Shaping a Neighborhood
A company with an impressive legacy seeks to bring new life to Mita.
Home to Keio University, several embassies and major businesses, Mita is a diverse and thriving neighborhood.
Masamichi Idemitsu would like to see it become even more of a business and cultural hub for Tokyo. In fact, Mita Kosan, the company that he founded, is dedicated to doing just that.
Idemitsu was born in Minato Ward and is deeply fond of Mita. He also comes from a family with a long tradition of entrepreneurship. His grandfather, Sazo Idemitsu, was one of Japan’s most prominent businessmen: he founded his first company, Idemitsu Shokai, in 1911. It was the predecessor of petroleum giant Idemitsu Kosan, launched in 1949. The younger Idemitsu’s father later became the honorary chairman of Idemitsu Kosan.
He also has a particularly international background. Idemitsu has lived in the United Kingdom and Turkey and spent three years studying Arabic in Saudi Arabia. During his time working at Idemitsu Kosan, he traveled regularly to the United States, Australia, China and the Middle East. As Idemitsu explains, Mita Kosan is a company dedicated to real estate, and it was founded with the idea of helping the Mita neighborhood and its residents thrive. It is also inspired by the principles that his grandfather established for his own successful companies.
“My grandfather’s founding principles were diverse. Among them are three that are on the verge of being forgotten, and that I particularly wanted to put into practice: respect for human beings, the extended family principle and the customer before everything else,” he says.
“As a member of society and the working world, the variety of experiences I have had and the many changes that have occurred over time have left me convinced that these very three principles constitute one way to practice the samurai spirit and merchant’s business sense that my grandfather learned.”
Sincerity, Idemitsu adds, is another key element of the Mita Kosan philosophy.
FLAGSHIP BUILDING
In keeping with its mission, the company owns 15 properties in the Mita area. But its pride and joy is its flagship property: the MA Building Mita, which will be completed on September 30. The building was originally named for Mita Asset Management, the earlier name of Mita Kosan. However, as Idemitsu jokes, “The M and A could come from the first letter of my name as well as the first letter of my wife’s name: Akiko.”
The 10-floor property is outstanding. One of its walls will be covered in greenery, and it will have a verdant rooftop garden, designed and curated by the famed florist Hibiya Kadan. Throughout the year, different plants will come into bloom as the seasons change. The building will generate some of its electricity through renewable energy and be certified as a ZEB, or net zero energy building. The certification is granted to structures that can achieve net zero energy consumption.
Mita Kosan is currently interviewing candidate business tenants. These include a foreign company considering having its headquarters in the building. Meanwhile, several high-endeveral high-end coffee shops are in negotiations about putting a branch on the ground floor.
The MA Building Mita will be able to accommodate medical clinics, including those with MRI machines, on its third and fourth floors, and the property is equipped with an elevator that is large enough to fit a hospital stretcher.
Building tenants, clinic visitors and coffee shop customers will have direct access to the rooftop garden.
The property is a short walk from three subway stations—Tamachi, Mita and Akabanebashi—and offers easy access to the Shuto Expressway. It is close to Tokyo American Club and has a splendid view of Tokyo Tower.
COSMOPOLITAN FLAIR
In keeping with its founder’s international background, Mita Kosan is proud that an overseas company could potentially use the MA Building Mita as its Japan headquarters and Mita Kosan offers full service and consultation for potential clients in English. The proximity of the Italian, Hungarian and Australian embassies add to the global allure of the property.
With its flagship building along with the additional properties in its portfolio, Mita Kosan has considerable ambitions for the neighborhood. Idemitsu believes that Mita can eventually rise in stature as an area with cosmopolitan flair.
“I hope that one day, Mita will become like Omotesando,” Idemitsu says. “And perhaps the street where the MA Building Mita is located can even become something like Tokyo’s Champs-Élysées, with Tokyo Tower at one end and the gate of Keio University at the other.”
Mita Kosan is currently welcoming businesses that would be interested in leasing spaces at its properties.
