Continuing Mitsui after the 6th: from Palaceside Building by subway via Otemachi, Mitsui Main Building (Nihonbashi Muromachi, Chuo Ward) sits right above Mitsukoshimae on the Hanzomon Line.
This area is called "Mitsui Village" versus Marunouchi's "Mitsubishi Village." As Mitsui grew, companies gathered in Nihonbashi; Japan's first steel-frame Mitsui Main Building (old) opened in 1902. The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake left the frame intact but fire destroyed the interior; the present building dates from 1929. It housed Mitsui Holding and the "big three": Mitsui Bank, Mitsui & Co., Mitsui Mining.
Site of Dan Takuma's 1932 assassination (Blood Brotherhood League); partly requisitioned by GHQ postwar; designated Important Cultural Property in 1998.
Wartime merger of Mitsui and First Bank into Imperial Bank echoes their origins. Split again in 1948; Imperial returned to Mitsui Bank in 1954. Through bubble collapse and financial reorganization, Mitsui Bank became Sakura, then partly absorbed into Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
Mitsui Trust, Japan's first trust company (1924), became Chuo Mitsui Trust, merged with Sumitomo Trust in 2011, now Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.
Adjacent Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower (2005) changed the skyline. Mitsui Main Building now holds Mitsui Fudosan HQ and bank branches; golden signage on the facade has changed with bank names = photo top current; bottom three historical =.
