Yokohama Local Quiz Practice: Questions and Explanations

Correct answerYokohama Landmark Tower

Completed in 1993, the 70-story Yokohama Landmark Tower is beloved as a symbol of the city's skyline. The 69th-floor Sky Garden observatory looks out over the harbor, while the preserved stone dry dock at its base recalls the shipyard that once occupied the site.

Source:横浜ランドマークタワー 公式「タワーについて」

Correct answerShumai (steamed dumplings)

Kiyoken opened as a shop inside Yokohama Station in 1908 and launched its signature shumai in 1928, adding dried scallop to the pork filling so the dumplings taste good even cold. The Shumai Bento boxed lunch, introduced in 1954, remains Yokohama's iconic ekiben.

Source:崎陽軒 公式「崎陽軒の歩み」

Correct answerYokohama Chinatown

Yokohama Chinatown grew from the Chinese community that settled after the port opened in 1859. With some 600 shops and restaurants, it is known as one of the largest Chinatowns in Japan, its streets framed by ornate gates and the Kanteibyo and Masobyo temples.

Source:横浜市観光情報「横浜中華街」

Correct answerKofukuji-Matsubara Shopping Street

Kofukuji-Matsubara Shopping Street in Hodogaya Ward is lined with roughly 100 independent grocery and clothing shops across an area about 200 meters square. Nicknamed 'Yokohama's Ameyoko,' it is counted among the 'three great shopping streets of Yokohama' alongside Yokohamabashi-dori and Rokkakubashi. Its main street becomes a pedestrian-only zone every day from noon to 6 p.m., drawing crowds of shoppers.

Source:洪福寺松原商店街（Wikipedia）

Correct answerYokohama Bay Bridge

The Yokohama Bay Bridge, opened in 1989, is a cable-stayed bridge about 860 meters long linking Honmoku and the Daikoku Pier. Its white towers rise at the harbor entrance, and its nighttime illumination has become a fixture of Yokohama's port scenery.

Source:首都高速道路「横浜ベイブリッジ」

Correct answerSotetsu-JR Through Service

The Sotetsu-JR through service began on November 30, 2019, linking Nishiya and Hazawa-Yokohama-Kokudai stations with JR lines (the Yamanote Line, Shonan-Shinjuku Line, etc.) for direct, transfer-free travel between Yokohama and JR Shinjuku. Many residents now use it for daily commuting and schooling, and it symbolizes a major recent shift in the city's rail network.

Source:相鉄グループ「相鉄線沿線のまちで暮らす」

Correct answerIekei ramen

Iekei ramen originated in Yokohama with Yoshimuraya, founded in 1974. It pairs a rich pork-bone and soy sauce broth with thick straight noodles, typically topped with spinach, roast pork, and nori. The name comes from the many shops whose names end in '-ya,' meaning house.

Source:横浜市観光情報「横浜発祥のグルメ」

Correct answerHammer

The Yokohama Port Opening Festival is held around the port's opening memorial day (June 2), centered on Rinko Park in Minato Mirai, with fireworks among its highlights, heralding the arrival of summer in Yokohama. Its mascot is 'Hammer,' a sunglasses-wearing seagull introduced in 1995; a companion character named 'Yoko' joined in 2022.

Source:横浜開港祭（Wikipedia）

Correct answerTrue

Yokohama has the largest population of any municipality in Japan, spread across roughly 1.8 million households. Its daytime population is smaller than its nighttime one, a sign that the great port city is also a commuter city for Tokyo.

Source:横浜市「横浜市の主な指標」

Correct answerTrue

Yokohama opened to foreign trade in 1859 under Japan's treaties with the Western powers. The shogunate, avoiding the Tokaido post town of Kanagawa, built the port and foreign settlement at the small fishing village of Yokohama, which grew rapidly into Japan's gateway for Western culture.

