City Spotlight: Yokohama China Town (Chukagai)

This is Japan's largest China Town. It's full of bright, gaudy, ornate gates and temples, Chinese restaurants, and loads of shops.

This is a good place to buy tie-died hippie clothes, truckloads of cheap souvenir tat, and overpriced Chinese food. It's probably very good - I've enjoyed what I've had - but I would usually expect Chinese restaurants in a China Town to be quite cheap. Instead they sell probably the most expensive Chinese food I've seen in Japan. I guess it may be more authentic?...

You can also see Japan's most over-merchandised character in - wait for it - a panda suit!!

On a less snarky note, it's also a place to walk around while munching on a nikuman (Chinese steamed bun) or eating an icecream, or some hot chestnuts. You can buy various Chinese ingredients, tea, and cooking tools here. I always go here to buy jasmine tea; they're the cheapest and best tea bags I've found. Fortune tellers also do quite a trade here.

This place can be a little sleepy and quiet on weekdays, but on weekends it comes to life. You can also go and be traumatised by the paintings on the walls of Ishikawacho station.

City Spotlight: Motomachi

Motomachi is a street/area in Yokohama, near Chukagai (Chinatown). At one end of the main street is JR Ishikawacho station; at the other, Motomachi-Chukagai station.

Motomachi is a nice place to talk a walk, though there's not much actually there. On weekdays it tends to be a favourite haunt of old ladies walking little dogs with coats. If you like spending too much a lot of money on designer goods, you might enjoy the shopping. My own recommendations are the import food stores, the bookstore (which has quite a decent English selection, for a small store), and some eateries.

HB cafe (Happy Birthday cafe) is a cute little cafe near Ishikawa-cho station; it's one street over from the main Motomachi shopping street. It has good burgers, and quite nice cakes, muffins, coffee, etc. Most of all, I love their cookies. ^_^

Hara donuts - this photo is the only time I've seen the store without a small queue of people outside. My hairdresser told me this place is kind of famous, but nobody else I've talked to has heard of it... hahaha... 

Anyway, these donuts are organic and supposedly somewhat healthier than average donuts, though they still leave your fingers greasy when you eat them. They are a little bit cakey and less sweet than some other donuts. Every time I go to Motomachi I buy a couple; the white chocolate ones are my favourite. ^_^

Pompadour is a decent place to have a nice sandwich and a cappuccino. I used to study Japanese here, before I discovered HB. It's a (chain) bakery but also has a small cafe section.

Motomachi is very near China Town, Yamashita Park, Minato no Mieru Oka Park (Harbour View Park), and the Yamate foreign houses, cemetery, etc. You might like to include it in your trip if you're visiting some of those places.