Official

It's moss.

Did you know that a quaint stained glass is installed at the entrance of the building at Exit A5 of Mitsukoshimae Station?

The letter of "Mitsukoshi basement floor sales floor underground railway entrance" mixed with old characters, cut out and fitted with a metal plate. Rondel (disk-shaped glass) and leaf-shaped glass are alternately arranged around it.

This stained glass is thought to have been installed since the opening of Mitsukoshimae Station.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Subway (now Tokyo Metro Ginza Line) opened Mitsukoshimae Station in April 1937. In a time when naming rights were not common, it was unprecedented to put the name of a company on a railway station.

There is anecdote that Mitsukoshi paid the full cost of opening the station, but it seems that Mitsukoshi does not recognize it.

Nevertheless, luxurious interior railway stations that are not found at other railway stations have been born, such as walls with marble and decorations that are valuable in Art Deco. The station is focusing not only on the interior but also on equipment, and it was the first station in Japan to install an escalator at a railway station.

By the way, the first permanent escalator in Japan was installed at the Mitsukoshi Kimono Store (now Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi Main Store) in 1914. The escalator may have taken care of Mitsukoshi.

The stained glass at the beginning is said to have been installed at the time of the opening of the subway station, and was restored by Matsumoto Stained Glass Works in 1988 and continues to this day.

Mitsukoshimae Station has also been renewed, and the A5 entrance is now connected only to elevators. It faces Edo Sakura-dori St., so be sure to take a look when you visit nearby.