Photo spot in Yokohama
Yokohama Chinatown
Japan's largest Chinatown: painted gates, red lanterns and two temples packed into a few blocks, a short walk from the harbour.
About Yokohama Chinatown
Get directionsChinatown grew up beside the foreign settlement after the port opened, and today it is the largest in Japan: hundreds of restaurants and shops in a grid of streets marked by ornate gates. The Kanteibyo temple, dedicated to Guan Yu, and the Masobyo temple, dedicated to the sea goddess Mazu, are the most colourful buildings, carved, painted and gilded.
The streets are narrow and busy from lunchtime on, so photos work best early in the day, when the gates and side streets are empty, or after dark, when the lanterns are lit. At the temples, follow the rules posted at the entrance; photographing the altars may not be allowed.
Around Chinese New Year, in January or February, the streets fill with extra lanterns and lion dances — spectacular, and very crowded.
Best time to shoot
Early morning for empty streets; after dark for the lanterns
Tips
Plan the gates first and the food second — the main street is easiest before 11 am. Motomachi-Chukagai station is right at the edge of Chinatown.
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Other spots in Yokohama
Osanbashi Pier and the Minato Mirai skyline
A wooden roof deck over the cruise terminal, open day and night, looking straight across the water at the Landmark Tower, the Ferris wheel and the sail-shaped hotel.
The Red Brick Warehouses and the Kishamichi promenade
Two red-brick port warehouses from the 1910s on the waterfront, reached along a promenade laid on an old railway line.
The Yamate hill and Harbor View Park
The hill of the old foreign settlement: Western-style houses, a rose garden and a lookout over the harbour and the Bay Bridge.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know Yokohama Chinatown — free of charge.
