User:AghadreenaCole72

2012-01-09T20:51:01Z

AghadreenaCole72: Created page with "Nihonbashi Bridge at night (photo by Aimaimyi from Wikimedia Commons) The Nihonbashi district of Tokyo is a major business and commercial center. Many large companies, includin..."

Nihonbashi Bridge at night (photo by Aimaimyi from Wikimedia Commons)

The Nihonbashi district of Tokyo is a major business and commercial center. Many large companies, including HSBC, Takashimaya, Mitsukoshi, and many others, have their headquarters here.

Nihonbashi is located in central Tokyo, with the Akihabara electronics district to the north, the to the east, Yaesu and to the south and Otemachi to the west. Since the early Edo period, Nihonbashi (literally, Japan Bridge) had been marker zero for Japan's highway network. Any highway markers that report a distance to Tokyo actually report the distance to Nihonbashi.

The bridge itself was originally built in 1603 as a wooden bridge and was rebuilt during the Meiji era, this time made out of stone. The Nihonbashi district has been a mercantile center since early Edo times, largely thanks to the Mitsui family, who owned a wholesale business that they based here, later founding Mitsukoshi Department store. Mitsukoshi, formerly a kimono shop started in 1673, is one of the highlights of visiting Nihonbashi, along with Takashimaya department store. Coredo Nihonbashi is also an excellent place to shop. Other sights to see in Nihonbashi are the Bank of Japan, one of the first Western-style buildings that had a Japanese designer, the Tokyo Stock Exchange, complete with an observation deck and exhibits that compare stock markets from around the world, the Pokemon Center, a shop dedicated to the world-famous anime characters, and the Bridgestone Museum of Art, which displays famous works of Western art.

In the 1960s, the expressway was built over the Nihonbashi bridge, obscuring the area's view of Mt Fuji, just before the 1964 summer Olympics. Local Tokyo-ites have been petitioning for the expressway to move underground, a project that would cost upwards of 500 billion yen, or approximately $4 billion. The Japanese government had been split over the issue, with Prime Minister Koizumi supporting it and opposed by Tokyo's Governor Ishihara.

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[http://www.mitsukoshi.co.jp/whiteday 三越のホワイトデー]

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