The concept for Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse was part of the "Basic Plan for the Rejuvenation of the Aomori Station area" in 2004.

The plan was devised to keep tourism and businesses present in central Aomori after the 2010 opening of the Tōhoku Shinkansen and Shin-Aomori Station that would supplant the Tōhoku Main Line and Aomori Station, leading to a potential shift in commuter traffic away from the city's central district.

The building's exterior of red, ribbon-like, vertical steel beams was designed to evoke the visual sensation of light passing through Aomori's old-growth beech forests, as found in Shirakami-Sanchi, while controlling the amount of natural lighting that penetrated to the museum's interior.

The second floor leads to a balcony that overlooks the museum's main exhibition area where large Nebuta floats are kept.

[8] The experience emulates the festival which was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1980, and as one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan by the Ministry of the Environment in 1996.