for other uses of the name mitsui see mitsui disambiguation . mitsui group type keiretsu founded 1876 ; 140 years ago 1876 foundation of mitsui & co. founder masuda takashi area served worldwide products food and beverage industrial products etc. services financial services real estate retail shipping logistics etc. website www.mitsui.com mitsui group mitsui gur pu is one of the largest keiretsu in japan and one of the largest corporate groups in the world . the major companies of the group include mitsui & co. general trading company sumitomo mitsui banking corporation sapporo breweries toray industries mitsui chemicals isetan mitsukoshi holdings sumitomo mitsui trust holdings mitsui engineering & shipbuilding mitsui o.s.k. lines and mitsui fudosan . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 edo period origins 1.2 formation of mitsui zaibatsu 1.3 world war ii 1.4 postwar development as keiretsu 2 makeup of the mitsui group 2.1 mitsui companies which are in the nikkei 225 3 other companies with close ties to the mitsui group 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit edo period origins edit surugacho suruga street 1856 from one hundred famous views of edo by hiroshige depicting the echigoya kimono and money exchange store with mount fuji in background . currently the mitsui main building which houses sumitomo mitsui banking corporation mitsui fudosan the chuo mitsui trust and banking co. and mitsui memorial museum is located on the right side of the street . mitsukoshi department store is on the left side . mitsui main building and nihonbashi mitsui tower founded by mitsui takatoshi 1622 1694 who was the fourth son of a shopkeeper in matsusaka in what is now today s mie prefecture . from his shop called echigoya mitsui takatoshi s father originally sold miso and ran a pawn shop business . later the family would open a second shop in edo now called tokyo . takatoshi moved to edo when he was 14 years old and later his older brother joined him . sent back to matsutaka by his brother takatoshi waited for 24 years until his older brother died before he could take over the family shop echigoya . he opened a new branch in 1673 ; 2 a large gofukuya kimono shop in nihonbashi a district in the heart of edo . this genesis of mitsui s business history began in the enp era which was a neng meaning prolonged wealth . in time the gofukuya division separated from mitsui and is now called mitsukoshi . traditionally gofukuyas provided products made to order ; a visit was made to the customer s house typically a person of high social class or who was successful in business an order taken then fulfilled . the system of accountancy was called margin transaction . mitsui changed this by producing products first then selling them directly at his shop for cash . at the time this was an unfamiliar mode of operation in japan . even as the shop began providing dry goods to the government of the city of edo cash sales were not yet a widespread business practice . at about this time edo s government had struck a business deal with osaka . osaka would sell crops and other material to pay its land tax . the money was then sent to edo but moving money was dangerous in middle feudal japan . in 1683 the shogunate granted permission for money exchanges ry gaeten to be established in edo . 3 the mitsui exchange shops facilitated transfers and mitigated that known risk . formation of mitsui zaibatsu edit after the meiji restoration mitsui was among the enterprises that could expand to become zaibatsu not simply because they were already big and rich at the start of modern industrial development . firms like mitsui and sumitomo were led by non family managers such as minomura rizaemon who guided the business by accurately forecasting the coming political and economic situations by acquaintance with high ranking government officials or politicians and bold investment . 4 mitsui s main business in the early period were drapery finance and trade the first two being the businesses it inherited from the tokugawa era . it entered into mining because it acquired a mine as collateral from the loan it had made and partly because it could buy a mine cheaply from the government mitsui then diversified to become the biggest business in pre war japan . the diversification was made mainly into related fields to take advantage of accumulated capabilities ; for instance the trading company entered into chemicals to attain forward integration . 4 on july 1 1876 mitsui bank japan s first private bank was founded with takashi masuda 1848 1938 serving as president . mitsui bank which following a merger with taiy kobe bank in the mid 1980s became part of sakura bank survives as part of the sumitomo mitsui banking corporation . during the early 20th century mitsui was one of the largest zaibatsu operating in numerous fields . mitsui bank became the holding company of the mitsui zaibatsu from 1876 . it was joined as an ultimate parent company by mitsui & co. and mitsui mining in 1900 with various industrial concerns owned by various combinations of these companies and their subsidiaries . 5 when the united kingdom withdrew from the gold standard in 1931 during the height of the great depression mitsui bank and mitsui & co. were found to have speculated around the transaction . this raised a political furor in japan and resulted in the assassination of mitsui executive takuma dan . 