The terminal's roof undulates like the back of a whale. At Osanbashi, you disembark onto an immense terrace of boards and lawns where residents come to stroll, photograph the bay and picnic facing the ships; couples even come to pose in wedding attire at sunset. Few ports in the world turn the arrival into a public promenade like this. Yokohama, Japan's second city and Tokyo's immediate neighbour, has cultivated this art of blending the sea with urban life ever since it opened to the world in 1859.

First steps along the bay

From the gangway, everything is organized on foot. Five minutes are enough to reach Yamashita Park, a long ribbon of greenery facing the water where the Hikawa Maru is moored, a 1930s ocean liner that once linked Japan to Vancouver and Seattle. Cruise passengers feel on familiar ground here: the city was built on transpacific crossings, and its waterfront keeps that memory at every pier. The skyscrapers of Minato Mirai close off the horizon on one side, the colourful gates of Chinatown on the other.

The largest Chinatown in Japan

About ten minutes' walk away, monumental gates open onto a maze of lanes where bamboo steamers puff away. Yokohama's Chinatown, the largest in the country, lines up hundreds of restaurants, temples with glazed roofs and tea shops. You bite into a piping hot bao standing in the street, compare windows of Peking duck, and quickly understand that food is an attraction in its own right here. The red and gold Kanteibyo Temple offers a calmer pause in the middle of the bustle.

Red brick and skyscrapers

Heading back north along the coastal promenade, the red brick warehouses of Aka-Renga tell of the old port's customs era. Converted into shops and cafés, they serve as a link between the old port and Minato Mirai, the futuristic district built on former shipyards. The Landmark Tower there offers one of the highest observation decks in the country, with views all the way to Mount Fuji on clear days, while the Cosmo Clock 21 Ferris wheel counts out the time in neon above the basins. Families enjoy the Cup Noodles Museum, a playful tribute to a Japanese invention that has gone global. Those looking for the Japan of woodblock prints will head instead by bus to Sankeien Garden, where pagodas and old teahouses are reflected in maple-lined ponds, superb when the plum trees blossom and in autumn colours.

And what about Tokyo?

The capital is about thirty minutes by train from Yokohama station, and the round trip is easy for those targeting a single district, Shibuya or Ginza for example, with departures every few minutes that reassure the undecided. Many passengers nevertheless choose to stay: the bay, the museums and the lively waterfront easily fill a day, without the stress of Tokyo distances. Note that some ships dock at the more industrial Daikoku terminal, from which a shuttle runs to the centre.

Port of call at a glance

When evening comes, the Osanbashi terrace fills with tripods: the illuminated skyline of Minato Mirai, the Ferris wheel and the reflections in the bay make up one of the most beloved night views in the archipelago. You return on board among the local photographers, with the feeling of having shared their city rather than simply passed through it.