2 Best Sights in Side Trips from Tokyo, Japan

The park—a major landmark in this part of the city, known, appropriately enough, as the Bluff (yamate)—once contained the barracks of the British forces. Come here for spectacular nighttime views of the waterfront, the floodlit gardens of Yamashita Park, and the Bay Bridge. Foreigners were first allowed to build here in 1867, and it has been prime real estate ever since—an enclave of churches, international schools, private clubs, and palatial Western-style homes.

This park is perhaps the only positive legacy of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. The debris of the warehouses and other buildings that once stood here were swept away, and the area was made into a 17-acre oasis of green along the waterfront. On spring and summer weekends, the park fills up with families, couples, and groups of friends, making it one of the best people-watching spots in town. In the rose garden at the park's center is a fountain, representing the Guardian of the Water, presented to Yokohama by San Diego, California, one of its sister cities.