Source:横浜市「横浜港の歴史（横浜港の開港）」

Correct answer18 wards

Yokohama comprises 18 wards, the second-most of any government-designated city in Japan after Osaka (24 wards). When the ward system began in 1927 there were only five; repeated subdivisions followed the city's growth, and the lineup was completed in 1994 with the creation of Aoba and Tsuzuki wards.

Source:横浜市「区の変遷」

Correct answerJune 2

Yokohama's port opened in 1859 on a date that fell on the second day of the sixth month in the old lunar calendar, so June 2 is observed as Port Opening Anniversary Day, with festivities held around the harbor each year in early June.

Source:横浜市「横浜港の歴史（横浜港の開港）」

Correct answerSotetsu Shin-Yokohama Line

The Sotetsu Shin-Yokohama Line first opened between Nishiya and Hazawa-Yokohama-Kokudai in 2019, then completed its full route to Shin-Yokohama on March 18, 2023. From Shin-Yokohama it now runs through-service with the Tokyu Toyoko and Meguro lines via the Tokyu Shin-Yokohama Line, giving western Yokohama a direct, transfer-free connection to Shibuya and Meguro.

Source:相鉄グループ「相鉄線沿線のまちで暮らす」

Correct answerThe Great Kanto Earthquake

Yamashita Park was created by filling the waterfront with rubble from the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and opened in 1930. A symbol of the city's recovery, it is loved for its rose gardens and its sweeping views across Yokohama Harbor.

Source:横浜市観光情報「山下公園」

Correct answerHotel New Grand

The Hotel New Grand opened opposite Yamashita Park in 1927 as part of Yokohama's recovery from the Great Kanto Earthquake. Its first head chef, the Swiss-born Saly Weil, created rice doria here, and the hotel is also credited as the birthplace of Napolitan spaghetti and pudding a la mode.

Source:ホテルニューグランド 公式「発祥の伝統料理」

Correct answerOkapi

The okapi, a forest-dwelling relative of the giraffe, is counted among the world's three rarest animals alongside the giant panda and the pygmy hippopotamus. The park introduced the okapi to Japan when it opened in 1999 and has kept and bred the species as its symbol ever since.

Source:よこはま動物園ズーラシア 公式「ズーラシアとは」

Correct answerSailors

'Marinos' is Spanish for sailors, a name that casts the club as seafarers setting out from the international port of Yokohama. Formerly the Nissan Motor company team, Yokohama F. Marinos is also one of the Original Ten clubs that launched the J.League in 1993.

Source:横浜F・マリノス 公式「クラブ紹介」

Correct answerHyo-chan

The soy sauce container 'Hyo-chan' debuted in 1955, when cartoonist Ryuichi Yokoyama gave the little gourd-shaped bottle 48 different faces. The designs have changed with the times, and the bottles tucked into Shumai Bento boxes have become collectors' items in their own right.

Source:崎陽軒 公式「ひょうちゃん」

Correct answerIce cream

In 1869, Machida Fusazo opened an ice shop on Bashamichi and began selling 'aisukurin,' regarded as Japan's first ice cream. A luxury at first, it gradually caught on as a taste of the age of Westernization, and Bashamichi is celebrated as the birthplace of ice cream in Japan.

Source:横浜市観光情報「横浜発祥のグルメ」

Correct answerThe Port Opening Memorial Day (June 2) ceremony

The Yokohama City Song is still performed and sung today at the Port Opening Memorial Day (June 2) ceremony, as well as at graduation ceremonies and citywide events. It continues to be taught at public elementary schools alongside school songs -- a civic anthem sung across generations since its 1909 premiere.

Source:横浜市「横浜市歌について」

Correct answerThe Whale's Back (Kujira no Senaka)

The rooftop plaza of the Osanbashi passenger terminal is nicknamed 'Kujira no Senaka,' the Whale's Back, for the gentle rise and fall of its wooden deck. From its boardwalk and lawns, the view sweeps from the Minato Mirai skyline all the way to the Bay Bridge.

