Yamashita Park

Yamashita Park is a graceful strip of greenery running along Yokohama's harbour front, celebrated as the first seaside park in Japan and one of the most pleasant places in the city for a stroll. It was opened in 1930 on land created in a distinctive way: the rubble and debris from the devastating Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 was used to reclaim this stretch of waterfront, turning the ruins of one disaster into a lasting public amenity. The result is a long, flat promenade planted with lawns, flower beds and trees, facing directly onto Tokyo Bay.

The park's most famous resident is the Hikawa Maru, a beautiful ocean liner moored permanently alongside. Built in 1930, she once carried passengers, including reportedly Charlie Chaplin, across the Pacific to Seattle and Vancouver, served as a hospital ship during the war, and now sits as a floating museum. Visitors can board her to explore restored art-deco first-class lounges, dining rooms and cabins, the engine room and the bridge, a vivid window into the golden age of ocean travel.

Flowers are the park's other signature. The rose gardens, refreshed and expanded in recent years, put on their finest display in late spring and again in autumn, filling beds with hundreds of varieties and drawing photographers and couples. Throughout the year the park is a favourite spot for locals to jog, picnic, walk dogs and simply sit facing the sea, and its wide paved sea wall offers uninterrupted views across the harbour to the Yokohama Bay Bridge, passing ships and, at night, the lights of the port.

Several monuments dot the lawns, including the Statue of the Little Girl with Red Shoes, inspired by a well-known Japanese children's song, and a Guardian of the Water fountain donated by San Diego, one of Yokohama's sister cities, reflecting the city's long history as an international port. The park is also a prime vantage point for Yokohama's summer fireworks and harbour events.

What makes Yamashita Park so useful to visitors is its position. It sits directly beside Yokohama Chinatown and the Motomachi shopping street, and connects along the waterfront to the Osanbashi International Passenger Terminal, the Red Brick Warehouse and the wider Minato Mirai district, so it slots naturally into a day of harbour-side sightseeing. The Marine Tower observation tower and the Doll Museum stand just across the road. Entry to the park is free and it never closes, making it an easy stop at any hour; boarding the Hikawa Maru carries a modest fee. Reached in a few minutes from Motomachi-Chukagai Station, breezy, green and full of history, Yamashita Park is the perfect place to pause and take in the sea air between Yokohama's busier attractions.