Work
Wi-Fi, air conditioning, a drink dispenser and a quiet room for focused work. Meeting rooms and phone booths are available by the half hour.
YAMAGA BASE
A school that closed. A place that reopened.
Work, sleep, train and meet people — in a 1874-founded elementary school in the hills of Kumamoto. Open 24 hours, every day.
What this place is
Chida Elementary School opened in 1874 and closed in 2017, after seeing more than 7,300 children through its gates. In 2024 it reopened as YAMAGA BASE.
The classrooms are now desks, meeting rooms and dorms. The gymnasium is still a gymnasium. The schoolyard is still a schoolyard. Roughly 30,000㎡ of it, in a quiet valley in Yamaga, Kumamoto.
It is not a hotel and not quite a coworking space. People come to work for a day, to stay a night, to run a company retreat, or just to use the gym at six in the morning.
What you can do here
One drop-in ticket covers the desks, the gym and the sports hall.
Stay
Dorm-style beds in converted classrooms. Two types: semi-private CABIN and bunk-style CAPSULE. Guests get the coworking space, the members' lounge and the shower at no extra charge.
Move
A 420㎡ sports hall, a training gym and a 7,000㎡ ground. Included with a coworking ticket — you do not pay separately for them.
Gather
Classrooms, a multipurpose hall and a studio for events, workshops, filming and company retreats. Catering and group stays can be arranged.
Prices
All prices include tax. The member column applies to monthly facility members.
| Visitor | Member | |
|---|---|---|
| Coworkingcapped per day | ¥330 / 30 minmax ¥1,980 / day | Free |
| CAPSULE bedbunk style, 17 beds | ¥5,500 | ¥4,400 |
| CABIN bedsemi-private, 12 beds | ¥6,600 | ¥5,500 |
| Showerper use | ¥500 | Free |
| Monthly membershipunlimited access | — | ¥11,000 / month |
Meeting rooms, the studio and the sports hall can also be booked privately. Ask us for group and retreat quotes.
Getting here
We are in the countryside. A car is by far the easiest way to reach us, and parking is free and plentiful.
- Ueki IC (Kyushu Expressway)
- 10 min by car
- Aso Kumamoto Airport
- 40 min by car
- Shin-Tamana Station (Kyushu Shinkansen)
- 25 min by car
4187 Chida, Kaou-machi, Yamaga, Kumamoto 861-0563, Japan
〒861-0563 熊本県山鹿市鹿央町千田4187
Free on-site parking. No reservation needed.
Google Maps ↗How to book
- 01
Book online
Coworking, meeting rooms and stays are booked through our reservation system. The booking pages are in Japanese — if that is difficult, email us instead and we will handle it.
- 02
Register for the smart lock
First-time visitors register once for the door system. You will receive a PIN or QR code that opens the entrance, so you can arrive at any hour.
- 03
Come any time
Staff are on site during the day, but the building itself is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
We reply in English. Please include your dates and how many people.
Before you come
- Email is the most reliable way to reach us. Our team works in Japanese, so we read written English carefully and reply in English — it is far surer than a phone call.
- There is no restaurant on site. There is a shared kitchen you may use, and a few places to eat in town, but bringing food for late arrivals is a good idea.
- Public transport to the site is very limited. Please plan on a car or a taxi.
- The sports hall and some rooms are sometimes reserved for private groups and are closed to other visitors at those times.
Contact
Email is best. We will answer questions about access, rooms, group bookings and anything else.
- Phone
- +81-968-41-9595
- Staffed
- 10:00–17:00 (closed Tue & Wed)
- Building access
- 24 hours, 365 days
More detail
Our full site has floor plans, photographs of every room, detailed price tables and the story of the school. It is written in Japanese — your browser's translation will handle it reasonably well.