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South of central Yokohama, the JR Negishi line stops at Ishikawacho Station before plunging into a series of tunnels beneath Yamate hill. Take the station's southeastern exit to find Motomachi , a fashionable shopping street from pre war days, which used to serve the city's expatriate community and still exudes a faint European flavour. Today the narrow lane of small shops, selling foreign brand names, imported books and exotic foodstuffs, continues to draw the punters, particularly on Sundays and holidays, when it's turned over to pedestrians; note that many stores close on Monday. At the east end of Motomachi, a wooded promontory marks the beginning of Harbour View Park ; take any of the paths going uphill to find the lookout point where the British and French barracks once stood - the panoramic view of the harbour and its graceful Bay Bridge is particularly beautiful at night. Turning inland and walking through the park will bring you to the Foreigners' Cemetery on the western hillside. Over 4500 people from more than forty countries are buried here, the vast majority either British or American. Wandering among the crosses and sculpted angels, look out for Edward Morel, chief engineer on the Yokohama-Tokyo railway who died of TB at the age of 30, and Charles Richardson, a British merchant whose murder in 1862 provoked a war between Britain and the Satsuma clan . You'll also find more modern tombstones - an average of twenty foreigners a year are still buried on Yamate. Heading south along the cemetery's eastern perimeter, you'll pass a handsome row of houses, including the turreted Yamate Jubankan - a French restaurant - and the city's oldest wooden building, next door. The latter, erected in 1909 for a wealthy Japanese family, now houses the Yamate Museum (daily 11am-4pm; Y200), most interesting for its collection of cartoons from Japan Punch , a satirical magazine published in Yokohama for a while in the late nineteenth century. Just beyond, the square tower of Christ Church , founded in 1862 but rebuilt most recently in 1947, adds a village-green touch to the neighbourhood, which is still the most popular residential district for Yokohama's wealthy expatriates.
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