Old Moji Mitsui Club

The old Mitsui Club, built in 1921 as the Moji branch of the powerful Mitsui trading conglomerate, is a half-timbered Tudor-style building down on the harbour at Mojiko. It once hosted business meetings, dinners, and visiting foreign dignitaries — most famously Albert Einstein, whose visit is commemorated by a small exhibit on the upper floor.

Today it functions partly as a free museum and partly as a working restaurant; the wood-panelled rooms and original furniture are largely intact. Worth half an hour. Combine with the nearby Old Mitsui Bussan Building, the Old Customs House, and a slow walk along the quayside.

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A story
Albert Einstein and his wife Elsa stayed in the Mitsui Club's second-floor guest suite for a single night in December 1922, while travelling between Tokyo and Shanghai on his lecture tour of Japan. The room is preserved as it was — including a small exhibit of his telegram thanking the staff in slightly awkward Japanese.