The Workshop Floor Where Carriage Woodwork Was Made
The Hall Wing of the Asahikawa City Civic Activities Exchange Center (旭川市市民活動交流センターホール棟, also written Asahikawa-shi Shimin Katsudō Kōryū Sentā Hōru-tō), formerly the second timber workshop of the Japanese National Railways Asahikawa Rolling Stock Center (旧国鉄旭川車両センター第二木機職場), stands at Miyamae 1-jo 3-chome in Asahikawa City, Hokkaido, dates from 1899 (Meiji 32), and was placed on the national register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 17 November 2015. Locally the pair of brick buildings on this site goes by the name CoCoDe (ココデ).
Two buildings, two stages of one job. Seasoned lumber left the drying house to the west and arrived here, where it was cut, planed, jointed and fitted into the wooden parts a railway carriage needed. This was the shop floor.
It covers 462 square metres, more than the drying house, and it is mostly single-storey with a partial upper level. The structure is brick with reinforced concrete added later, roofed in sheet metal. A woodworking shop wants floor area and daylight rather than height, and the plan reflects that priority.
The building does not sit parallel to its neighbour. It steps eastward on a staggered alignment, the arrangement Japanese architectural writing calls gankō, after the echelon formation of migrating geese. The two volumes read as related without either blocking the other's wall.
Registration and Rarity
The entry was made on 17 November 2015 under registry number 01-0144, in the same eighty-second round as the neighbouring wing, on the criterion that the building is a model of design. The City of Asahikawa owns it.
Look along the elevation and the rhythm changes as you walk. A three-centred arch marks the centre of the southeast gable. Elsewhere the openings alternate between broad arched windows and narrow vertical slits, and that alternation is what keeps a long brick wall from reading as a blank. Practical reasons sit underneath the effect. Hand woodworking needs even light across a bench, and openings of different widths at different heights distribute it better than a uniform row would.
Overburnt brick, fired hard and dark, is worked into the pediment and the cornice. It tightens the composition, drawing a firm line where the wall meets the sky.
Meiji-period railway workshop buildings are scarce in Japan today. The Asahikawa works was among the earliest, and the pair here is described as one of the oldest surviving groups of former national railway workshop buildings in the country. When the rolling stock centre shut on 1 December 1985 the surrounding structures were cleared; these two came through, and residents pressing for their preservation are credited with the outcome. Conversion followed under the Kita-Saito Asahikawa redevelopment of the station district, and the centre opened on 29 June 2010.
Using the Building, Not Just Looking at It
The former workshop now serves as a multipurpose hall with capacity reported at around 180 people. Lectures, training sessions, symposiums, music and theatre rehearsals and performances, exhibitions, sales events and flea markets all run here. The brick surfaces are described as being left visible in the hall, so a talk or a concert takes place against the wall a railway carpenter worked beside.
Hire is charged by the hour. Through 30 September 2026 the hall costs 920 yen per hour for registered local civic groups and 1,850 yen per hour for general users, with an air-conditioning and heating surcharge of twenty per cent of the rate during summer and winter months. Rates from 1 October 2026 had not been published at the time of writing, so confirm the current figure with the centre. Bookings are taken at the desk, by telephone, by fax, by email, or through the city's online facility reservation system.
If you are not booking anything, the building is still open. The centre runs from 9:00 to 22:00, closing on the second and fourth Monday of each month, or the following day when that is a public holiday, and from 30 December to 4 January. Whether the hall itself can be seen depends on what is booked in it that day, which is worth a phone call in advance.
Reaching the site takes roughly twenty-five minutes on foot from JR Asahikawa Station and about fifteen from JR Asahikawa-Shijo Station on the Sōya Line. Buses call at Gōdō Chōsha-mae. Thirty-eight parking spaces serve the centre, two of them accessible bays. The exterior can be photographed freely from the surrounding grounds; for the interior, and particularly during events, check with staff first.
One more thing to notice on the way in. Because of the staggered plan, the two buildings frame a strip of open ground between them, and standing there gives you both gable ends at once.
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Q&A
- Can the public enter the Asahikawa City Civic Activities Exchange Center Hall Wing, and when is it open?
- The centre is open from 9:00 to 22:00 and the common areas can be entered without charge. It closes on the second and fourth Monday of each month, or the next day when that is a public holiday, and from 30 December to 4 January. Access to the hall interior depends on whether a booking is running, so call ahead if you want to see the room itself.
- What was the former Asahikawa Rolling Stock Center second timber workshop used for?
- Woodworking for railway carriages. Timber seasoned in the drying house alongside was brought here to be cut, shaped and assembled into frames, panelling and fittings. The drying house prepared the material; this building worked it.
- How much does it cost to hire the hall at the Asahikawa City Civic Activities Exchange Center Hall Wing?
- Through 30 September 2026 the published rate is 920 yen per hour for registered civic groups and 1,850 yen per hour for general users, plus a heating or cooling surcharge of twenty per cent in summer and winter. Rates applying from 1 October 2026 had not been announced at the time of writing. Capacity is reported at about 180.
- Why does the Hall Wing sit at an angle to the Civic Activity Support Wing?
- It was built on a staggered alignment, stepping eastward rather than running parallel. Japanese architectural description calls this gankō, comparing it to geese flying in echelon. The offset leaves both buildings their own frontage and creates the open strip of ground between them.
- What should I look at on the outside of the Hall Wing?
- The three-centred arch at the centre of the southeast gable, the alternation of broad arched windows with narrow vertical slits along the flanks, and the overburnt brick worked into the pediment and cornice. The window rhythm was driven by the need for even working light inside, and it gives the elevation its variety.
Basic Information
| Name | Asahikawa City Civic Activities Exchange Center Hall Wing (former Japanese National Railways Asahikawa Rolling Stock Center Second Timber Workshop) |
|---|---|
| Location | 13 Miyamae 1-jo 3-chome, Asahikawa City, Hokkaido |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registry number 01-0144 |
| Year Designated | 17 November 2015 (Heisei 27) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Brick and reinforced concrete, single storey with partial second storey, sheet-metal roof, building area 462 square metres |
| Owner | City of Asahikawa |
| Public Access | In use as a public multipurpose hall, 9:00 to 22:00. Shut on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month, deferred to the following day if that Monday is a public holiday, and over the New Year break of 30 December to 4 January. Hall hire is charged by the hour and booked in advance. |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Asahikawa City Civic Activities Exchange Center Hall Wing
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010713
- Cultural Heritage Online: Asahikawa City Civic Activities Exchange Center Hall Wing
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/236328
- City of Asahikawa: Asahikawa City Civic Activities Exchange Center CoCoDe
- https://www.city.asahikawa.hokkaido.jp/facility00/facility08/p006145.html
- City of Asahikawa: Designated and Registered Cultural Properties in Asahikawa
- https://www.city.asahikawa.hokkaido.jp/kurashi/329/348/353/p000162.html
- Asahikawa City Civic Activities Exchange Center CoCoDe, official site
- https://cocode.jp/
Last verified: 2026.08.27