Cities Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse
Red Brick Warehouse
- Heritage/Temple/Shrine
- Iconic/Bucket List
The why: The two surviving Meiji/Taisho-era customs warehouses are the visual signature of the port and the cleanest example of adaptive reuse on the bay. Original iron doors and staircases, restored brick, now full of small shops, cafes, and a top-floor hall.
Gotcha / logistics: Weekends and event days (the building runs frequent food festivals and a Christmas market) get very crowded; come on a weekday afternoon for the architecture, evening for the lit-up bay walk.
Building No. 2 went up in 1911, No. 1 in 1913, both as customs inspection houses for the working port. They survived the 1923 earthquake (No. 1 took heavier damage and was rebuilt) and the war, then sat idle for decades before reopening in 2002 as a cultural-commercial complex.
No. 1 is mostly hall space — exhibitions, theatre, occasional concerts. No. 2 is the shopping-and-eating side, with a curated mix that mostly avoids generic mall tenants. The integration of restored industrial fabric (visible riveted iron, original staircases, exposed brick) with modern retail is genuinely well done; treat it as architecture first, shopping second.
The plaza between the two buildings is one of the marked viewing points for the Three Towers legend, and the waterfront walk from here connects easily to Osanbashi Pier and the Minato Mirai promenade.
The warehouses were designed by the Ministry of Finance and built to handle the bonded goods coming through what was then one of Japan’s most important ports. The design is functional industrial — thick brick walls, cast-iron interior framing, high ceilings — but executed with enough care in the detailing that it reads as architecture rather than infrastructure. The renovation work in 2002 exposed rather than covered the industrial bones, which is the correct decision.
Most shops in No. 2 are open 10:30-21:00 (restaurants until 23:00), with two irregular closing days per year. The building runs an outsized events calendar: a summer beer garden, Christmas market (one of the best in the Kanto region for atmosphere), various food festivals, and regular outdoor concerts. Check before visiting if you want to avoid a crowd, or specifically if you want to be in one.
The Sea Bass water bus stops at a pier adjacent to the Red Brick Warehouse, making a water approach from Yokohama Station Bay Quarter or Yamashita Park the most atmospheric arrival. From Sakuragicho Station the walk is 15 minutes along the waterfront; from Minatomirai Station it is 10 minutes.
More in Yokohama
Minato Mirai 21
The reclaimed-land waterfront district that defines the modern Yokohama skyline — Landmark Tower, the Cosmo Clock Ferris wheel, wide pedestrian boulevards, and the cleanest bay views in the Kanto region.
Noge & Miyakobashi Harmonica Alley
A dense post-war drinking warren just across the tracks from Sakuragicho — over 600 bars in walking distance, Showa-era atmosphere intact, and the curving two-storey Miyakobashi Shotengai (Harmonica Alley) along the Ooka River. The closest you get in Kanto to a non-touristed Japanese drinking district.
Sankeien Garden
A traditional Japanese landscape garden that doubles as an open-air architectural museum — historic buildings relocated here from Kyoto and Kamakura (a three-storied pagoda among them), set in classic stroll-garden grounds. Often skipped because it isn't on a train line, which is exactly why it's still calm.
Yokohama Chinatown
The largest Chinatown in Japan, with roots back to the 1859 port opening when Chinese traders brokered between Western merchants and Japanese suppliers. Roughly 250 shops and restaurants packed into a 500-metre square, demarcated by four ornate Paifang gates laid out by Feng Shui principles.
CupNoodles Museum
A design-forward museum about Momofuku Ando and the invention of instant ramen, designed by Kashiwa Sato. Pitched around "creative thinking" rather than corporate hagiography, and the My CupNoodles Factory lets you design your own packaging and pick four toppings from a counter — one of the more genuinely fun rainy-day activities in Minato Mirai.
Kanteibyo Temple
A vivid Taoist temple housed inside Chinatown, dedicated to Guan Yu, the god of business and prosperity. The spiritual anchor of the district, with its incense smoke and ornate decorations woven into the fabric of the surrounding shops and restaurants.