Freemasonry in Yokohama since 1879
The oldest Masonic lodge still working in the Kanto region.
Lodge Star in the East No. 640 has met in Yokohama for nearly 150 years under a charter from the Grand Lodge of Scotland. It has outlasted the Great Kanto Earthquake, the Pacific War and a string of moves across the city, and it still meets on the second Tuesday of the month.
A Scottish charter
Founded by Freemasons of the Yokohama foreign settlement, twenty years after the port opened to foreign trade.
First to return
On 9 April 1946 Star in the East became the first lodge in Japan to resume work after the Pacific War.
Our 150th year
The lodge reaches its sesquicentenary on 16 September 2029. Men who join now will be part of it.
What we are
A lodge, not a club
Freemasonry is one of the world’s oldest fraternal societies. Its members meet in lodges to work through a series of traditional ceremonies that use the tools and language of the medieval stonemason to teach lessons about character, duty and how to treat other people. Around those ceremonies sit friendship, charity and a good dinner.
Star in the East works under the Scottish Constitution, which makes it slightly different from most lodges in Japan. Scottish lodges call their Master the Right Worshipful Master, confer the Mark degree as part of the Craft, and keep customs that trace back to the operative lodges of Scotland, the oldest Masonic records in the world.
Our members come from many countries and many walks of life: Japanese and foreign, long-term residents and men posted to Yokohama and Tokyo for a few years. We meet in English. What we share is a belief in a Supreme Being, a wish to be better men, and the habit of turning up on the second Tuesday.
From Yamashita-chō to Midorigaoka
Where the lodge has met
Over the years the lodge has met in fifteen locations, including restaurant banquet rooms, a ship’s cabin at sea and the Tokyo Masonic Center.
Curious about Freemasonry in Yokohama?
Freemasons do not recruit. Every member of this lodge asked to join. If you are thinking about it, write to the Secretary and we will arrange an informal meeting.