Former Nagahama Quarantine Station No. 1 Bus Stop (Ministry

Former Nagahama Quarantine Station Detention House No. 1: A Living Monument to Japan's Public Health Heritage

Standing gracefully within the seaside greenery of Umi-no-Kōen Park in Yokohama's Kanazawa Ward, the Former Nagahama Quarantine Station Detention House No. 1 (旧長濱検疫所一号停留所) is one of Japan's most historically significant quarantine structures. Originally completed in 1895 during the Meiji era, this elegant Western-style wooden building once served as a temporary residence for first- and second-class ship passengers suspected of carrying infectious diseases such as cholera and plague. Designated as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2018, it stands as an extraordinary testament to the nation's pioneering efforts in modern public health and maritime quarantine.

A History Rooted in Japan's Fight Against Infectious Disease

Japan's modern quarantine system began in 1879 when the Kanagawa Prefectural Quarantine Bureau was established to combat a cholera epidemic. The original facility, the Nagaura Disinfection Station in present-day Yokosuka, was relocated to the Nagahama district of Yokohama in 1895 and renamed the Nagahama Quarantine Station. The Detention House No. 1 was built at this time as a facility for upper-class passengers—those who had purchased first- or second-class tickets on passenger ships—who needed to remain under observation during the quarantine period.

Unlike the austere isolation wards one might imagine, the Detention House No. 1 was designed with a level of comfort befitting its distinguished occupants. The single-story building featured a symmetrical U-shaped plan oriented roughly east to west, with both ends of the south façade projecting forward. Inside, there were eight guest rooms (each accommodating two people), a dining hall, and a lounge—spanning a total floor area of approximately 420 square meters. Chandeliers, decorative moldings, and fine furnishings gave the facility an ambiance more akin to a Western-style hotel than a quarantine ward.

The building suffered damage during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 but was carefully restored the following year using some of the original building materials. The reconstruction was completed in October 1924, preserving the Meiji-era architectural character that makes the building so significant today.

Why It Was Designated a Registered Tangible Cultural Property

In 2018, the Former Nagahama Quarantine Station Detention House No. 1 was officially registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan under the Cultural Properties Protection Act. This designation recognizes buildings that are at least 50 years old and meet one or more of the following criteria: contributing to the historical landscape of the nation, serving as a model of architectural design, or being difficult to reproduce.

According to Professor Emeritus Koichi Yoshida of Yokohama National University, the Nagahama Quarantine Station is one of the oldest surviving quarantine facility sites in Japan, inheriting the legacy of the nation's very first quarantine institution at Nagaura. The Detention House No. 1 is considered the most architecturally significant building within the station complex, concentrating the finest elements of the station's design heritage.

Professor Yoshida has further noted that the building can be compared to such famous early Western-style hotels in Japan as the Fujiya Hotel in Hakone, the Nikko Kanaya Hotel, and the Nara Hotel. While those hotels incorporated Japanese-style design elements, the Detention House No. 1 was entirely Western in its architectural idiom, making it an exceptionally rare surviving example of a purely Western-style accommodation structure from the earliest period of Japan's modernization.

The Noguchi Hideyo Connection

One of the most compelling aspects of this historic building is its connection to Dr. Hideyo Noguchi (1876–1928), one of Japan's most celebrated scientists, whose portrait appears on the current 1,000-yen banknote. In May 1899, at just 22 years of age, Noguchi was appointed as a quarantine medical officer at the Nagahama Quarantine Station—then recently renamed the Yokohama Maritime Quarantine Station. During his brief five-month tenure, he made a remarkable discovery: identifying a plague patient aboard the ship "Amerika Maru" as it entered Yokohama Port, marking one of the station's first plague detections.

This achievement earned Noguchi a recommendation from his mentor, Dr. Kitasato Shibasaburo, to join an international prevention committee dispatched to Niuzhuang, China, where plague was raging. This opportunity proved to be the springboard for Noguchi's illustrious international career, which would take him to the United States and eventually to groundbreaking research on yellow fever and syphilis at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.

Nearby, in the Nagahama Noguchi Memorial Park, the former Bacteriological Laboratory where Noguchi conducted his research still stands—the only surviving research facility associated with him in Japan. Together with the Detention House No. 1, these buildings form a compelling historical constellation for anyone interested in the history of infectious disease research.

Relocation to Umi-no-Kōen Park: A New Chapter

When the Yokohama Quarantine Station relocated to a new government building in Yokohama's Naka Ward in 2023, the future of the Detention House No. 1 became uncertain. Thanks to an impassioned preservation campaign led by local residents, the Noguchi Hideyo Yokohama Memorial Association, and cultural organizations—gathering over 6,600 signatures—the national government agreed to disassemble the building and relocate it to Umi-no-Kōen (Sea Park) in Kanazawa Ward.

The relocation and restoration work, funded by the national government and carried out by specialist contractor Aichiken Corporation, was completed in March 2025. The building was then donated to Yokohama City, which is now responsible for its maintenance and public utilization. The exterior has been faithfully reproduced, and seismic reinforcement has been added to ensure the building's safety for generations to come.

In January 2026, Yokohama City announced that Starbucks Coffee Japan has been selected as the operator for the facility. A café with a history exhibition space is planned to open in the summer of 2026, allowing visitors to enjoy refreshments while surrounded by the atmosphere of a Meiji-era cultural property overlooking the sea.

Highlights and What to See

The Detention House No. 1 offers a rare opportunity to step inside a piece of Japan's public health history. The building's exterior, with its white-painted wooden walls, symmetrical design, bay windows, and colonial-style verandas, evokes the refined aesthetic of early Western architecture in Japan. The interior features a long east-west corridor lined with tall windows on the sea-facing side, elegant period light fixtures, and rooms that speak to the surprisingly comfortable conditions offered to quarantine detainees of high social standing.

The dining hall and lounge areas retain their historical character, and in its years as a quarantine museum, the building displayed a fascinating collection of quarantine instruments, historical photographs, and calligraphic works left by notable visitors including the poets Yosano Tekkan and Akiko, and the statesman Goto Shinpei.

Now relocated to Umi-no-Kōen Park, the building enjoys a beautiful new setting surrounded by greenery and close to the shore of Tokyo Bay. The park itself—Yokohama's only public beach—offers approximately one kilometer of sandy shoreline, making it a wonderful complement to a cultural visit. With the upcoming Starbucks opening, visitors will be able to enjoy a coffee in an authentic registered cultural property while taking in views of the bay.

Surrounding Attractions

The Kanazawa Ward area surrounding Umi-no-Kōen Park is rich with cultural and leisure attractions. Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, one of Japan's premier aquarium and amusement complexes, is located just across the bay and is easily accessible by the Kanazawa Seaside Line monorail. The Nagahama Noguchi Memorial Park, home to the Former Bacteriological Laboratory associated with Dr. Noguchi, is situated nearby and offers year-round public access free of charge.

For those interested in deeper historical exploration, the Kanazawa Bunko Museum—one of Japan's oldest libraries, originally established in the Kamakura period—is a short train ride away. The Shomyo-ji Temple, with its beautiful Pure Land-style garden, is adjacent to the museum. The area also offers seasonal pleasures: clam digging in spring, swimming in summer, and beautiful coastal walks year-round.