5 world war ii edit as part of the japanese plans for the exploitation of china during the 1930s and 40s the subsidiary tobacco industry of mitsui had started production of special golden bat cigarettes using the then popular in the far east trademark . their circulation was prohibited in japan and was used only for export . local japanese secret service under the controversial imperial japanese army general kenji doihara had the control of their distribution in china and manchuria where the production exported . within the mouthpiece were small discreet doses of opium or heroin and consequently millions of unsuspecting consumers became addicted to these narcotics while huge profits were created for the company . the mastermind of the plan doihara was later prosecuted and convicted for war crimes before the international military tribunal for the far east sentenced to death ; but no actions ever took place against the company which profited from their production . according to testimony presented at the tokyo war crimes trials in 1948 the revenue from the narcotization policy in china including manchukuo was estimated in 20 million to 30 million yen per year while another authority stated that the annual revenue was estimated by the japanese military at us 300 million a year . 6 7 during the second world war mitsui employed american prisoners of war as slave laborers some of whom were maimed by mitsui employees . 8 postwar development as keiretsu edit in 1947 and 1948 the supreme commander allied powers pressed the japanese government to dismantle the ten largest zaibatsu conglomerates including mitsui . the mitsui group now broken into many separate companies reorganized itself as a horizontal coalition of independent companies in the 1950s once the occupation of japan had ended and some of the smaller companies were allowed to re coalesce . the central firms in the keiretsu became mitsui bank and mitsui & co. . 5 mitsui lagged somewhat behind its rivals mitsubishi and sumitomo group in reorganization . mitsui bank which should have been the mainstay and principal capital provider of the group declined in size due to the collapse of the imperial bank of japan which resulted in reduced cohesion of the conglomerate . many companies that were once part of the mitsui group have become independent or tied to other conglomerates . specifically toshiba toyota motors and suntory once part of the mitsui group became independent with the toyota group becoming a conglomerate in its own right . ishikawajima harima heavy industries is now considered to be part of the mizuho group and many companies in the sumitomo mitsui financial group are now more closely tied to the sumitomo group than the mitsui group . recently there have been signs that mitsubishi ufj financial group and the mitsubishi group could be taking over other parts of the sumitomo mitsui financial group . mitsukoshi merged into isetan a major department store with a close tie to the bank of tokyo mitsubishi ufj to form isetan mitsukoshi holdings in april 2008 . makeup of the mitsui group edit companies currently associated with the mitsui keiretsu include mitsui & co. sumitomo mitsui trust holdings japan steel works mitsui chemicals mitsui construction co. mitsui engineering & shipbuilding mitsui fudosan mitsui gold mitsui mining & smelting co. ltd. mitsui oil exploration co. moeco mitsui o.s.k. lines mitsui petrochemical industries ltd mitsui soko mitsui sumitomo insurance group oji paper company pacific coast recycling sumitomo mitsui banking corporation taiheiyo cement toray industries toshiba corporation tri net logistics management mitsui commodity risk management mcrm . mitsui companies which are in the nikkei 225 edit mitsui & co. mitsui chemicals mitsui engineering & shipbuilding mitsui fudosan mitsui mining & smelting co. ltd. mitsui o.s.k. lines mitsui sumitomo insurance group mitsui life insurance co. mitsui soko holdings mitsui mining & smelting nihon unisys ja mitsui leasing isetan mitsukoshi holdings denka oji paper company sumitomo mitsui financial group sumitomo mitsui trust holdings sumitomo mitsui construction sumitomo mitsui banking corporation shin nippon air technologies sapporo brewery sanki engineering aim services co. ltd toray industries toyo engineering corporation toshiba japan steel works other companies with close ties to the mitsui group edit sony ito yokado sagami railway tokyo broadcasting system kanebo kao corporation oriental land toyota group komatsu limited vale mining company rio tinto group bhp billiton yamaha yanmar sims metal management mitsui owns 18 % share capital in the company and is represented on its board . columbia asia ihh healthcare berhad mitsui owns 20.5 % share capital in the company and is represented on its board see also edit list of japanese companies mitsui family mitsui & co. mitsui o.s.k. lines sumitomo mitsui financial group mitsui golden glove award references edit member companies . mitsui public relations committee . retrieved 23 april 2014 . hall john . 1970 . japan from prehistory to modern times p. 290 . shinj hiroshi . 1962 . history of the yen 100 years of japanese money economy p. 11 . a b odagiri hiroyuki 1996 . technology and industrial development in japan . oxford university press . pp. 72 73 . isbn 0 19 828802 6 . cite error invalid ref tag ; name odagiri .26 goto defined multiple times with different content see the help page . a b c grabowiecki jerzy march 2006 . keiretsu groups their role in the japanese economy and a reference point or paradigm for other countries pdf . jetro . retrieved 23 april 2014 . mitsui three centuries of japanese business pages 312 313 john g. roberts weatherhill isbn 978 0 8348 0080 9 . 1991 encyclopedia of espionage p. 315 ronald sydney seth isbn 978 0 385 01609 4 doubleday 1974 unfinished business foreign policy june 28 2010 pennington matthew 25 april 2015 . the truth needs to be told about japan s war history some vets say . stars and stripes . united states . associated press . retrieved 25 april 2015 . hall john whitney . 1970 . japan from prehistory to modern times in delacorte world history vol . xx . new york delacorte press . isbn 0 297 00237 6 shinj hiroshi . 1962 . history of the yen 100 years of japanese money economy . kobe research institute for economics & business administration k be university . external links edit mitsui public relations committee 1 2 v t e japan s