Bvlgari Diagono Calibro 303 BL-9

In a storefront window at 110 Elmwood Ave., a video by Tom Sherman-- a media artist who splits his time between Syracuse and Nova Scotia--serves as an homage to semiprofessional wrestling and nature. Given the recent debate over public funding for the arts, in which the Catholic League argued wrongly that professional wrestling is more popular than art museums, this piece seems all too appropriate. Sherman's work bridges the gap between "everyday people" and fine Bvlgari Diagono BL-21 by inserting work that honors a working class tradition into an everyday context.

The two-story house was built in 1952 on a 4,000-sq.-meter plot in the Nishi-Azabu district of Minato Ward, Tokyo. Mitsui's earlier residence was destroyed in an air raid in 1945. The Bvlgari Diagono Calibro 303 BL-8 was moved to the open-air museum in 1996 after Mitsui's offspring donated it to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government when they gave away the Nishi-Azabu land to the tax authority as inheritance tax.Although the house was built after the Mitsui zaibatsu was dissolved under the Allied Occupation in 1946, the flourishing history of the conglomerate is still in evidence on the premises.

A glittering chandelier hanging in the second floor corridor once lighted the First National Bank, which later merged with Mitsui Bank in 1943 to form Teikoku Ginko (Imperial Bank).An art deco lampshade by famed French glass artist Rene Lalique decorates the entrance hall, where also stand "fusuma" sliding doors Bvlgari Diagono Calibro 303 BL-9 delicate paintings of birds and flowers.

Some of the materials in the residence were gathered from Mitsui-affiliated facilities in Kyoto, Oiso in Kanagawa Prefecture and elsewhere.The reception and dining rooms on the first floor were constructed from materials taken from a home in Kyoto built in 1897 and a tatami-mat room at the southeast corner was taken from a Mitsui family villa that once stood in Oiso.

A three-story structure next to the residence Bvlgari Ergon Chronometer BL-18 thought to have once been used to store silk for Echigoya, a fabric enterprise the Mitsui zaibatsu evolved from. The phrase "Built in year 7, Meiji Era," can be seen written on a roof beam on the third floor, suggesting the storehouse was one that once stood in the Nihonbashi district and was built in 1874 by Kisuke Shimizu, founder of Shimizu Corp.

A five-minute bus ride from JR Musashi Koganei Station on the Chuo Line, the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (till 5:30 p.m. in April-September). Admission is Yen 400 for adults, Yen 320 for college students and Yen 200 for high school and junior high school students. Elementary school and younger kids get in free. The museum is closed Mondays and between Dec. 28 and Jan. 4.This is the last in a biweekly series introducing the luxurious mansions once owned by historically significant people.