The west side of JR Tokyo Station, called Marunouchi, is ridiculed as Mitsubishi Village, because most buildings in this area belong to the Mitsubishi financial group. The development of this area dates back to Mitsubishi Ichigokan Building built in 1894. The Mitsubishi group dared to purchase this area from the then Government, although it was thought to be useless because it was a reclaimed land from the tidal wetlands of Tokyo Bay.
They commissioned Josiah Conder, a British architect, to design this building as the first building in this area, present Mitsubishi Village. And also as the first full-scale building for rent in Japan. This area was once called Little London, as many brick buildings were clustered here in the 1910s. Most of them were destroyed by the Great Kanto Earthquake and the Second World War though, this building survived. After being reconstructed to a high-rise building for the head office of a group company in 1968, the faithful replica of original building as shown in the picture was built in 2009. This brick building is used now as an art museum.
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