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Thanks to its open harbour-frontage and generally low-rise skyline, YOKOHAMA feels far more spacious and airy than neighbouring Tokyo. Locals are proud of their city's international heritage, and there's definitely a cosmopolitan flavour to the place, with its scattering of Western-style buildings, Chinese temples and world cuisines, and its sizeable foreign community.

Though it can't claim any outstanding sights, Yokohama has enough of interest to justify a day's outing from Tokyo. It might seem strange to come all this way to look at nineteenth-century European-style buildings, but the upmarket suburb of Yamate is one of the city's highlights, an area of handsome residences, church spires and bijou teashops. Yamate's "exotic" attractions still draw Japanese tourists in large numbers, as do the vibrant alleys and speciality restaurants of nearby Chinatown . There's a clutch of assorted museums along the seafront, and north to where Kannai boasts a few grand old Western edifices, in complete contrast to Minato Mirai 21 's high-tech skyscrapers in the distance. This half-completed "harbour-city of the 21st century" forms the focus of Yokohama's ambitious plans to grab some of the initiative away from Tokyo.

A tour of these central sights will easily fill a day, but with a little extra time Sankei-en , just south of Yokohama, makes a good half-day excursion. This extensive Japanese garden provides a perfect backdrop for its collection of picturesque temples and other ancient buildings. If modern culture's more your thing, don't miss Shin-Yokohama's Ramen Museum en route back to Tokyo, which celebrates Japan's answer to the hamburger.