Every leisure traveler knows of Tokyo and Kyoto, but few are familiar with Yokohama, Japan’s second-largest city with 3.7 million residents, a glittering and vibrant downtown, attractive hotels, excellent restaurants and a burgeoning art scene. Although tourists often bypass Yokohama for more popular Japanese destinations, international meeting and conference planners certainly do not overlook the city.

Since the mid-1800s, when it became the first Japanese city to open its port to the world — thus becoming the country’s base for all foreign trade — Yokohama has welcomed business travelers to its bustling downtown hotels and seaside restaurants. Today, MICE planners for multinationals as well as medical, scientific and environmental organizations book events at PACIFICO Yokohama, Japan’s largest convention complex. This group of state-of-the-art facilities opened in stages in the 1990s in the downtown waterfront Minato Mirai area. It comprises the National Convention Hall with 5,000 theater seats; the 50-room Conference Center; the Exhibition Hall with 215,000 square feet of exhibition space; the Annex Hall with 15,000 square feet for exhibitions; and the 5-star InterContinental Yokohama Grand with 594 guestrooms, numerous restaurants, meeting rooms and banquet halls.

PACIFICO Yokohama’s convenient location is a major attraction — a five-minute walk from a subway station, three large shopping malls, a concert hall, Cosmo World amusement park and the Yokohama Museum of Art. It is also within close walking distance of 13 top-rated hotels, including the 603-room Yokohama Royal Park; the 480-room Yokohama Bay Hotel Tokyu; the 136-room Yokohama Mandarin Hotel; and the 240-room New Otani Inn, opened in 2010.

Vanish dive coaster at Cosmo World amusement park © Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau

“We know that Yokohama is not a ‘top-of-mind’ destination for leisure visitors to Japan,” said Kana Nomoto, spokesperson, Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Convention Sales Department. “However, we are just 20–30 minutes to Tokyo by train, and our PACIFICO Yokohama convention center is a major all-in-one facility. Yokohama’s reputation as a city that hosts many large congresses in the life sciences, medical and environmental fields has brought in hundreds of related MICE events.”

Last year, the Japan National Tourism Organization launched the Japan Convention Bureau, with an informative website and local staff to help international MICE planners organize events in Japan. With the Japanese yen plummeting in value in the past few months, losing 20 percent against the U.S. dollar, Japan now offers MICE event planners (and business and leisure travelers in general) much lower prices than in previous years.

Some of the city’s recent and upcoming larger meetings include the International Congress of Chemotherapy and Infection (2013; 5,000 delegates); 12th Annual World Congress of the Human Proteome Organization (2013; 2,000); 12th International Wheat Genetics Symposium (2013; 500); 16th Congress of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (2014); 12th International Stereotactic Radiosurgery Society Congress (2015; 3,000 expected); International Congress of Psychology (2016); World Conference on Lung Cancer (2017; 8,000–10,000); and the 9th International Orthodontic Congress (2020; 6,000).

“The main reason for choosing Yokohama was the fantastic international accessibility,” said Mathias Posch, president, International Conference Services, a Vancouver-based company organizing the 2017 World Conference on Lung Cancer. “We are including the Japanese Lung Cancer Congress, with around 3,000 attendees; so with about 8,000–10,000 delegates in Yokohama, it will be one of the largest conferences ever held there. We will be using all the facilities at PACIFICO Yokohama and most of the hotels within walking distance. We will have some groups going into Tokyo for tours and meetings in local hospitals, but the convention folks at the Yokohama CVB and all the venues there have been great assisting us with every facet of the program.”

Yokohama will be especially busy during summer 2020 as one of the Tokyo Bay locations that will participate in the 2020 Summer Olympics, awarded to Tokyo by the International Olympics Committee in 2013. The city’s Nissan Stadium, a modern 72,000-seat soccer venue which opened in 1998 before hosting the 2012 FIFA World Cup games, will also be the site of several 2020 Olympic soccer matches. Most of the other Olympic competition venues are easily reached from downtown Yokohama via the region’s fast and extensive rail network.

As befits its designation as the “Cultural City of East Asia 2014,” Yokohama offers MICE delegates numerous art, theater and eclectic cultural attractions, both for tours and as off-site meeting venues. The Yokohama Museum of Art offers more than 9,700 artworks, including pieces by internationally known artists who have a connection to Yokohama, such as Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst. Given Yokohama’s role as the birthplace of photography in Japan, the museum’s collection of Japanese photo art is the best in the country.

One of the smartest decisions local architects made during the redevelopment of Yokohama’s bayside Minato Mirai area was to preserve two early-1900s customs houses which survived the 1923 Kanto earthquake and World War II bombings. The Red Brick Warehouse is now a beautifully restored, three-story building on the waterfront. In addition to its use as a site for musical performances and cultural events, it is often booked as a conference venue.

Planners will find plenty of other cultural events spaces, including Sankeien Garden Kakushokaku, a large Japanese-style garden of more than a million square feet, with 17 historic buildings that were moved from Kyoto and Kamakura and rebuilt on the grounds. The officially named Yokohama Port Opening Memorial Hall, a 1918 Neo-Renaissance-style building, is known locally as “Jack’s Tower” after the beautifully lit clock tower that is one of Yokohama’s iconic symbols. Other venues include the original 1933 Nissan Motor headquarters, restored and open to the public as the Nissan Engine Museum & Guest Hall; the Silk Museum, with exhibits on the life of silkworms and the production of silk threads; the Kirin Brewery Co., founded in Yokohama in 1907 and the only company brewery open to the public; and the Momofuku Ando CupNoodles Museum, named after the man who invented the famous noodles and where visitors can make their own chicken ramen soup and taste a variety of other ramen products.

The Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau tries to make each MICE event special, often going beyond planners’ expectations. “The visit from the emperor and the empress of Japan was a highlight of our meeting that just could not be matched by any other place,” said Nancy Witty, CEO, International Society of Stem Cell Research, which held its 2012 annual meeting in Yokohama with 3,900 attendees. “It was a thrill and an honor to have them attend a ceremony to commemorate the society’s 10th anniversary and then to stay for a private reception with ISSCR leadership and dignitaries.”