Night light in Yokohama

On my first trip to Japan, my friends and I met a group of young women who lived in Tokyo. 

​We went out together for dinner a few times and they showed us around. Since we met during Hanami time (cherry blossom bloom), they wanted to take us somewhere special, so we went to Sankei-en garden in Yokohama.
Yokohama is in Kanagawa Prefecture, lies in the south of Tokyo and is the second largest city in Japan. It used to be one of the first cities to open for oversea trades with the West since it's located at Tokyo Bay.
I remember that Sankei-en looked beautiful in pictures but when we went there, we could barely see anything in the garden. It was so crowded and everyone was trying to place their expensive looking cameras with their giant lenses at the right spot to take the perfect picture.

When we went to Sōji-ji temple afterwards, it was so quiet and peaceful in comparison, I couldn't believe we were still in the same city.
When I returned years later with some friends to Yokohama, we visited several other popular spots there. First, we walked through Chinatown and ate as many nikuman (meat buns) as we could, comparing the many different stalls that sold them. Chinatown in Yokohama is the biggest one in Japan – even bigger than the ones in Kobe and Nagasaki. The streets there are crowded, hectic, it smells like delicious food everywhere and it's a perfect mix of cultures at every corner. I really liked it there although it was a bit overwhelming.
To wind down a bit we went to Yamashita Park afterwards. We sat down on a bench and took some photos of the beautiful flowers and fountains there, enjoying the view. We could have taken the subway to our next location, but we decided to walk along the seaside, watching the ships coming by. It was a warm day and I was lucky I put some sunscreen on, because there was not even the slightest shadow on our way to the Akarenga Sōko (Red Brick Warehouse). It used to be a customs building and was built in the 19th century. It was renovated in the 1990s and is now used as a complex with a shopping mall, restaurants and halls for events.
On our way back to the train station, we took a stop at Cosmo World, an amusement park where you can find the famous Ferris wheel – at least it's famous in Japan. The park itself is small with only a few attractions but the wheel is a very popular photo scene. To be honest, I never dared to take a ride since I'm afraid of heights...

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There are many more places you can visit in Yokohama, for example the Cup Noodle Museum or the Ramen Museum. Unfortunately, last time I was in Japan, those were closed temporarily because Covid had just started to spread around the world.
Instead we went to Ōsanbashi Pier, the oldest pier in Japan. There is a great observation platform where you can hang out, drink some cold brew tea and enjoy the view over the sea.
If you're into anime and manga like I am, you might have already noticed that some stories play out in Yokohama city. I went there with two friends one time who are big fans of Bungo Stray Dogs and so we visited some places that appeared in the anime. As a fan of Ghibli Anime, of course I recognized Yokohama thanks to the movie “From Up On Poppy Hill”.
I really hope I can visit Yokohama again some time soon. 
Have you ever been there? What was your favorite place to go? Let me know in the comments!