Yokohama Chinatown

After clearing immigration and customs, I made my way to the coin lockers at the arrivals level, only to discover that they were all occupied. The lockers on the left side of the departure hall were also fully occupied. I made my way to the last cluster of lockers on the other side of the departure and breathed a sigh of relief when there were lockers available.

With my larger bag safely stowed away, I made my way to the Keikyu line and took a train to Yokohama Station. From there, I took the local Minatomirai line to its sixth and last station and exited at Yokohama Chinatown in time for lunch.

Yokohama Chinatown is a street food paradise, and I spent lunchtime exploring the various stalls. Sadly, there actually wasn't much variety as the stalls were mostly selling variations of the same street snacks. I ate fried chicken, a seafood dumpling, and a large meat bao. Each of the stalls I patronised also had a designated area to stand/sit and eat, which was most welcome as eating while walking is considered rude in Japan. These morsels, chased with a soft serve and a pocari sweat, really hit the spot.

Apart from the street snacks, I looked for the various gates around Chinatown, and I just enjoyed the vibe of being in a crowd of likeminded people looking for good eats in tight alleyways. Interestingly, only one vendor addressed me in Mandarin; I expected more given the number of Chinese tourists visiting Japan nowadays.Read more