Yokohama Chinatown

Let's face it, Chinatowns are inherently tourist traps, but some tourist traps have the substance to back it up and Yokohama Chinatown is one of them. If you're looking for some sort of cultural appreciation of Chinese immigrants into Yokohama, you won't really find that here. Definitely, you can check out the Ma Zu Miao Temple and the nearby plaques regarding the history of the place, but by and large, the entire area is a giant shopping and food street.

We have to put a major disclaimer here that, the street food stalls are great, but do not fall for the tricks of any of the all-you-can-eat restaurants here. As you walk around, you will see tons of All-You-Can-Eat restaurants serving 100+ different dishes, at around ¥2500 to ¥3500. Many of those shops serve roughly the same dishes, and the quality is shockingly disappointing. What you'll find, rather than a refined Chinese dining experience, is a mass-produced buffet line of generic Chuka-ryori (中華料理, Chūka-ryōri, Chinese-style cuisine) dishes, that will disappoint any lover of authentic Chinese food.

Instead, go for the street stalls, especially those that have long lines outside the stall, they are definitely worth the queue, and the queue moves rather fast. While you might be inundated by the sheer amount of choices in the area, there are definitely some diamonds in the rough that can rival even some of the best Chinese street food we've had overseas.

In particular, we highly recommend the Shen Jian Bao (焼き小籠包, Yaki Shou-ron-pō, Pan-fried soup dumplings) at Wangfujing. This shop is located near the entrance of Yokohama Chinatown, and there's always a constant snaking queue outside the shop. They generally have three versions: the Original (正宗, Masamune), the Chive version (ヒスイ, hisui, lit. Jade), and the Shark's Fin version (フカヒレ, fukahire). Of the three, we would mainly recommend the original as the tastiest version. When you first bite into one of the Shen Jian Bao, the tasty soup inside the dumpling will come bursting out like an explosion in your mouth. The meat filling is tender, bouncy, and delicious. The outer skin is just nice, with a nice thinness at the top, and a perfectly crisp layer at the bottom. The other two versions, the Chive and the Shark's Fin taste alright, but they feel like they are diluting the deliciousness of the Shen Jian Bao. Wangfujing also serves up a decent Xiao Long Bao (小籠包, Shōronpō, Chinese soup dumpling), but we have a better recommendation on our list.

For Xiao Long Bao, we highly recommend Houtenkaku, which edges out Wangfujing in terms of taste. Houtenkaku's Xiao Long Bao have a nice thin skin, with a delicious pork filling inside, and a delicious soupy broth within the dumpling. We can't exactly say why it is better than Wangfujing, but most of our writers agree that Houtenkaku's version tastes superior. Likewise, we also agree that Wangfujing's Shen Jian Bao tastes better than Houtenkaku's.

For both of these stalls, you are likely to find a long winding queue outside them, but it shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes to reach the front, and we guarantee you that they are worth the wait.

In general, we do agree that Yokohama Chinatown can be a bit of a touristy location, with its Chinese gates and all. And there are definitely quite a lot of rip-off restaurants selling quite unauthentic Chinese food around. But if you know which are the go-to shops, you can find some of the best Chinese food in Japan here that is highly authentic, reasonable, and delicious!

Yokohama Chinatown started as part of a foreign settlement in Chinatown in 1859 when the seaport in Yokohama opened at the end of Japan's Sakoku (鎖国, National Isolation) period during the Edo Era (1603-1867, 江戸時代, Edo-jidai). At that time, American and British companies that were trading with China expanded into Yokohama through Chinese intermediaries. These Chinese intermediaries helped to negotiate with the local Japanese to import raw silk and tea from American and British companies.

Subsequently, a ferry service started between Yokohama and Shanghai, as well as Yokohama and Hong Kong, leading to even more Chinese traders coming to Japan. This led the area to become home to Chinese traders, including a school, a temple, and a community centre, before eventually growing into the Chinatown we know today.

With the Sino-Japanese Trade Treaty of 1871, trade between China and Japan grew greatly, and many professions ended up converging in the Yokohama Chinatown area.

In 1894, the first Sino-Japanese War broke out, and many Chinese immigrants were restricted in the occupations they could take on and the areas they could work in. Around this period, it is said that Sun Yat-Sen who led the Chinese revolutionary who eventually overthrew the Chinese dynasty lived in the area when he was in exile at the time.

The Great Kanto Earthquake (1 Sep 1923, 関東大地震, Kantō dai-jishin) in 1923 dealt a major blow to Yokohama Chinatown, with the death toll being around 1,500 casualties, 1/3 of Yokohama Chinatown's population. The rebuilding process led to a change in the social structure of the area and a booming Chinese gourmet business that led to over 50% of residents in the area being barbers, tailors or chefs.

In 1955, Yokohama Chinatown was officially recognised by the Japanese government and officially named as Yokohama Chinatown (横浜中華街, Yokohama Chūkagai), together with a large goodwill gate following the end of the Sino-Japanese War during World War II.

In 1974, the Yokohama Chinatown Development Association was formed to develop the area and encourage the visits of tourists, as Yokohama Chinatown became a major tourist destination in Yokohama. Since then the area has continued to grow and flourish into the Yokohama Chinatown we see today.