Formed on 1 May 1911 as a Mitsui Marine Department affiliate intended to buy and build ships, Meiji initially carried Mitsui Mining coal. It established Taisho Kaiun at Dalian in 1914, absorbed Goshu Kisen in 1943 and Taisho Kaiun in 1944. Post-war government control ended in April 1950, after which owned vessels were time-chartered to Mitsui. In the 1963 restructuring it joined Mitsui OSK as an exclusively contracted carrier. Tohmei Shipping became the commercial-management core in January 1984.
Japan, Kobe; Tokyo in the later register.