I love Yokohama! It’s one of my favorite day trips from Tokyo, as the touristy things here are actual experiences as opposed to simple sightseeing sites. As such, I’m super excited to show you around – and let you see how much you can do here in ONE day!! Of course, doing everything in one day is SUPER jampacked though – so feel free to split it into two days, especially if you have kids with you

 

Day 3

• Kirin Brewery
• Ramen Museum
• Nissin Cup Noodle Museum
• Minato Mrai
• Yamashita Park
• Chinatown

Kirin Beer Brewery

• How to get there: Namamugi Station (then 15mins walk to the Beer Village)
• Fee: Free
• Requirements: Need to make a reservation – either by:
  • Call +81455038250 (or ask your hotel to call), press 1 for factory tour
  • Book directly through the website: you’ll need to use google translate for your name to get a kanji version

Okay – I LOVE the Kirin Beer tour, not just because it’s free – but because it’s both fun and informative! Note, the entire tour is in Japanese, but they do give you an English brochure so you can follow what’s happening (all the videos have English subtitles as well)

The tour starts with a video showing how beer is made and why Kirin Ichiban is special – it’s still not my favorite beer, but I now appreciate ALL the effort that goes into it! After learning about the main ingredients (malt, hops, and water), you now get to eat some malt and smell some hops!

We then tasted the first press vs the second press (the first press tastes amazing FYI)

Finally, we learned about how alcohol is made through adding the yeast, and then packaged (with a cute VR video to help you envision the process). And then, what we’ve all been waiting for… it’s beer tasting time! You get unli beer and drinks for 20 mins. There are three types of beer to choose from, at that time:

1. Normal: I liked this the most (drank 2.5 cups! haha – drinking marathon)
2. Premium (not yet available in stores)
3. Black: This was waaay too bitter for me. Blech blech

Aside from beer there are tons of non-alcoholic drinks to choose from as well (I personally loved the milk tea and lemon – loved it so much, I ended up buying more Kirin milk tea when I got back to the Philippines!). Before you leave, you’re also given free non-alcoholic drinks (kind of tastes like wort), and you can also check out their beer-flavored merchandise (biscuits, chocolates, pretzels etc)

Ramen Museum

• Operating hours: 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM
• How to get there: Shin-Yokohama Station (JR Negishi Line)
• Fee: JPY 310 for adults

From the Kirin Beer Museum, we grabbed the train and dropped by this museum first in order to enjoy 9 famous ramen stalls featuring a regional specialty all housed under a single roof

For those with limited stomach space, I’d recommend Sumire (which claims to sell the most famous miso ramen shop in Japan) and Muku Zweite (limited shop that’s only there for 1 ½ years) – basing this off the queue length… Likewise, make sure to choose the small bowl option so you have space in your tummy for more!

Don’t forget to bring cash with you (no credit cards accepted) – each bowl costs ~500-1k yen, and all adults must buy at least 1 bowl per store

Nissin Cup Noodle Museum

• Operating hours: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
• How to get there: Sakurguchiko Station (or 20 mins walk from Yokohama Station)
• Fee: JPY 500 for adults + JPY 300 (for the Cup Noodle Factory)

Rawr, the Nissin Cup Noodle Museum is SO MUCH FUN. They’ve got loads of exhibits – such as the Momofuku Ando story – which tells you how cup noodles came to be (quite fascinating actually!)

But, what I loved the most was the Cup Noodle Factory – where you got to create your very own cup noodle – complete with flavoring, design, and packaging! This costs an additional JPY 300 per cup though – but it’s totally worth it!

Note: You have to reserve a time slot for the Cup Noodle Factory as well. So, while you’re waiting for your time to be called, you can head over to the Noodle Bazaar and sample noodles from around the world – don’t worry, the portions are super small!

Minato Mrai

A seaside urban area in Yokohama – filled with sprawling malls, amusement parks, and buildings bedecked with pretty lights at night. I’d recommend you do this when it’s dark, so you can take extra pretty photos – case in point, see below photo

• How to get there: Sakuragicho Station (JR Negishi Line)

Yamashita Park

A public park that stretches 750 meters along the Yamashita waterfront, this park offers another perfect spot for picturesque photos – see Hikawa Maru (ship museum), Yokohama Marine Tower, and a smattering of monuments distributed all throughout

• How to get there: ~20 minutes walk from Minato Mrai

Chinatown

Yokohama has Japan’s largest Chinatown, where the main attraction is the awesome food within – Chinese cuisine that has been Japanized. Suffice to say, I spent a lot of money here…

Couple of food that are must-tries: Siao long pao, Siopao-looking bun, Hokkaido soft serve ice cream!

• How to get there: ~10-15 minutes walk from Yamashita Park

 

And that’s a wrap for Day 3! Please do continue to follow me on my Tokyo adventures!

For my other Japan blogs, please do check out the following:

Everything you need to know about Tokyo (as a DIY tourist)

Eating my way through Tokyo – top picks!

What to see and do in Okinawa

TOKYO 7-DAY OFF-THE-BEATEN PATH DIY ITINERARIES

• Day 1: Tokyo Day trip to Kawagoe
• Day 2: Tokyo Disney Sea adventure
• Day 3: Tokyo Day trip to Yokohama
• Day 4: Tokyo Day trip to Hakone
• Day 5: Tokyo Day trip to Kamukara and Enoshima
• Day 6: Tokyo shopping day!
• Day 7: Imperial Palace Walking Tour + Odaiba