44 The Scale of Mitsui

The Mitsui Group of Companies

From around the time of World War I, Mitsui expanded into the heavy chemical industry, and subsequently ventured into the financial sector, including trusts and insurance. Through this diversification strategy, Mitsui became a massive zaibatsu organizing numerous subsidiary companies. As of 1932, it comprised 62 companies (those in which Mitsui held a stake of 30% or more), with Mitsui Gomei Kaisha, the holding company, at the top. Among Mitsui’s directly owned companies, five-Mitsui Bank, Mitsui Bussan, Mitsui Mining, Toshin Soko and Mitsui Trust-were themselves holding companies with their own subsidiaries.

The Hegemony of the Three Major Zaibatsu

Like Mitsui, Mitsubishi and Sumitomo also established holding companies, and building on a base of directly managed banks, mines and other businesses, expanded into heavy chemical industries. Even amid the economic downturn of the 1920s, Mitsui, Mitsubishi and Sumitomo managed to strengthen their influence. By 1929, companies affiliated with these three major conglomerates accounted for 28% of the total assets of Japan’s top 100 companies. Note that at the end of 1930, among 433 major companies nationwide, 35 were affiliated with Mitsui, 37 with Mitsubishi and 18 with Sumitomo, and estimates suggest that these three zaibatsu held around 30% of all corporate capital. Among them, Mitsui had the largest share, estimated at around 15% of total capital (versus 10% for Mitsubishi and 5% for Sumitomo).

Assets of Mitsui Gomei Kaisha

Mitsui Gomei Kaisha, which oversaw Mitsui’s operations (→39 ), increased its stock investments in its subsidiaries during World War I, and focused its investments in real estate and agriculture and forestry following the war. The firm’s main source of income was dividends from its subsidiaries, with net profits posted in excess of about 20 million yen annually between 1924 and 1929. As a result, the company’s assets grew from about 80 million yen in 1915 to about 300 million yen in 1920, and reaching about 380 million yen in 1930, thus solidifying the company’s position as Japan’s largest zaibatsu.

Completion of the Mitsui Main Building

In March 1929, Mitsui completed construction of a stately Western-style building, symbolizing the company’s scale (→Fig. 44a). In February 1924, the Mitsui Gomei Kaisha decided to construct a new main building, commissioning the design and supervision of the work to the New York firm of Trowbridge & Livingston, and signing a construction contract with James Stewart & Co. Before actual construction could begin, Mitsui Gomei Kaisha’s real estate department (established in 1914 and predecessor of Mitsui Fudosan) worked tirelessly to coordinate with earthquake reconstruction plans and secure building materials. The real estate department brought in Teshima Tomotake of Mitsui Bussan’s machinery department as head, and being fluent in English, he took charge of design-related negotiations in the U.S. Architectural plans were finalized in October 1925, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held in May of the following year (→Fig. 44b). Construction took 964 days from start to finish, at a total cost of 21.31 million yen. At the time, typical building construction costs were around 200 yen per tsubo (approximately 3.3 m2), meaning this building cost about 2,200 yen per tsubo-or 10 times the usual rate.

Mitsui’s Headquarters

The new Mitsui Main Building was equipped with ventilation, hot water and heating and cooling systems, as well as elevators and equipment for delivering documents. In addition, a vault with a 50-ton circular door, made by the Mosler Safe Company of the U.S., was installed in the basement. Tenants of the new building included Mitsui Gomei Kaisha and other core companies of Mitsui (excluding Mitsui Life Insurance): Mitsui Trust, Mitsui Bank, Mitsui Bussan, Toshin Soko and Mitsui Mining. Serving as Mitsui’s headquarters, the building subsequently became the site of director general Dan Takuma’s assassination amid anti-zaibatsu sentiment (→45 ), and was partially requisitioned during the post-war period, becoming entangled in the turbulent times.

With a site area of approximately 5,600 m2 and a total floor area of about 31,400 m2, this steel-frame reinforced concrete Western-style building with seven stories (five above and two below ground) was designed in the American Beaux-Arts neoclassical style. In 1998 it was designated an Important Culture Property of Japan.The Great Kanto Earthquake struck on September 1, 1923. Since the former Mitsui Main Building in Surugacho (now Nihonbashi Muromachi) suffered minimal damage despite an internal fire, it was easy to restore. However, with Mitsui’s business constantly expanding, the old building had become cramped, leading Mitsui Gomei Kaisha to decide on construction of a new building. It is said that Dan Takuma, its director general, asked for a design that embodied “Grandeur,” “Dignity” and “Simplicity,” along with superior earthquake and fire resistance. The result was a building that displayed Mitsui’s imposing presence at the time.

Used by Mitsui Takamine (→38 ) during the groundbreaking ceremony on May 31, 1926. It is inscribed, “With this shovel BARON HACHIROEMON MITSUI turned the first earth for construction of MITSUI MAIN BUILDING, May 31, 1926.”

On November 10, 1927, during the building’s topping-off ceremony, Mitsui Takamine drove a final silver rivet into the steel structure on the roof. A spare of this rivet remains in the Mitsui Bunko.

A total of 590,000 workers were employed on the project through its completion (an average of 610 people per day).