No.11 Akarenga soko(Red Brick Warehouse)

Let’s enjoy Yokohama.

Yokohama is considered to be a tourist destination near Tokyo. In reality, Yokohama is a trading port, and although the port had facilities for trade since the Meiji era, it is now popular as a port-themed tourist destination.

The basis of how to enjoy this city is walking around the city. I often enjoy walking around Yokohama. As a place I often visit, there is the “Red Brick Warehouse” in the Minatomirai area. To get there, if it’s sunny, it’s best to go from JR Sakuragicho Station via the “Kisha-michi”. The “Kisha-michi” is a promenade bridge over a canal with old freight train tracks. Walking on it makes you feel like you are walking on the water. After crossing it, there is “Shinko Pier” with a red brick warehouse. The Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse was built there as a bonded warehouse by the Meiji government when Japan opened in the Meiji era and trade flourished. Over time, as the containerization of cargo progressed, the protagonist moved to another wharf, and the cargo handling volume dropped sharply around 1975. Since then, it has been frequently used as a location for action dramas and movies. In 2002, the area around the Red Brick Warehouse opened as Yokohama Red Brick Park. Inside the warehouse, there are cafes, restaurants, and fashion goods stores such as accessories. The inside is narrow but comfortable and the exposed brick walls are nostalgic and fashionable. Every December, a German fair is held in front of the Red Brick Warehouse, where small German snacks, sweets and wine are sold in stalls and large tents. There, while drinking hot wine, eat German sausages and enjoy the Christmas illuminations. It feels great.

A century ago, Japanese people longed for this kind of thing as the West, and it is still in the Japanese DNA. It definitely seems to be in me.