The arena, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary, is already a major home for global musical acts.

K-Arena Yokohama opened its doors in September 2023 in Yokohama’s Minato Mirai entertainment district, part of an ambitious new Music Terrace complex situated right next to Yokohama Bay. The arena has seating for 20,000 and was specifically engineered to offer superior sound quality for live musical performances–over 140 of which have already been held since its opening.

This enormous venue has been attracting plenty of international attention, including dozens of not only Japanese, but also major international musical artists, that have booked the arena for their tour dates in Japan. In fact, the U.S.’s Pollstar publication for the concert and live music industry shared that between November 16, 2023 and November 13, 2024, 1.84 million concertgoers visited K-Arena Yokohama in its first year of operations–earning it the distinction of being the musical venue with the second highest number of attendees during that timeframe in the entire world.

▼ View of K-Arena Yokohama

The only venue to beat that record was New York City’s Madison Square Garden, which saw 2 million concertgoers during the same period. Third place went to Madrid’s WiZink Center with 1.47 million concertgoers.

Japanese net users were quick to chime in with awe and their own experiences at the venue after the news broke:

“I’m so glad this was the first place where I ever went to a live concert!”
“I’ve been twice and it’s super easy to see the stage and the sound is good. I totally get it.”
“I love being able get to get a drink at the venue’s Arena Bar 7 after a show.”
“The sound quality really was wonderful. I also liked the fact that there are elevators and not just stairs. I just hope that they can improve access to Yokohama Station after performances finish.”
“It’s been criticized, but even with the massive crowds it only took me a 15-minute walk to get back.”

Even if the post-concert rush to nearby Yokohama Station could still use a bit of fine tuning, it’s a major step to have another venue dedicated to musical performances besides the established Yokohama Arena that’s also easily accessible from downtown Tokyo. Now if only Hiroshima could get in on a little bit of the musical action as well…

Source: Nikkei via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso
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