Yokohama

The second-largest city in Japan, Yokohama is 25 miles south of the largest, Tokyo, and is essentially Tokyo's port. As part of a historic trading post, Yokohama boasts event venues that mix its former commodities with modern amenities.
The main entry point into Yokohama is Tokyo's Haneda Airport (HND), which is 14 miles to the east. Many still consider Haneda to be Tokyo's domestic airport, but it now receives many international flights, including several direct from the United States (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, New York City, and Seattle). Tokyo Narita International (NRT) is distant, some 61 miles to the east.
One of the principal convention venues in Yokohama, the Pacifico Yokohama, is in the Nishi-ku area of Yokohama and has a 200,000-square-foot exhibition hall, the Annex Hall for 1,300 persons, the 13,500-square-foot Main Hall, numerous meeting rooms, and 5,000-seat National Convention Hall of Yokohama, among other spaces.
Hotel venues in Yokohama include the 594-room InterContinental Yokohama Grand, which is connected to the Pacifico Yokohama and has 14 meeting rooms and approximately 7,000 square feet of exhibit space of its own. Other choices include the 553-room Yokohama Sakuragicho Washington Hotel, which has five meeting spaces; the 480-room Yokohama Bay Hotel Tokyu, which has a fantastic view of the city's large Ferris wheel, is also close to the convention center, and has two ballrooms, the largest, the Queen's Grand Ballroom, able to host 960 persons; the 398-room Yokohama Bay Sheraton Hotel & Towers, which has six banquet spaces and room for 1,000 attendees; and the 249-room Hotel New Grand, which started life in 1927, has accommodated luminaries such as Babe Ruth, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas MacArthur, contains two distinct areas, an original building and a new tower, and has ornate, historical banquet rooms such as the Rainbow, Phoenix, Starlight, and Admiral Perry's rooms.
Some wonderful places in which to gather your group for unique functions include the Yokohama Silk Museum, which opened in 1959 in the former headquarters of trading company Jardine Matheson & Co., also known as English House No.1, and which has countless, beautiful displays of silk and a function room for 100 persons; Yokohama Museum of Art, which has a 240-seat lecture hall, Grand Gallery with entrance hall, and eight gallery spaces; Yokohama Noh Theater, for staged dramas of ancient Japanese plays in a theater built in 1875; large Yokohama Arena, in the Shinyokohama district of the city, which has 17,000 seats, 11,000 of which can be removed for exhibits and banquets, and which was modeled on New York City's Madison Square Garden; and the elegant Crystal Yacht Club, which has a clubhouse, a restaurant, and a yacht for hire, the M/S Lady Crystal.
Restaurants in Yokohama suitable for groups include French restaurant Le Normandie at the Hotel New Grand, which is regarded as one of the best restaurants in all of the Asia Pacific region; Cantonese restaurant Heichin, which has several private dining rooms; grill and oyster bar Kinkawooka in the Yokohama Bay Quarter shopping mall; American-style burger joint Hard Rock Cafe Yokohama; and Motion Blue, which occupies a large warehouse, often puts on jazz, and can host up to 200 persons.