“TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese property developer Mitsui Fudosan Co said on Friday it would pay $1.2 billion to buy ballpark operator Tokyo Dome Corp, a white-knight bid likely to help fend off prominent activist fund Oasis Management.
Tokyo Dome, which owns the home stadium of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team, has been under pressure from Hong Kong-based Oasis. The fund has called for the removal of board members, including Tokyo Dome’s president, and a change in operations”.
Mitsukoshimae is a subway station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza (G12) or Hanzomon (Z09) Lines. It is named after the depato (department store) that sits over it called Mitsukoshi. Mitsukoshi is one of the oldest depato in Japan and dates back over a century. The building itself has an architecture + decor from that era. It also has a tax-free shop.
Aside from the store itself there are all kinds of things to do in the area (known as Nihonbashi) named after the Nihonbashi Bridge at the north end of the town. The original bridge dates back to 1609. In fact, the Nihonbashi Bridge is the central point (Kilometre zero) from which all other road distances are measured in Tokyo.
The Bank of Japan bldg. is also located near here.
Just a short walk north from Nihonbashi is Kanda Station (G13). You can easily walk from there if you chose to get off there. Just north of that is Akihabara.
The area plays prominently in medevil Japan’s history with many Ukiyo-e prints by famed artist Hiroshige from the 1800’s still in existence from that era.
The Nihonbashi area is just north of central Tokyo’s Marunouchi and Otemachi areas. You can easily walk here from Tokyo Station which is to the south. You can also exit OtemachiStation on the Hanzomon (Z09) Line + head north. If you have a whole day to spend you could sightsee around Tokyo Station, then walk north to Otemachi, then north to Nihonbashi (although that would be a very full day since there is a lot to do in each area).
Just to the north of the bridge is a small information booth which is worth a stop:
The most interesting thing about the Nihonbashi area is simply how immaculately spotless it is – maybe even more so than Ginza to the south, and the Tokyo Station area. Streets here are so clean it’s hard to believe a city this size has the ability to keep any area so spotless.
There are endless things to do in the area. The station has a mixed use area with shops + restaurants, and the streets are lined with both too. You can walk and explore for hours and not get bored.
Mitsukoshi is the main attraction and it has several floors of shops, food, restaurants, and other interesting places, but its food basement (Deepchika) is perhaps the most interesting. Here you can get all kinds of foods + luxury delicacies of all kinds. Plan to spend an hour in the basement at a minimum.
Mitsukoshi at sunset facing south.The groaning city in the gathering dark.
The store also has a special card for overseas visitors which gives you 5% off all purchases. There is also a brand new Bic Camera store in Mitsukoshi.
After Mitsukoshi, the other big attraction in Nihonbashi is the COREDO mixed use development. The complex sits above the station and its first floor is inside the station bldg. But there are threeCOREDO bldgs. and you can spend hours exploring them all – possibly even days.
1 block to the west of COREDO is Mitsui Shopping Park Urban. Well worth a look. There are lots of shops + cafés, and restaurants here – some with outdoor seating.
Streets
Chuo-Dori is the main street that runs through Nihonbashi and the COREDO complexes are on either side. Chuo-Dori runs north-south and bends west @ Nihonbashi, then north through Kanda and into Akihabara. Running south it takes you to Maronuchi and Tokyo Station. But there are side streets as well and every side street has something of interest. Shops abound. In the center of the multi-building COREDO complex there is an open-air part of the street that is blocked off to traffic which has dozens of nice restaurants + shops you can visit. A great place for a walk and a definite must-see.
Lots of good hotels abound in the area, many with entrances to the station in their basements or right outside on the sidewalk. By far the best hotel in the area is the Mandarin Oriental, just across the street from MitsukoshiDepato. This is a 5-star hotel and it will cost you a pretty penny to stay here but the luxury + experience are out of this world. From the upper floors of the hotel you get a spectacular view of downtown central Tokyo to the south, and Tokyo Sky Tree to the east.
There is also an information center in the complex called Nihonbashi Information Center which has an incredible amount of info on the area. Worth a stop.
Directions: Directly connected to Nihonbashi Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, Tozai Line, or the Toei Subway Asakusa Line, a three-minute walk from Mitsukoshimae Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line or Hanzomon Line, or a six-minute walk from Tokyo Station on JR Lines.
