Places to avoid in Yokohama

Purely for research purposes:

Which places in Yokohama are generally avoided and why? Which part of town, if any, would be considered the "seedy" part (as in, the east side, etc)? Any kind of gang activity?

Thank you.

Riza,

Which places in Yokohama are generally avoided and why?

Probably the dock areas, as they are mostly private property and off-limits to the general public.

Which part of town, if any, would be considered the "seedy" part (as in, the east side, etc)?

The area near Kannai Station where a lot of love hotels are clustered? It's hardly "seedy" though.

Any kind of gang activity?

Yokohama has its fair share of bosozoku bike gangs, and the Daikoku Parking Area is a well-known place for custom-car enthusiasts to congregate, but they're not "gangs".

I suspect you are assuming that Japanese cities are similar to large US cities, which happily is not the case.

Having been living in Yokohama for 20 years and raising a child nearly as much, I agree with Dave (even though he is in Saitama).

One of the seediest parts used to be Kogane-cho, but in the recent years, the city and some artists have successfully transformed the area into an artistic neighborhood where families would visit when they have art festivals. Today, anyone can go see a late night movie there and walk home alone or visit one of the cafes along the river.

Once in a few years, the papers would report gun shooting done by gangsters, and interestingly that seems to happen in ordinary neighborhoods where things like that is not the norm at all.

The only places I was ever asked to leave are a couple of the many U.S. Military property that exist in and around the city. Other off-limit areas simply have their locks on so you can't "accidentally" end up in dangerous areas. And the Daikoku Futo that Dave mentioned is a major touristical spot during the day.

I used to live in Yokohama and I never avoided any areas. I probably wouldn't walk around the more deserted reclaimed/dock areas by myself at night, but they're not places where your life is at risk like certain areas of cities in other countries.

As others have mentioned, Japanese cities are for the most part safe places to be, and nowhere is really "off limits", even for women.