Kabutochō () or more formally Nihonbashi Kabutochō () is a neighborhood of

Nihonbashi is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan which grew up around the bridge of the same name which has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The curre ...

, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, where the

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. It is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies, and the largest in Asia. It had 2,292 listed ...

and many securities companies are located, so that it is considered Japan's equivalent of

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

History

The name of Kabutochō, literally the town of

Kabuto ' (兜, 冑) is a type of helmet first used by ancient Japanese warriors which, in later periods, became an important part of the traditional Japanese armour worn by the samurai class and their retainers in feudal Japan. Note that in the Jap ...

(ancient

helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without prote ...

), is said to come from a legend that

Minamoto no Yoshiie Minamoto No Yoshiie (源義家; 1039 – 4 August 1106), also known as Hachimantarō, was a Minamoto clan samurai of the late Heian period, and '' Chinjufu-shōgun'' (Commander-in-chief of the defense of the North). The first son of Minamoto ...

, upon his return from having conquered the north-eastern provinces in the eleventh century, buried his helmet there. It used to be a swampy area till the early 17th century, when the

Daimyo were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally t ...

who were forced to participate in the building of the Edo Castle built their residences. By the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, the Kabutochō area came to be owned by the

Mitsui family The is one of the most powerful families of merchants and industrialists in Japan. The Mitsui enterprise (present-day Mitsui Group) was established in 1673 when Mitsui Takatoshi (1622–1694), the son of merchant parents, established Echigoya, ...

. In 1871,

Eiichi Shibusawa was a Japanese industrialist widely known today as the "father of Japanese capitalism". He spearheaded the introduction of Western capitalism to Japan after the Meiji Restoration. He introduced many economic reforms including use of double- ...

established First National Bank there that later would become

Mizuho Bank is the integrated retail and corporate banking unit of Mizuho Financial Group (; ), the third largest financial services company in Japan, with total assets of approximately $1.8 trillion in 2017. Mizuho is one of the three so-called Japanes ...

. As the

was established there in 1878, the area soon became Japan's financial center, with many securities companies and banks setting up their headquarters and/or branch offices.

Revitalization

Recently, as securities trading has become electronic, larger securities firms have already left Kabutochō to other premier locations in Tokyo. Heiwa Real Estate, the owner of the

and Osaka Exchange buildings, has kicked off a Kabutochō Revitalization project. In 2020 '' Time Out'' named Kabutochō as the coolest neighborhood in Tokyo.Kabutocho in Nihonbashi is named Tokyo’s coolest neighbourhood in 2020: The 'former wall street of Tokyo' is reinventing itself with cool, independent restaurants and bars
Emma Steen, '' Time Out'', 7 October 2020

Education

The_main_gate_of_Sakamoto_elementary_school

Public elementary and junior high schools are operated by Chuo City Board of Education. Kabutocho is zoned to Sakamoto Elementary School ( 中央区立阪本小学校) and Nihonbashi Junior High School ( 日本橋中学校).

References

External links

Official site of Chuo-ku, Tokyo
(in Japanese)

{{Chuo, Tokyo Nihonbashi, Tokyo Chūō, Tokyo Neighborhoods of Tokyo Financial districts Tokyo Stock Exchange

History

Revitalization

Education

See also

References

External links