Source:横浜大さん橋 公式「屋上広場 くじらのせなか」

Correct answerRinko Park

The Yokohama Port Opening Festival is centered each year on Rinko Park in the Minato Mirai 21 district, with events spilling into the surrounding area. Held around Port Opening Memorial Day (June 2) and featuring fireworks, it is the event that heralds the arrival of summer in Yokohama.

Source:横浜開港祭（Wikipedia）

Correct answerKing

The Kanagawa Prefectural Government Main Building, completed in 1928, is 'King' of Yokohama's Three Towers. The nickname is said to come from foreign sailors likening the towers to playing cards, and its central turret -- said to resemble a crown -- is why it became known as 'King.' Visiting all three towers is said to grant wishes.

Source:神奈川県「横浜三塔物語」（PDF）

Correct answerYOKOHAMA AIR CABIN

YOKOHAMA AIR CABIN, opened in 2021, is Japan's first permanent urban circulating ropeway. Linking Sakuragicho Station with Unga Park in the Shinko district, roughly 630 meters in about five minutes, its gondolas offer an aerial stroll over Minato Mirai and the harbor.

Source:YOKOHAMA AIR CABIN 公式「ABOUT」

Correct answerYokohama PORTA (east exit) / Sotetsu Joinus underground mall (west exit)

Yokohama PORTA at the station's east exit and the underground floors of Sotetsu Joinus (formerly the Diamond Underground Mall) at the west exit are both shopping areas directly connected to Yokohama Station. Namba Walk is in Osaka and the Yaesu Underground Mall is in Tokyo -- separate facilities unrelated to Yokohama Station.

Source:横浜新都市センター

Correct answer1910s

Warehouse No. 2 was completed in 1911 and No. 1 in 1913, built as bonded warehouses for the new Shinko Pier to designs by Finance Ministry architect Tsumaki Yorinaka. State-of-the-art fireproofing and earthquake resistance went into them, yet half of No. 1 was lost in the 1923 earthquake.

Source:横浜赤レンガ倉庫 公式「歴史」

Correct answerRaw silk trade

Hara Sankei, born Tomitaro, was a Gifu native who married into the Hara merchant family of Yokohama and made his fortune in the raw-silk trade and silk reeling. He moved historic buildings to Honmoku to create Sankeien, opening its outer garden free to the public in 1906, and was a noted patron of young artists.

Source:三溪園 公式「三溪園の歴史」

Correct answerBerrick Hall

Berrick Hall was built in 1930 as the residence of British trader B. R. Berrick, designed in the Spanish style by architect J. H. Morgan. The largest surviving prewar foreign residence on the Yamate bluff, it is prized for details such as its quatrefoil windows.

Source:ベーリック・ホール 公式（横浜市緑の協会）「施設概要」

Correct answerKanagawa-juku

Kanagawa-juku, in today's Kanagawa Ward, was the third post station from Nihonbashi, after Shinagawa and Kawasaki. A seaside station serving the port of Kanagawa, its temples housed foreign consulates when Yokohama opened, and the name lives on in the prefecture itself.

Source:横浜市神奈川区「東海道 神奈川宿」

Correct answerGumyoji

The place name 弘明寺 is read 'Gumyoji.' The temple behind the name is held to be the oldest in Yokohama, and its wooden statue of the eleven-headed Kannon is an Important Cultural Property. The name also graces Keikyu and Blue Line stations and the lively shopping arcade at the temple gate.

Source:京浜急行電鉄「弘明寺駅」弘明寺（Wikipedia）

Correct answerTotsuka Ward

Totsuka Ward is the largest of Yokohama's 18 wards at about 35.8 square kilometers, with Aoba Ward close behind; the smallest, Nishi Ward, covers only about 7. Totsuka is also the city's second most populous ward after Kohoku.

