Mitsui & Co Ltd. History.
Originating as a family business in the South of Japan the enterprise was taken over by the second son, Mitsui Takatoshi in 1672.
He opened a new branch in Tokyo selling Kimonos (later to become Mitsukoshi) and money exchange shops in an area of Tokyo encompassing Ohtemachi, where our Head Office remains to this day still in sight of the Castle.
Emerging from this money changing business some 200 years later, Mitsui Bank was founded in 1876, along with Mitsui Bussan, which truly embraced global enterprise with offices in Shanghai, London, Paris and New York by 1880.
The proud tradition of our founders applies just as much today as it did in our 1722 Constitution:
- Unless a merchant is diligent and attentive, his business will be taken over by others.
- One must be painstaking.
- Farsightedness is essential to the career of a merchant.
- In pursuing small interests close at hand, one may lose huge profits in the long run.