kagay. So, it’s literally the second stop. And follow the signs for Chinatown. Harry Potter.
I know. This This feels like the place of the end of Harry Potter. When he meets Dumbledore, it will be immediately obvious when you get to exit one to Chinatown. Chinatown has four of these main gates outside it. And they’re not just decoration. And they’re actually based on fangu principles. So basically it is to serve as protection for the area. If you want they have tai chi you can join that’s open to the public. I don’t think I’ll be joining but the option is there. All right, here we are. Shateni Migen. You will see Santa outside. So hard to miss. They actually have two locations though. So this place is famous for their rice porridge, which you can get with the fried bread sticks that I love so much. And we got this set because we’re ridiculous. So it comes with all of these things. And we also got chahan fried rice and it comes with soup. So it’s 9:00 a.m. Time to eat. The breakfast was really good. Very, very filling. I feel very content with everything I ate. So that was really nice. I haven’t had that kind of rice porridge before where you put like the bread in it and everything. So it was really fun. And all of those different things were toppings that you put onto your rice porridge and get a different experience every time. So this is Guantani Meow Temple. And I know I just butchered that because I only speak Japanese and English sometimes, but this is dedicated to the widely revered warrior from China. So he’s actually a legendary military general from the late Eastern Han dynasty. and he was put in a famous 14th century novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. So, this is a temple for warriors. So, if you don’t know Guan Yu, he is incredibly famous in China and in Taiwan. And he is popularly woripped at uh Chinese Buddhist temples as well as Tauist temples, which is what this is. This is Tao. And you will immediately notice if you’ve been to any other Japanese temples that the architecture is, of course, very unique and a bit different and much more colorful. So, it’s kind of uh over-the-top colorful, but I think it’s awesome. I think it’s really beautiful. Wow, look at these people running. It’s amazing. What a nice place to run, though. If I had to, like if someone held the guns in my head and made me run, I’d choose this place. We’ve come back to Uni Coffee Racers again. Really chill place to hang out if you have something you need to get done while you are here. All right. One thing that we really wanted to do while we were here is a dinner cruise. So, Yokohama is obviously a port city and so they have cruises you can take for just like an hour or two uh even at lunch and dinner time and you can go enjoy some food on a boat. So you can see that we’re at the red brick warehouse and right here at the port is Marine Rouge which is really far away still on camera but I’m feel like I’m close to it. So we paid to do the dinner cruise and they take you out for I think 90 minutes or something. We’ll find out when we’re on it and enjoy some food. And I’ve been looking forward to this. Well, honestly, I’ve been so impressed by Yokohama so far.
Two hours.
Uh, two hours, not 90 minutes. Extra bonus time. When I travel with family, sometimes the most fun part of our trips has been like doing food cruises like this because you get to go out and not only eat food that’s usually good, but you can see the city from a completely different place. So, it’s cool to really see it out from the water itself, especially at night when everything’s really shiny and pretty. Okay, here’s a boat. There she is. Marine Rouge. Ah, smells really good here. So, in order to do this, you’re going to want to book online in advance. Do not just show up. That will not work. [Music] All right, we got seated. You order your selection of food in advance, so you don’t have to worry about ordering. All you can do is just order drinks and enjoy once you’re already on here. So, they know what we’re going to get. And I am so excited. It’s like there’s basically no foreigners on here. So, just be aware of that. This is not like an English friendly environment, but it is really nice and I’m I’m lit. I’m lit for it. You can tell I’ve said this like 25 times. I get a nice view out here. The water and the people that get to sit there. It kind of feels like the beginning of a murder mystery though, to be honest with you. This is their signature drink, the Marine Rouge. It’s got like strawberries and sherbet on top. And I feel like this right now. So I want you to experience that with me. [Music] We’ve been eating food for a little bit and they told us we can go upstairs and we’re going to go under the bay bridge here. This boat is so cute. That’s it for this video. Make sure you check out the blog for more info and I’ll see you guys in the next video. Bye. [Music]

Only 26 minutes from Tokyo?! Yokohama is the stunning seaside city you’re about to fall in love with!

In this Yokohama travel guide, I’ll show you exactly where to go, what to eat, and how to experience the best of Yokohama. It’s actually one of my favorite cities in Japan!

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From scenic waterfront parks and historic neighborhoods to mouthwatering Chinatown eats, vibrant shopping streets, and spectacular skyline views, this guide covers everything you need for your Yokohama itinerary.

What’s inside this video:
Top attractions in Yokohama
Great food spots
Where to shop, explore, and soak up Yokohama’s charm
Helpful travel tips, transit info, and ticket prices
My personal recommendations for a perfect Yokohama day trip