Gaiety Theatre, Yokohama

In 1866 a Dutch merchant, MJB Noordhoek Hegt, built a public hall behind his office on the Bluff in Yokohama Settlement 68. An amateur dramatic club was organized and performed at the public hall. Hegt rented the hall at a very reasonable price for the dramatic club's performances but it soon proved to be too small and was also being used for many other activities so, in 1870, another small theater was built on Honmachi Street and became the original Gaiety Theater.

This theater also proved to be too small for the expanding audiences and in 1885 a new building was built at 256 Yamate and most performances moved to this new building. In 1908 this building was renamed as the Yamanote Gaiety Theater, completely replaced the small Gaiety Theater on Honmachi Street. Performances continued at this location until the Gaiety Theater was completely destroyed in the earthquake of 1923.

The Gaiety Theater was not rebuilt after the earthquake and dramatic performances in Yokohama were all but forgotten. In 1980, Iwasaki Gakuen Academy built a museum at 256 Yamate to commemorate the school's 50th anniversary. During construction of this museum bricks from the original Gaiety Theater were discovered and used in the construction. The museum includes theater space which available for public use and displays of props and clothing used for performances at the original Gaiety Theater.