New Year at InterContinental Yokohama Pier 8, watching the sunrise from the chair

On New Year’s Day 2025 I watched the sunrise from the window of the room. It was a wonderful feeling — that is still the impression I am left with.

Arrive on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, and see the year out there

We checked in a little after three on the afternoon of 31 December 2024.

InterContinental Yokohama Pier 8 stands on Shinko Pier. It sits on a pier surrounded by water on three sides, which is unusual in Japan. It opened on 31 October 2019 and has 173 rooms, on floors three to five. Rather than a hotel, there is a sense of being inside a building moored at a port.

We spent the evening of New Year’s Eve to the morning of New Year’s Day there.

The building was not quiet over the new year

There was a red Michelin box set out inside.

On the morning of the first, the lobby was busy. People crossing it with luggage, crowded in the way the turn of the year is crowded. That many people had chosen to spend the new year in a hotel.

The window turned red

What I remember most from this stay is the morning of the first.

The room window faces the sea. I had slept with the curtains open, so the light coming up was simply apparent. The colour of the sky changed from around the horizon and the inside of the room went red with it.

There is a way of doing this that involves getting up early and going out into the cold to see the first sunrise. We did not do that. We sat in the chairs and watched the same thing happen on the other side of the glass.

I felt no particular guilt about taking the easy option. It was a wonderful feeling.

Notes from this stay

• InterContinental Yokohama Pier 8, 2-14-1 Shinko, Naka-ku, Yokohama — on Shinko Pier
• Opened 31 October 2019. Surrounded by water on three sides; 173 rooms on floors 3–5
• A western restaurant and bar and a sushi counter, a spa and gym for guests, a courtyard and a rooftop
• This stay ran from 31 December 2024 to 1 January 2025
• From a sea-facing room, the first sunrise of the year is visible from the window
• Room types, facilities and rates change. Confirm when you book

Facilities and pricing are as they were at the time of the stay.