Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse is one of the buildings on Yokohama Bay that adds retro feel to the otherwise modern water front scenery.
Brick buildings are rare in this humid and constantly shaking (by earthquake) country of Japan. However, from the late Edo Period through Meiji Period (around 19th century) they were built one after another throughout Japan by progressive ex-samurai politicians who believed that anything imported from western countries had to be advanced and better for modernizing Japan. Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse was built during this period (in 1911) as a Customs Inspection House. It was half collapsed by the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. Since then, people started to build buildings using concrete rather than bricks.
However, thanks to the above-mentioned modernization period of Japan we can now enjoy the retro and romantic looking renovated warehouse on Yokohama Bay. With stylish and funky shops and restaurants, it has become one of the main attractions of this area and a popular dating spot.
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Takako Sakamoto @takako.sakamoto
I was born in and grew up in Tokushima prefecture, and have lived in many places since then: Nishinomiya, Kyoto, Nara, Mie, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Fukuoka and Fukui. I am currently living in Yokohama City. All the places I lived, all the places I visited, I have loved dearly. The histor...