Articles / Tourist Guide / Yokohama Tourist Guide / Yokohama Shopping

It is but natural that, being one of the biggest international ports, Yokohama has become nigh the most appealing place of pilgrimage for shoppers form all over the world. It is a haven and the heart of cosmopolitanism and an important financial centre of Japan.

If you are looking for a place to buy up-to-date electronic devices, fashionable clothes, chic perfumes, exotic kinds of spices, books in every language imaginable, original Japanese dolls and souvenirs, countless DVD?s, and loads of other goodies ? Yokohama port is a modern Mecca for tourists and crazy shoppers with a plethora of trendy shops, expensive branded boutiques and retail counters. At the same time, you can enjoy visiting some fairly inexpensive little shops where the traditional bazaar act of bargaining is actual like nowhere else. 

It is advisable though that you go around with an interpreter, electronic translator or at least a calculator to help you in communication with locals. Although English in Japan makes up a part of compulsory educational program, precious few Japanese can express their thoughts clearly in the language of Shakespear or fully comprehend what is the actual message of your communication.

Motomachi Shopping street with its five blocks of modern style shops is universally recognized as the shopping centre of the city of Yokohama. Long rows of occidental style boutiques, little shops and huge shopping malls stretch for many kilometers. Yamate community is located in its official spot in Yamate Hill. In Motomachi Shopping Street tourists can enjoy spending an entire day browsing through innumerable isles of the tallest shopping mall in Japan ? Minato Mirai 21 Complex. In this shopping mall you can buy most anything you were looking for in Japan, be it modern electronic equipment or trendy clothes for teenagers. The only thing money can?t buy in Yokohama is perhaps small size footwear for women, as Japanese ladies have foot size no bigger than European number 7.

Another place to shop till you drop in the city of Yokohama is Landmark Plaza which is paradise for shopping tourists. The building itself is a Yokohama business centre which houses a multitude of offices as well as dozens of branded western boutiques, luxurious cosmetics shops and even sports gear and furniture shops.

Othersuch shops with terrific range of goods offered are Queen?s Square and Yokohama Sky Building with its futuristic construction.

Yokohama Sky Building is located in the centre of Nishi-ku Ward of Kanagawa Prefecture. The 132 meters building is a symbol of Japan?s being the most technologically advanced nation. The gigantic mall houses 22 shops and commercial outlets, Kenmin Kyosai Plaza Building, Queen's Tower, Yokohama Media Tower, The Bank of Yokohama Head Office, M.M. Towers East, M.M. Towers South, M.M. Towers West are among them. The Yokohama Sky Building nestles also some posh restaurants. Tourists are recommended to drop into Chinese restaurant located in the building to give a special treat to their taste buds.