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The question was what to do now that the showroom had become too cramped. Talk of expanding the showroom suddenly blossomed into talk of purchasing the site.
It was easier said than done. After all, this was Ginza, where the most expensive area in Japan. In April 1961, Sony Enterprise Co., Ltd., a property management affiliate, was formed to oversee the project. The founding president was Shozaburo Tachikawa; the man who had overseen Sony's finances from its earliest days.
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Tachikawa consulted with Goro Koyama, then manager of Mitsui Bank's Sukiyabashi branch. You should know that Ginza is the underworld. Koyama hinted at the difficulties of acquiring land in Ginza. He was not kidding.
Sony began the process of purchasing the land immediately after its decision to lease a building in 1962. Initially, the building was to be completed in time for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
As actual negotiations began, however, Tachikawa finally understood the meaning of Koyama's remark. Ginza was a real estate agent's nightmare. During the chaotic period immediately after the war, property rights had changed hands so many times it was almost impossible to determine who held the title. In addition, Sony had to track down the underworld bosses who oversaw the night stalls that dotted the Ginza street corners. These people who insisted on the right to set up their tables and wares on the sidewalk were a fifth generation removed from the actual owners. Including the landowners, tenants and tenants removed, Tachikawa had to negotiate with at least one hundred people. Many of them were long-time residents who did not want to leave the area. In particular, those in business knew the prestige that the Ginza location added to their businesses, and they were against selling. Acquiring the land piece by piece was a tough struggle.
The first piece of land that Sony acquired was a small 100 square meter plot located behind the current Sony Building. Sony gradually increased its holdings. Their inability to purchase even a single tract of land would make the design of the building difficult. Susumu Yoshihara, the second president of Sony Enterprise, succeeded Tachikawa in the negotiations. Yoshihara took a steady approach, sometimes playing a waiting game while bargaining directly at other times.
While the bid to acquire land was proceeding, Ibuka and the other directors began to consider the type of building they would construct. Yoshinobu Ashihara, designer of Komazawa Stadium for the Tokyo Olympics, was a long-time friend of Kosuke Inoue, a director of Sony Enterprise. Inoue steered Ashihara one day into a meeting with Morita and Ibuka, where they showered Ashihara with questions. Both Morita and Ibuka took to him and his ideas.
Ashihara drew up dozens of blueprints, each taking into account the different amounts of land that they might finally manage to acquire. Each of these designs was reviewed by the Sony Construction Committee, which naturally included Ibuka and Morita. Top management was extremely eager to build a magnificent building. This is not to say that they had a preconceived image of their building before they started. Ibuka and Morita had only two clear requirements:That it be a place where people can relax and enjoy themselves, and That it have a unique design, found nowhere else.
The Construction Committee gnawed at the question of how the building would be used. Naturally, the ground floor would be used for Sony's showroom. One committee member suggested moving the Sony head office into the building. This was rejected because the price of land made it too extravagant. Others suggested renting it as office space. But constructing a new building in Ginza just to rent it did not make good business sense. The question was what to do with the building once it was constructed.
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