Yokohama is Japan's second largest city with a population of over three million. It takes less than an hour to get to Yokohama by train. Japan had been under the isolation policy under Tokugawa government during the Edo Period (1603-1867). Yokohama has kept giving a very unique atmosphere even to the Japanese since it became one of the first to be opened to foreign trade in 1859.  China town in Yokohama is one of the  world largest. Western merchants brought Chinese people as translators when they did business in those days because the Japanese can communicate with them through kanji, or Chinese characters.. 

Since then, Yokohama quickly grew from a small fishing village into one of Japan's major cities. Now Yokohama is popular among not only expats but people from across Japan as it's a very important spot for learning about the modernization of Japan.