Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower

A 39-story, 195-meter mixed-use skyscraper completed in 2005, standing directly beside the Mitsui Main Building, a designated Important Cultural Property built in 1929. Developed by Mitsui Fudosan, the tower houses Mandarin Oriental Tokyo on its upper floors.

Use

Office tower

Area

Chuo City

Completed

2005

Floors

39 above ground, 4 below

Height

195 m

Total floor area

approx. 133,855 m²

Developer

Mitsui Fudosan

Architect

César Pelli & Associates Japan, Nihon Sekkei

A Skyscraper Standing Beside a National Treasure

Walk along the streets of Nihonbashi-Muromachi and you will see something unusual: a slender glass-and-stone tower rising beside a building of heavy colonnaded stonework. The stone structure is the Mitsui Main Building, a 1929 masterpiece of Neoclassical architecture designated as an Important Cultural Property. The tower beside it is Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower, completed in 2005.

The building rises 39 floors above ground — with four basement levels — to a height of approximately 195 meters. Mitsui Fudosan developed the project, with design led by César Pelli & Associates Japan and Nihon Sekkei. The total floor area reaches about 133,855 square meters, housing offices, a luxury hotel, and retail across its vertical stack. The site lies in Nihonbashi-Muromachi 2-chome, just minutes’ walk from the historic Nihonbashi bridge — a location that has been at the core of the Mitsui Group’s operations since the Edo period.

Where 1929 Meets 2005

The Mitsui Main Building was designed by the New York firm Trowbridge & Livingston in the Neoclassical style: stone walls, aligned columns, and carefully composed horizontal lines that give the block a sense of permanence. Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower was built on the adjacent parcel without altering the designated cultural property. Stone cladding appears on the tower’s exterior as well, and its facade is said to echo the horizontal register of the older neighbor. Seen from the street, the two buildings read as a single block despite a generational gap of more than seventy years.

Floors 30 through 38 are occupied by Mandarin Oriental Tokyo, with the hotel lobby positioned on the 38th floor, commanding views across the Nihonbashi roofscape below. The lower commercial levels and underground passages connect to the surrounding blocks, knitting the tower into the pedestrian network of Nihonbashi-Muromachi.

Nihonbashi has served as Tokyo’s commercial and financial center since the Edo era and the starting point of the five major highways radiating from the capital. From the early 2000s, large-scale redevelopment projects accelerated across the district. Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower stands as an early example of that transformation — and the only place in Japan where a protected 1929 Neoclassical building and a 2005 skyscraper share a single, continuous street facade.

Summary

Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower was completed in 2005 with 39 floors and a height of approximately 195 meters. Developed by Mitsui Fudosan and designed by César Pelli & Associates Japan and Nihon Sekkei, it forms a unified city block with the 1929 Mitsui Main Building, a designated Important Cultural Property. The pairing of historical stone architecture and a contemporary high-rise is rare in Japan and makes this one of the most visually compelling spots in central Tokyo. If you are walking the Nihonbashi district, take a moment to stand at street level and look up at the two facades side by side.

Related: JP Tower (KITTE) / Tokyo Square Garden