Japan's Best Talent for Japan's Best Location

In the Edo period, Yaesu referred to the area around the inner moat of Edo Castle. It attracted attention only after Tokyo Station was built on the west side during the Meiji period. Although it was burnt to the ground by air raids at the end of World War II, the Yaesuguchi Station building (the Tetsudo Kaikan Building) was completed in 1954 after the war, and the large Yaesu underground shopping mall was constructed in stages during the late 1960s to attract visitors.

Daibiru’s decision to expand to Yaesu was based on its acquisition of the O.S.K. Lines Building site in Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo. The land was apparently owned by Kokusai Kisen, which had merged with O.S.K. Lines in 1943, and the decision was made in consideration of the area’s future as the gateway of the capital and a place that attracted a lot of people. That’s why Daibiru was so interested in Yaesu. During the groundbreaking ceremony on January 8, 1965, President Tomoe Kudo delivered the following enthusiastic message: “I am very pleased to have Japan’s best architectural firm, Murano & Mori Architects, design the building, and Japan’s best construction company, Kajima Corporation, construct this building in Japan’s best location, Yaesuguchi.” Daibiru’s goal was to have an office building that lived up to the area’s status as the gateway of the capital by taking advantage of the benefits of the Yaesu location. Togo Murano, who had designed the Shin-Daibiru Building, was also commissioned to design this one.