Mitsukoshi Ginza

This guide to Mitsukoshi Ginza starts with the bronze lion crouched by its entrance, worn smooth by a century of hands, and traces the store's roots to 1673, when a merchant named Takatoshi Mitsui broke Edo-period retail rules with a tiny cash-only kimono shop. It follows the store's rise into Japan's first modern department store by 1904, and manager Osuke Hibi's trip to London, where Nelson's Column standing guard over Trafalgar Square gave him an idea. Look down at the lion by the door, worn smooth by generations who arranged to meet exactly there.