T.Y.HARBOR Brewery

T.Y.HARBOR Brewery is a brewery-restaurant (brewpub) located in the Tennozu (Tennozu Isle) waterfront district of Higashi-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo. It occupies a converted warehouse built by the Terada family's warehousing business and opened in April 1997, making it one of the earliest craft breweries in central Tokyo after homebrewing-scale local beer production was legalized in Japan in 1994. The venue combines an on-site brewhouse with a roughly 350-seat dining operation that includes a craft beer bar, private rooms, and terrace seating overlooking the canal, plus the River Lounge, described by the operator as the only floating lounge on the water in Tokyo. The restaurant is the founding and flagship property of Tysons & Company, Inc. (株式会社タイソンズアンドカンパニー), a Tokyo-based hospitality company whose business lines include restaurant management, beer production, catering, and consulting. T.Y.HARBOR's early years were difficult: after a well-publicized opening, performance stagnated and the business came close to failure. In April 1999 a new management team led by Shinpei Terada took over the operation and turned it around. Since then the site has been expanded and renovated, including a major renovation in 2005, the opening of the Waterline floating lounge in 2006, and the addition of a bakery café (breadworks) in 2010 that extended operating hours from 8 a.m. until late and made boat access possible. T.Y.HARBOR is known for its broad customer base — spanning ages, nationalities, and occasions from business entertaining and dates to family meals and parties — and for its setting on a rare remaining canal-side space in Tokyo, which the company markets as a waterfront lifestyle distinct from the usual city experience. The brewery also produces beer sold through channels such as the group's bakery cafés and a hometown tax (furusato nozei) program, and it hosts recurring events and seasonal fairs. It remains the anchor of the Tysons & Company group, which has since opened restaurants and cafés including CICADA, beacon, IVY PLACE, crisscross, and breadworks across Tokyo.

T.Y.HARBOR Brewery traces its origins to the Terada family's warehousing business. After World War II, the founder's grandfather, who had run a pawnshop, bought land in Tennozu and used steel frames salvaged from a bombed factory to build a warehouse, giving rise to Terada Warehouse (寺田倉庫). From the late 1980s, as the warehouse district of Tennozu was developed as a waterfront pioneer area, these warehouses were converted into modern offices and studios. One of them was remodeled to create T.Y.HARBOR, which opened in April 1997. Local beer production had been legalized in Japan in 1994, and more than 300 breweries appeared across the country, but only four existed in Tokyo's 23 wards at the time (later two). T.Y.HARBOR was created as the only beer company without major corporate capital backing, modeled on West Coast American brewpubs — restaurants attached to their own breweries. Although the location and space attracted attention at opening, business did not grow, and after nearly two years the restaurant was on the verge of closing. In April 1999 a new management team took over the operation. Despite the burden of the previous losses, the business gradually entered a positive cycle and grew steadily; the difficult early period left the team strongly attached to the restaurant. The venue has evolved continuously since opening. It underwent a major renovation in 2005. In February 2006 the Waterline floating lounge opened, and in March 2010 a bakery café opened, allowing the site to serve guests from 8 a.m. until late and to be reached by boat. The brewery itself was expanded in 2013. T.Y.HARBOR became the anchor of Tysons & Company, Inc., whose history includes opening CICADA in Hiroo in 2003, beacon in Aoyama in 2006, the BOND ST. KITCHEN catering service in 2009, breadworks in Tennozu in 2010, IVY PLACE in Daikanyama in 2011, and the relocation of CICADA to Omotesando in 2012 along with the café crisscross and a breadworks bakery on the same site, plus a breadworks bakery inside Shinagawa Station in 2013. Today T.Y.HARBOR is described as a landmark of the Tennozu area, with a roughly 350-seat dining operation comprising a craft beer bar, private rooms, and canal-facing terrace seating, and the River Lounge floating on the water in front of it. The company positions the site as a rare remaining waterside space in Tokyo, once known as a "city of water," offering a waterfront lifestyle that many people have yet to discover.

• 2013

  T.Y.HARBOR Brewery's brewhouse is expanded; breadworks opens inside Shinagawa Station.

• 2012

  CICADA relocates from Hiroo to Omotesando; café crisscross and bakery breadworks open on the same site.

• 2011

  Group opens restaurant IVY PLACE in Daikanyama.

• 2010

  Bakery café breadworks opens in Tennozu in March.

• 2009

  Catering service BOND ST. KITCHEN starts.

• 2006

  Waterline, described as Tokyo's only floating lounge, opens in February; group opens beacon in Aoyama.

• 2005

  T.Y.HARBOR undergoes a major renovation.

• 2003

  Group opens restaurant CICADA in Hiroo.

• 1999

  A new management team led by Shinpei Terada takes over the struggling restaurant in April.

• 1997

  T.Y.HARBOR Brewery opens in Tennozu in April as a brewery-restaurant.

A waterfront brewery-restaurant and Tennozu district landmark offering house-brewed craft beer, broad-appeal dining, and a rare canal-side lifestyle experience in central Tokyo.

• House-brewed craft beer

  Beer brewed on site at the attached brewery.

• Brewpub dining menu

  Food served in the approximately 350-seat dining area, craft beer bar, private rooms, and terrace.

• River Lounge experience

  Floating lounge on the canal in front of the restaurant.

1. 1T.Y.HARBOR official websitetysons.jp
2. 2ABOUT | TYSONS & COMPANYtysons.jp
3. 3STORY | T.Y.HARBORtysons.jp
4. 4T.Y.HARBOR Brewery on Wikidatawikidata.org