Former Yokohama Specie Bank Headquarters (Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History)

The Yokohama Specie Bank (横浜正金銀行, Yokohama Shōkin Ginkō) was established in 1880 in Yokohama with the explicit purpose of facilitating Japan's international trade and foreign-exchange transactions. It rapidly grew into one of the world's largest exchange banks, operating branches across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The Ministry of Finance designated it as Japan's official foreign-exchange bank in the 1880s, giving it a quasi-governmental role in managing the nation's international financial affairs.

The headquarters building at Minaminaka-dōri 5-60, Naka-ku, Yokohama, was completed in 1904 (Meiji 37). Designed by the prominent Meiji-era architect Tsumaki Yorinaka (妻木頼黄) with supervision by Endo Oto (遠藤於菟), it is a three-story structure with one basement level, built of stone and brick in the German Neo-Baroque style. Its most distinctive feature was the grand octagonal dome crowning the roof, which made it a landmark of the Yokohama waterfront.

On September 1, 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck the region. While the robust construction allowed the main structure to survive, the dome was destroyed by the fires that swept through Yokohama. The building was subsequently repaired and continued to serve as the bank's headquarters, though the dome was not reconstructed at that time.

During the 1930s and 1940s, as Japan's military expansion accelerated, the Yokohama Specie Bank became deeply integrated into the war economy. The bank handled foreign-exchange controls critical to financing military operations abroad, managed frozen foreign assets, and conducted currency operations in occupied territories across China, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. On December 23, 1941, immediately after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese government invoked the Enemy Property Control Law (敵産管理法) and ordered the Yokohama Specie Bank to manage the assets of five Allied-nation banks in Japan, including National City Bank of New York, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and Chartered Bank.

The bank's overseas network became instrumental in Japan's wartime financial infrastructure. Branches in Shanghai, Singapore, Manila, Batavia, and other occupied cities handled military scrip, trade settlements, and currency exchange for the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. The headquarters in Yokohama coordinated these far-flung operations, making it a key node in the financial apparatus supporting Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

On May 29, 1945, Yokohama was devastated by a massive Allied air raid that destroyed much of the city. The Specie Bank building survived the bombing, though the surrounding area was heavily damaged. After Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945, Yokohama became a major center for the Allied Occupation forces. The building and the bank's operations came under the scrutiny of GHQ/SCAP (Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers).

In 1946, GHQ designated the Yokohama Specie Bank as a Closed Institution (閉鎖機関) due to its role in financing Japan's wartime aggression. On July 2, 1946, GHQ issued a memorandum approving in principle the dissolution and reorganization of the bank. On October 15, 1946, authorization was granted to establish a successor institution. The Bank of Tokyo (東京銀行) was founded on December 16, 1946, with capital of 50 million yen under President Hamaguchi Katsuhiko, inheriting the domestic operations and cleaned-up assets of the Specie Bank. The Yokohama Specie Bank formally ceased operations, and its liquidation was completed in 1963. The Bank of Tokyo later merged to become today's MUFG Bank.

In 1964, Kanagawa Prefecture purchased the building and undertook extensive renovation, including the reconstruction of the octagonal dome that had been lost in the 1923 earthquake. The restored building opened as the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum on March 20, 1967. In 1969, the building was designated a National Important Cultural Property (国指定重要文化財) in recognition of its outstanding Meiji-era architectural significance. The museum was reorganized as the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History (神奈川県立歴史博物館) in 1995, focusing on the history and culture of Kanagawa Prefecture.

The building stands as a rare survivor among Yokohama's Meiji-era Western-style architecture, bearing witness to Japan's modernization, its wartime financial mobilization, and the postwar dissolution of institutions that had supported the imperial war effort.