Encounters With Music That Awaken the Senses

January 8, 2025

In June 2024, Yamaha opened a new brand shop in Yokohama, Japan. Along with the instruments and lessons available at Yamaha’s other music shops, Yamaha Music Yokohama Minato Mirai offers visitors a chance to engage in creative, interactive musical experiences. The shop offers hands-on opportunities for everyone to discover the joy of music in surprising ways—whether you're an experienced musician, a curious beginner, or just browsing with no intention to buy.

Removing Barriers for a Seamless Journey

As you step into the shop, you're greeted by a striking display that spans the entire atrium wall. Artistic visuals fill a massive screen, perfectly synchronized with the music that fills the space. This experience zone, known as the “Music Canvas,” offers visitors more than just music to listen to—it’s a place where you can experience sound in an entirely new way, seeing, touching, and feeling it with your whole body.

Maki Toyoda from the Corporate Marketing Division, who helped plan the Experience Zone, explains, “You can discover and enjoy things just by looking, listening, or simply by touching with a single finger. This space removes all barriers, making music accessible to everyone.” Toyoda’s own musical journey began in childhood when she learned to play piano and violin. While studying abroad in London, she started jamming with local bands, which sparked her passion for jazz. After returning to Japan, her love for jazz deepened, and she continues to play jazz violin to this day.

Since joining Yamaha, Toyoda has consistently been involved in marketing operations. In 2021, she helped plan and manage the brand experience at the flagship Yamaha Ginza Shop, which reopened during that same year. Despite the Ginza Shop being one of the largest music shops in Japan, Toyoda recalls the challenge of drawing people into the shop to explore the instruments.

“Our goal for the new shop in Minato Mirai,” Toyoda explains, “is to help a wide range of people discover the joy of music and instruments, regardless of their experience or intention to buy. We wanted to create a space where anyone—and especially those without musical experience—could feel welcome to explore and interact with instruments without hesitation. At the Yamaha Ginza Shop, the instruments and experiences are spread across 12 floors and 2 basement levels, categorized by instrument type. But at the new Minato Mirai facility, we embraced an open design without dividing walls, creating a seamless flow of experiences throughout the space.”

A Natural Invitation to Explore Music

Toyoda and her team focused on two main initiatives to make music and musical instruments more accessible. The first is the aforementioned Music Canvas, the shop’s centerpiece, which is clearly visible from outside. This “art space” allows visitors to experience music without needing to play any instruments. While the second floor still offers plenty of hands-on opportunities with instruments, the first floor Music Canvas serves as an introduction—a place where people can discover the unexpected and engage with music simply by looking, listening, or interacting with just a single finger.

The area is equipped with cutting-edge Yamaha technology, including auto-playing instruments, the immersive "Active Field Control" audio system, and AI ensemble technology. Toyoda and her team envisioned combining these innovations to create unique, immersive musical experiences unlike anything else. The result is a range of interactive experiences: a show where auto-playing instruments are synchronized with artistic video and immersive audio, an interactive piano experience accompanied by AI, a space for freely engaging with auto-playing instruments, and unique artwork comprising parts from various instruments. These experiences are innovative and ambitious, and bringing them to life was a challenge. However, utilizing the expertise of both Yamaha and external collaborators, they have succeeded in creating experiences that captivate visitors and generate significant buzz.

Another area Toyoda and her team focused on is the "Live & Cafe" on the second floor. Guitars and noise-canceling headphones are casually placed next to the sofas, inviting visitors to try them out. These products are seamlessly integrated into the space, offering a natural way for people to interact with Yamaha’s offerings. The cafe also features books for customers to browse, and which can then be purchased in the adjacent book and music score area.

“We put a lot of thought into the cafe menu,” Toyoda shares. The goal was to make the cafe appealing on its own while adding a Yamaha touch. The menu includes reasonably priced specialty coffee, sandwiches, bite-sized sweets, and even alcoholic beverages to cater to local office workers.

To connect with Yamaha’s roots, the cafe serves tea sourced from a farm in Kakegawa, a town near Yamaha’s headquarters in Hamamatsu. Toyoda personally visited the farm to ensure the values of the farmer were reflected in the menu. Additionally, the cafe offers polar bear-themed souvenirs and latte art, inspired by the life-size polar bear artwork displayed in front of Yamaha’s Innovation Road Museum. Toyoda hopes the polar bear will become a beloved corporate icon that resonates with people.

Toyoda and her team plan to host regular live events in the cafe. They consulted extensively with experts to decide on event facilities, conditions, and sound engineering, ensuring the space can accommodate various performances. Their goal is to naturally spark people’s interest in music while they relax in the cafe.

Opening the Door to a Life with Music

The interactive brand shop introduces fresh ways for people to engage with music and instruments, through creative experiences in both its art installations and cafe. Within just weeks of opening, Toyoda began noticing the shop’s impact.

“My biggest realization has been how many people are developing an interest in musical instruments,” Toyoda says. “I’ve never seen so many visitors actively interacting with the instruments at Yamaha shops, even those with no prior experience. People have told me, “This was the first time I touched a string instrument, and I was amazed,’ ‘It feels like an amusement park,’ and ‘It made me want to learn a new instrument.’ These responses give me confidence that this shop offers something truly unique.”

The shop attracts a diverse range of visitors, including local residents, office workers, students, and families. Its open, glass-walled design and inviting cafe encourage people from all walks of life to stop by and spend time, even without a specific purpose. Looking ahead, Toyoda and her team plan to collaborate with nearby music venues to build lasting connections with customers.

Toyoda hopes that the shop’s various elements will inspire people to discover and embrace a life enriched by music. Perhaps someone who visits just for the cafe will catch a live performance and develop an interest in playing for themselves. On their next visit, they might browse through the music books or try out an instrument. And maybe, the time after that, they’ll find the courage to join a music class.

Toyoda believes that spaces filled with music evoke positive emotions. “I hope this place becomes a starting point for that positivity to spread,” she says with a smile. “It would truly make me happy to see more people develop a love for music thanks to our shop.”

Yamaha Music Yokohama Minato Mirai encourages casual encounters with music and instruments by offering experiences that lower the barriers to entry. Up next, we’ll introduce the “Interactive Musical Station,” an installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that gives children the chance to discover the joys of music.

(Interview: June 2024)

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