Specially Designated Areas

Minato Mirai 21

With Minato Mirai 21 (MM21), the vision of a new, modern city took shape.

This area offers a vast variety of different features: it harbors an advanced business infrastructure, boasting of commercial properties, hotels and convention halls, but features as well cultural venues, parks, greenery, a splendid esplanade along the waterfront, being a human- and environmentally-friendly place.

The new Minato Mirai 21 subway line, which was opened in February 2004 provides direct and fast access not only to Yokohama Central Station, but also to Central Tokyo (Shibuya Station). This way, Minato Mirai 21 combines the advantages of centrality on the one hand and comfortable, pleasant surroundings on the other hand, making it a really outstanding location for business.

Minato Mirai 21 is further responsible for most part of Yokohama's exciting skyline: you will find here the Yokohama Landmark Tower, with 296 meters the highest building of Japan and equipped with state-of-the-art technology, as well as the Queen's Square office building complex.

Kannnai District

This area has a high concentration of government, finance, insurance, logistics, and communication industries.

The Kannai District has been developed as a political and economic core of Yokohama since the opening of its port in 1859. Many historical buildings are preserved in this chic district that still maintains the atmosphere of old times. Public offices, finance and insurance industries, transportation and communication industries, as well as other service industries are located in this district.

Keihin Waterfront Area

The Keihin Waterfront Area lies by the sea within Yokohama's Tsurumi and Kanagawa Wards. Since the end of World War II, this area showed one of the highest concentrations of industrial and technological development activity in the country, being a major force behind Japan's astounding recovery and subsequent economic growth. It has an excellent urban infrastructure and is easily accessible by port (Port of Yokohama), airport (Haneda International Airport) and expressway.

In recent years, however, the area has lost a good deal of its vitality, with symptoms such as aging manufacturing facilities, rising rates of land idleness and falling numbers of workers. Therefore, in February 1997 Yokohama City drew up a master plan to revitalize the area. The plain aims to transform the district into an internationally competitive center for advanced industrial activity, with the flexibility to adapt to structural change and economic globalization.

The plan focuses on a number of key tasks, such as promoting manufacturing-related Research & Development, enhancing the environment by remodeling the landscape and planting trees along the waterfront, and creating bases offering human resources, technology and information services to facilitate the exchange between industry and academia.

The area already harbors a science park with a number of high-class facilities which will help to accelerate the development, for example the Industry and Academics Joint Research Center, which will serve as a base for exchange, or the Factory Park, an estate for R&D-oriented companies. The world-famous RIKEN Yokohama Institute and the Yokohama City University Graduate School of Nanobioscience, both situated at Keihin Waterfront, are already carrying out joint research and educational initiatives and are playing a leading role in the whole process of creating a strong R&D-area.

In Keihin Waterfront Area you also can find the US-Japan Technology Village Partnership (TVP), which opened in late 1998, a shared base for business operations by US companies, and it is planned to promote the concentration of further high-tech offices and R&D facilities around the TVP.

Kanazawa and Torihama Industrial Estates

There is a concentration of port facilities and large-scale manufacturing plants in the waterfront area of Naka and Isogo Ward.

In the waterfront area of Kanazawa Ward, there are two industrial estates, Kanazawa and Torihama, and approximately 1,200 firms, ranging from metal, machine, chemical to cutting-edge bio industries are located here. Yokohama Kanazawa High-Tech Center, a facility to provide comprehensive corporate R&D backup, and Techno-Core, a facility with a variety of laboratories, are also located in this area.

Yokohama Station District

Yokohama Station is one of the busiest terminal stations in Japan, with eight train lines provided by six companies and over two million users a day.

In front of Yokohama Station, there is a concentration of commercial and accommodation facilities, creating a vibrant atmosphere in this area. The station is also surrounded by a number of large commercial and business facilities, whose main tenants are IT solution-related companies, branch offices of major companies, and so forth.

The Portside District is a newly developed town in the waterfront area adjacent to Yokohama Station. This district, with the concept of a "Town of Art & Design", is designed to offer multiple functions such as urban housing, offices, commerce, culture and services.

This district is directly connected to Yokohama Station by a pedestrian deck. Because of this excellent access, the Portside District is attracting attention as a new business area, and a number of office buildings are currently being constructed.

Shin-Yokohama Station District

Convenient access to Tokyo, central and western Japan via the Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train that stops at Shin-Yokohama characterize this area. There is a high concentration of IT companies and foreign-affiliated companies.

Shin-Yokohama Station, just 10 minutes from Yokohama station and 30 minutes from Central Tokyo area, has excellent access to different parts of Japan, including Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, etc., by being a stop for the Tokaido Shinkansen Bullet Train. With this convenience of transportation and a highly-developed urban infrastructure, Shin-Yokohama is steadily developing as an "exciting town" that provides various functions such as offices, commerce, entertainment, cultural facilities, etc.

This excellent business environment is attracting many businesses, especially foreign-affiliated companies and IT-related companies such as semiconductor and software industries that plan to expand their businesses throughout Japan.

Kohoku New Town

Kohoku New Town is a large development project taking place in the hilly area in the northern part of Yokohama. Yokohama is seeking to attract high-tech companies to this verdant area, and already many international companies have R&D and other facilities there. The area offers convenient access to the Tokaido Shinkansen (bullet train) Line and various train and subway lines. Additionally, the area is very close to Route 246, the Daisan Keihin Expressway and the Tomei Expressway. This puts Kohoku New Town within easy reach of not only central Tokyo, but also Narita International Airport.

As this area features a very attractive natural environment, it is also designed as a residential area, which offers accommodation for a population of about 300,000.

BUSINESS IN YOKOHAMA