Source:横浜市「推計人口・世帯数（区別）オープンデータ」

Correct answerNegishi Racecourse

Negishi Racecourse, opened in 1866 on the Negishi bluff for the foreign community, was Japan's first permanent Western-style track. Its grounds are now Negishi Forest Park and the Equine Museum, where the imposing first-class grandstand of 1929, designed by J. H. Morgan, still stands.

Source:馬事文化財団「根岸競馬場の歴史」横浜市「旧根岸競馬場一等馬見所」

Correct answerSpring Valley Brewery

In 1870, the American William Copeland founded the Spring Valley Brewery at Yamate, drawn by its spring water. Regarded as Japan's first commercially successful brewery, its site was taken over in 1885 by the Japan Brewery Company, the direct forerunner of Kirin Beer.

Source:キリン歴史ミュージアム「1870年 スプリングバレー・ブルワリー開設」

Correct answerStatue of the Girl with Red Shoes

In a corner of Yamashita Park overlooking the sea sits the Statue of the Girl with Red Shoes, inspired by Ujo Noguchi's children's song 'Akai Kutsu' about a girl who sailed to a foreign land. It is one of the park's beloved landmarks, alongside the Hikawa Maru and the rose garden.

Source:横浜市観光情報「山下公園」

Correct answerTsurumi Tsubasa Bridge

The Tsurumi Tsubasa Bridge runs 1,020 meters, some 160 meters longer than the 860-meter Yokohama Bay Bridge. Both are cable-stayed bridges carrying the Shuto Expressway Bayshore Route across Yokohama's waters, standing as paired landmarks that are illuminated after dark.

Source:首都高速道路「鶴見つばさ橋」首都高速道路「横浜ベイブリッジ」

Correct answerShigetada Irie

Napolitan is credited to Shigetada Irie, the hotel's second head chef, who took his cue from the spaghetti eaten by occupation soldiers and refined it with a fresh-tomato sauce rather than ketchup, a recipe the hotel still keeps. The first head chef, Saly Weil, is remembered as the creator of doria.

Source:ホテルニューグランド 公式「発祥の伝統料理」

Correct answerEarly Meiji period

Ota Nawanoren, said to date from around 1868, is Yokohama's venerable gyunabe house, famed for simmering chunky-cut beef in miso just as it did at its founding. Born in Yokohama's age of Westernization, gyunabe is regarded as a forerunner of today's sukiyaki.

Source:横浜市観光情報「横浜発祥のグルメ」

Correct answerShomyoji Temple

Shomyoji was founded in the Kamakura period by Hojo Sanetoki as the family temple of the Kanazawa Hojo clan. Its Pure Land-style garden around Aji-ga-ike Pond, crossed by a vermilion arched bridge, is a national Historic Site, and the adjoining Kanazawa Bunko preserves Sanetoki's celebrated library.

Source:横浜市「称名寺」

Correct answerDaily newspaper / Gas lamps / Western-style park

Japan's first daily newspaper, the Yokohama Mainichi Shimbun, appeared in 1871; the first gas lamps were lit along Bashamichi in 1872; and Yamate Park, opened in 1870, was the first Western-style park. The first subway, however, was Tokyo's Ginza Line in 1927.

Source:横浜開港資料館 企画展「日刊新聞、誕生ス」馬車道商店街 公式「馬車道の歴史」横浜市「山手公園（日本最初の洋式公園）」

Correct answerYokohama Municipal Subway Blue Line → Yokohama Seaside Line → Minatomirai Line → YOKOHAMA AIR CABIN

The Municipal Subway, today's Blue Line, opened its first section between Isezaki-Chojamachi and Kamiooka in 1972. The Seaside Line followed in 1989, the Minatomirai Line in 2004, and YOKOHAMA AIR CABIN in 2021, each marking a stage in the waterfront's development.

Source:横浜市交通局「地下鉄事業の概要」横浜シーサイドライン 公式「会社概要」横浜市「みなとみらい線」YOKOHAMA AIR CABIN 公式「ABOUT」