Yokohama Chinatown

The second you spot the massive, elaborately embossed Chinatown gate, you’ll feel like you’ve been transported out of Japan and into a little Chinese neighborhood, where Peking ducks hang in window displays, the calls of roasted chestnut vendors beckon, and a swirling haze rises from wooden steaming baskets. It’s a sensory overload of Chinese street food, in the best possible way. And even within Yokohama Chinatown, there is a diverse array of cuisines and cultures represented. In fact, Yokohama Chinatown is not a homogenous neighborhood, but contains little pockets of cultures, including Taiwanese cuisine and Hong Kong-style shops. Yokohama certainly does its sister city, Shanghai, proud with its vast Yokohama Chinatown, and even puts on annual Lunar New Year festivities, complete with lion and dragon dance performances, a lantern festival, and a parade.