Tokyo / Nihonbashi / Shop

Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store

日本橋三越本店 にほんばしみつこしほんてん

Japan's first department store, a 1914 palace with a pipe organ, a five-storey atrium and lions at the door.

EssentialShopping · History · Architecture · Rainy day · High-end · Food

Echigoya sold kimono here from 1673 and invented fixed prices and cash sales; in 1904 it declared itself a department store and in 1914 built this Renaissance building with bronze lions modelled on Trafalgar Square's. The central hall rises five storeys around a statue of the goddess Magokoro, and the pipe organ on the balcony is played on weekend afternoons. The basement food hall and the seventh-floor art galleries are as good as any in the city; the kimono floor is the one to see even if you buy nothing.

Don't miss

Map of central Tokyo Tokyo Ueno Akihabara Shinjuku Shibuya Shinagawa Ikebukuro Shimbashi Kabukiza Theatre Chuo-dori and the Sunday promenade Ginza Six Ginza Itoya Hama-rikyu Gardens The Ginza gallery walk Tsukiji Hongwanji The Ginza bar streets Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building Imperial Palace East Gardens Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum Marunouchi Naka-dori KITTE and the rooftop garden Idemitsu Museum of Arts Nihonbashi Bridge Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store The old shops of Nihonbashi Artizon Museum Fukutoku Shrine and the Coredo lanes Nihonbashi river cruise Sensoji Temple Kappabashi kitchen street Sumida river water bus The craft and coffee streets west of the temple A kimono day in Asakusa Tokyo Skytree Asakusa Shrine and Sanja Matsuri Tokyo National Museum National Museum of Western Art Ueno Park and Shinobazu Pond Yanaka Ginza and the Yanesen lanes Nezu Shrine Ameyoko market street Asakura Museum of Sculpture Akihabara Electric Town Jimbocho book town Kanda Myojin Shrine Holy Resurrection Cathedral (Nikolai-do) Kanda's old noodle houses Yushima Seido and the Confucian hall Mori Art Museum and Tokyo City View The National Art Center, Tokyo Tokyo Midtown and the Suntory Museum of Art Azabu-Juban shopping street Tokyo Tower and Zojoji Temple Roppongi after dark Nezu Museum The Omotesando architecture walk Aoyama Cemetery Meiji Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue The Aoyama and Minami-Aoyama back streets Meiji Jingu Yoyogi Park Takeshita Street and Cat Street Ota Memorial Museum of Art Togo Shrine Shibuya scramble crossing and Hachiko Shibuya Sky Nonbei Yokocho and the Shibuya alleys Udagawacho record shops and Shibuya vintage Tomigaya and Kamiyamacho Live music in Shibuya Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observatories Golden Gai Omoide Yokocho The Isetan food hall Hanazono Shrine Tsukiji Outer Market Toyosu Market and the tuna auction teamLab Planets The Tsukiji-to-Ginza walk The Meguro River cherry trees Daikanyama T-Site Daikanyama's low-rise streets Ebisu Garden Place and the Ebisu restaurant streets Nakameguro's back streets Kagurazaka's stone lanes Akagi Shrine Dining in Kagurazaka Zenkokuji Bishamonten Ryogoku Kokugikan and sumo Edo-Tokyo Museum Kiyosumi Garden Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) The Kiyosumi-Shirakawa roasters Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store
A hand-drawn sketch for orientation — each place links to an exact map.
Tip
The lions are for touching — students rub them for luck before exams.
Best time
Weekend afternoon for the organ; weekday morning for calm.
Allow
60 min
Station
Mitsukoshimae (Ginza / Hanzomon lines), direct from the basement
Official site — hours, prices, closures
www.mistore.jp/store/nihombashi.html · Map

Appears in

In this area: Nihonbashi

Landmark Essential

Nihonbashi Bridge日本橋

The zero milestone of Japan — a 1911 stone bridge with bronze kirin, under an expressway that is finally coming down.

30 min · Nihombashi (Ginza / Tozai / Asakusa lines) or Mitsukoshimae (Ginza / Hanzomon lines)
District Essential

The old shops of Nihonbashi日本橋の老舗

One thing, made for centuries — knives, chopsticks, seaweed, dried bonito, paper, brushes, all within four blocks.

90 min · Mitsukoshimae (Ginza / Hanzomon lines)
Museum Worth it

Artizon Museumアーティゾン美術館

The Bridgestone collection reborn in a 2020 tower — Impressionists to Japanese modernism, in generous rooms.

90 min · Kyobashi (Ginza line) or Tokyo (Yaesu side)

All places — Nihonbashi →