Walk into seven Western houses on the Bluff without paying for any of them
Seven period houses, all free
Seven preserved Western residences on the Yamate Bluff, the foreign settlement's hillside: the Diplomat's House, Bluff No. 18, Berrick Hall, the Ehrismann Residence, Yamate No. 234, the Yokohama British House and Yamate No. 111. All of them are free.
Why it's unique
Seven furnished period houses from the treaty-port era, all free and all within a twenty-minute walk of each other, is a density no other Japanese city has.
The Ehrismann Residence (1926) is by Antonin Raymond, the Czech architect Frank Lloyd Wright brought to Japan to assist on the Imperial Hotel; it was demolished in 1982, its timbers bought by the city and re-erected in 1990. Berrick Hall (1930) is the largest surviving pre-war house on the Bluff and holds the only room in any Yamate house designed for a child.
Before you go
Because they are free and unticketed, the mistake is doing one and leaving. All seven take two to three hours. The privately run, paid Yamate Museum is not one of the seven.
You change into house slippers at every house except the British House. The closing days are split: Yamate 111, Ehrismann, Berrick Hall and Bluff No. 18 close on the second Wednesday, and the British House, Yamate 234 and the Diplomat's House on the fourth. Three have cafes, including the Ehrismann kitchen. Yamate No. 234 has closed for building works before, so check it is open. Time it for Christmas Around the World, 1 to 25 December, when each house is decorated for a different country by that country's community or embassy.