is one of the largest corporate conglomerates (keiretsu) in Japan and one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world.

History

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 (越後屋), 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; a large gofukuya (kimono shop) in Nihonbashi, a district in the heart of Edo. This genesis of Mitsui's business history began in the ''Enpō'' era, which was a ''nengō'' 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 (''ryōgaeten'') to be established in Edo. The Mitsui "exchange shops" facilitated transfers and mitigated that known risk.

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.

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.

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 Taiyō-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.

During the Second World War, Mitsui employed American prisoners of war as slave laborers, some of whom were permanently maimed by Mitsui employees.

After the end of the war and the dissolution of the zaibatsu, Mitsui lagged somewhat behind its rival Mitsubishi Group 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 Mitsui-Sumitomo 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 Mitsui-Sumitomo 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

Companies currently associated with the Mitsui family include Mitsui & Co., Chuo Mitsui Trust Holdings, Japan Steel Works, Mitsui Chemicals, Mitsui Construction Co., Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding, Mitsui Fudosan, Mitsui-gold, Mitsui Mining & Smelting, Mitsui Oil Exploration Co. (MOECO), Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., 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 Group also has substantial interest in Vale and Caemi Mineração e Metalurgia, which owns 70% of Minerações Brasileiras Reunidas (MBR).

Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding Co. owns just over 50% of the shares in MODEC Inc.

MOEX USA Corporation, the United States arm of MOECO, owns a 10% working interest in the Macondo oil and gas prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. In April 2010 the semi-submersible drilling rig ''Deepwater Horizon'', operated by BP Exploration and Production Inc., exploded and subsequently sank, resulting in the ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill.

Controversy

As part of the plans for the exploitation of China, during the thirties and forties the subsidiary tobacco industry of Mitsui had started production of special cigarettes bearing the then popular in the Far East trademark "Golden Bat". Their circulation was prohibited in Japan and was used only for export. Local Japanese secret service under the controversial General Kenji Doihara had the control of their distribution in China and Manchuria where the production exported. In their mouthpiece there were hidden small doses of opium or heroin and by this millions of unsuspecting consumers were addicted to these narcotics, while creating huge profits. The mastermind of the plan, Kenji 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 twenty to thirty million yen per year, while another authority stated that the annual revenue was estimated by the Japanese military at 300 million dollars a year.

Companies with close ties to the Mitsui Group

Sony

Ito-Yokado

Sagami Railway

Tokyo Broadcasting System

Kanebo

Oriental Land

See also

List of Japanese companies

Mitsui family

Mitsui Golden Glove Award

References

Hall, John Whitney. (1970). ''Japan: From Prehistory to Modern Times'' in ''Delacorte World History,'' Vol. XX. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-2970-0237-6

Shinjō, Hiroshi. (1962). ''History of the Yen: 100 Years of Japanese Money-economy.'' Kobe: Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kōbe University.

External links

English

Company Website (English)

Japanese

三井広報委員会

三井業際研究所

綱町三井倶楽部

Category:Companies based in Tokyo Category:Conglomerate companies Category:Keiretsu

de:Mitsui Group fr:Mitsui ja:三井グループ pl:Mitsui pt:Mitsui ro:Mitsui fi:Mitsui sv:Mitsui

name	Aika Mitsui
background	solo_singer
birth name	(Mitsui Aika)
alias	Mittsī
born	January 12, 1993 (18 years old) Ōtsu, Shiga, Japan
origin	Tokyo, Honshū, Japan
genre	Japanese pop
occupation	Singer
years active	2006–present
label	Zetima
associated acts	Morning Musume, Athena & Robikerottsu, Guardians 4, Tanpopo#
website	}}

}} is a member of the J-pop group Morning Musume, joining as a member of the eighth generation from the audition in Japan during December 2006. Mitsui's audition process was documented during the late 2006 episodes of Hello! Morning. She performed Ayumi Hamasaki's "Blue Bird" in round one of her audition and Morning Musume's "Furusato" and "Osaka Koi no Uta" in rounds two and three.

Biography

On December 10, 2006, she alone out of five (originally six, but Ayami Masuda dropped out) audition finalists was chosen to join Morning Musume.

An article published on December 11, 2006 revealed that Mitsui wouldn't be present in the 57th edition of Kōhaku Uta Gassen but would instead be featured in the group's 32nd single, Egao Yes Nude, which was released on February 14, 2007, following her first public appearance on the last round of the Hello! Project Winter 2007 Tours, , which took place between January 27, 2007 and January 28, 2007 at Saitama Super Arena. She also took part in Morning Musume's 2007 Spring Tour ~Sexy 8 Beat~.

One week after the results of Happy 8 Ki Audition were announced, Mitsui was featured in a small segment of Hello! Morning which included footage from a press conference given on the eleventh. During the conference, Mitsui revealed her goal of captivating the public by means of her cheerful personality and smile, emulating fellow member Koharu Kusumi, whom she admires and strives to equal or surpass.

Following her concert debut, Mitsui was also featured in a small segment of the Oha Suta morning programme entitled , which purports to show the viewers a fictionalized account of the events following her first concert appearances, dealing with Mitsui's sadness over the fact she had to part with her former classmates due to her becoming an idol.

Her first appearance at a non-Hello! Project related event took place on February 8, 2007, on Utaban, as part of Morning Musume.

In October 2007, Mitsui was placed in the unit Athena & Robikerottsu along with fellow Morning Musume member Risa Niigaki, as well as Saki Nakajima and Chisato Okai of C-ute.

On the November 25, 2007 episode of Haromoni@, Mitsui got the seiyū role of Gurossan in the anime Kirarin Revolution starring Kirari Tsukishima, voiced by Koharu Kusumi.

On April 6, 2008, Hello! Project announced that that Mitsui would not be able to perform in the 2008 spring tour due to her being in very poor health. Later in the week, it was discovered that she had suffered from acute appendicitis, and would be out of action for two more weeks.

In December, Mitsui's 1st Solo DVD titled 'Mittsi' and Photobook 'Aika' were both announced to be released in January.

Between December 15, 2010 (the graduation of Linlin (b. 1991)) and January 2, 2011 (the addition of Mizuki Fukumura (b. 1996), Erina Ikuta (b. 1997), Riho Sayashi (b. 1998) and Kanon Suzuki (b. 1998)), Mitsui was the only member of Morning Musume under the age of 20.

References

External links

Official Blog: Aika no Pastel Color Days (FC Limited) (English Translations)

Official Hello! Project profile Tsunku's thoughts on Aika Mitsui and the Happy 8 Ki audition Kpopwiki:Aika Mitsui

Category:1993 births Category:Japanese female singers Category:Japanese pop singers Category:Japanese radio personalities Category:Living people Category:Japanese idols Category:Morning Musume members Category:People from Ōtsu Category:Tanpopo members

de:Aika Mitsui es:Aika Mitsui fr:Aika Mitsui ko:미쓰이 아이카 ms:Mitsui Aika ja:光井愛佳 pt:Aika Mitsui ru:Мицуи, Айка fi:Aika Mitsui sv:Aika Mitsui th:ไอกะ มิสึอิ zh:光井愛佳