Shirokiya Department Store
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At the turn of the century, a good old-fashion retail rivalry was in full force on either side of the Nihonbashi bridge -- at the center of Tokyo's mercantile district. On the north end was located the Mitsukoshi Gofukuten [def: dry-goods store]; on the avenue south of the bridge, the Shirokiya Gofukuten. Shirokiya had the oldest presence of the two, having been established several years prior to Mitsukoshi's founding in 1673. Each tried to outdo the other in using innovative marketing techniques to draw in customers. In the end, Mitsukoshi prevailed. Shirokiya's department store chain was absorbed into the Tokyu corporation in the early 1950s in a defense against a hostile takeover.
Different buildings have occupied the same retail corner. The original storefront opened in 1901 and was refurbished ca. 1910. This domed emporium did not survive the 1923 Kanto earthquake. Shirokiya was then reborn within a deco moderne structure. Although damaged by firebombing during WWII, an upper floor of the store was used in the immediate post-war years as a workshop by the newly-created Totsuken Kaisha [Tokyo Telecommunications Research Institute], first incorporated as a subsidiary of Shirokiya. From Totsuken Kaisha emerged such new products as the first electric rice cooker, heated cushions, and early tape recorders that were sold under the Shirokiya brand name.
By 1958, Totsuken Kaisha had departed the confines of Shirokiya, and Nihonbashi, for its own premises at Shinagawa, a bustling rail terminus on the southern edge of the city limits. Totsuken would then be re-incorporated as a kabushiki kaisha [def: stock company], and the name of the company would be changed to SONY.
