Chapter 432 – Cantonese Morning Tea
The next morning, Masayoshi Kishimoto didn’t go straight to the office, but instead arrived at a Cantonese morning tea store in Tokyo a quarter of an hour earlier to wait for the Pachinko Chief.
The two had made an appointment for such a place inside the phone beforehand. He walked into a reserved private room and ordered some of the store’s signature delicacies.
As soon as the waiter served the food, Mr. Pachinko walked in. The old man was still physically tough and hale, with a look that he would have no problem working for another twenty years.
He directly pulled open the chair next to Justice Kishimoto and sat down with one butt. He knew in his heart that the two meeting here was definitely not for the sake of sharing breakfast alone.
Masayoshi Kishimoto took the initiative to pick up a Chinese teapot, and with the courtesy of a junior was to pour a cup of tea for the General President of Pachinko. He put the teapot back in its place before sitting down again.
“Among the various schools of breakfast in China, the Cantonese morning tea is the richest, with hundreds of varieties. The classics are these crystal shrimp dumplings, traditional siu mai, barbecued pork buns, steamed phoenix claws ……” Masayoshi Kishimoto introduced the other party one by one to the things laid out on the table.
Pachinko Chief Elder has known for a long time that Cantonese morning tea can be eaten slowly while chatting slowly. Eating came second to chatting, which was the key to their meeting this morning.
General Manager Pachinko took chopsticks in his right hand to clip a BBQ pork bun into his own dish and said, “Let’s get down to business!”
“I would like to borrow the 10,000 or so pachinko parlors throughout Japan to post a promotional advertisement. For that, I will make a payment.” Masayoshi Kishimoto didn’t beat around the bush anymore.
“What kind of publicity advertisement?” The pachinko chief said trying to figure out what his advertisement was about.
“The advertisement that Mizushima Makoto used for his campaign.” Masayoshi Kishimoto said bluntly.
“That’s not a big thing for you. It’s just that it’s not necessarily true for the Osaka area in Western Japan in particular, except for the Tokyo area.
As you know, the last time concerning the Roppongi Old Town reconstruction plan you proposed. Although some of us invested money in it, it was mainly limited to the Tokyo area.
The Kansai region, centered on Osaka and Kyoto, did not get a share of the pie. There is no guarantee that these people will not complain. In addition, there was always a lot of conflict between the Kanto region and the Kansai region over the distribution of benefits.
The remaining regions of Shikoku, Kyushu, and Hokkaido are relatively poor, so as long as they are given money, everything is fine.” General President Pachinko spoke eloquently.
“What your old man said, I am also more or less aware of things. Even if it’s not possible to spread out across the board, there has to be one family that counts.
Places with high population density are the focus.” Justice Kishimoto had invested money down, so naturally, he wanted to hear a sound. Even if the money wasn’t much, don’t lose.
General President Pachinko said with interest, “When did you become interested in politics?”
“I was originally a person who was not interested in politics. However, once a person reaches a high level, there are things that you can’t help but like or dislike. If so many people follow you, then you have to be responsible for them and their families.
It’s as if the clans no longer exist in Japan, but the companies under the modern system are not new clans.
Formal members of the company are samurai, and unofficial members of the company are also considered subjects within the feudal state. They were working for you, and you had to provide them with shelter. It’s only then that he and their families can feed and clothe themselves.” Masayoshi Kishimoto said frankly.
The Pachinko General President suddenly smiled amiably, “You are becoming more mature.”
“You are honestly flattering me too much.” Masayoshi Kishimoto said, upholding the traditional Chinese attitude of being gentle and respectful.
“Speaking of which, we’re sort of friends who have forgotten years between us. Since we are friends, then this one favor is naturally necessary. Even if there are certain difficulties in the Kansai region, I will personally go out to fight and solve them for you. Only by taking care of each other will we be able to coexist and prosper together.” The Pachinko General President expressed his personal attitude and said.
“Then thank you so much.” Justice Kishimoto certainly knew with a clear mind that this was all based on mutual interests.
Today, you helped me, then only tomorrow, will I help you. Of course, this one major premise was based on the fact that each other would weigh the worthiness and value of what was or wasn’t there.
“All I can secure is the votes of the pachinko industry in the Tokyo area, and whenever you need to use them, then we’ll throw it all at the person you’re talking about.
Beyond that, it’s not something I can guarantee.” The Pachinko Chief was no stranger to this kind of proxy politics in the slightest Dao.
Justice Kishimoto knew deep down that there was little suspense in Mizushima’s real election. This was in addition to the boost from his own side, and naturally, Iwasaki Makoto would not stand idly by.
Originally, she was the driving force behind all of this. There was nothing to lose by teaming up with the other party to do this themselves, each getting what they wanted.
Iwasaki Maki needed to gain more actual control and resources within the family, thus paving the way for the big things she wanted to accomplish in the future.
Or rather, the power struggle within the Iwasaki family never stopped. There were close to 600 descendants within the Iwasaki family. Even if they were all family, it didn’t mean that they were all of one mind.
If you trace this back to its roots, there are two main forces in the Iwasaki family. Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of the Mitsubishi Group, is a member of the family.
Yataro Iwasaki’s younger brother, Yasunosuke Iwasaki, was a branch of the family. However, Yonosuke Iwasaki was instrumental in the development and growth of the Mitsubishi Group.
He was one of the most modern managers in the economic world in the middle of the Meiji period. He left the “official business” status of his brother Yataro Iwasaki’s time, abandoned his overly authoritarian approach, and rebuilt Mitsubishi as an organizer, transforming Mitsubishi into a land-based company, which had originally been a “maritime kingdom”. Mitsubishi, which had been a “maritime kingdom,” was transformed into a “land kingdom,” and the new Mitsubishi became a huge corporate alliance.
Later, Yasunosuke Iwasaki resigned as president of Mitsubishi and returned the company to Hisaya Iwasaki, Yataro Iwasaki’s son, as president.
At the same time, he followed the wishes of his brother, Yataro Iwasaki, and carried out a “liquidation” of the family fortune, transferring to Hisaya Iwasaki not only all of the Iwasaki family’s interests in Mitsubishi, but also his own share as a branch of the family.
His own share of the public property as a branch of the family was less than one-fourth of the family’s share. For this reason, his descendants have always been resentful.
According to the descendants of Yayanosuke Iwasaki, it was Yayanosuke Iwasaki who saved the day. Otherwise, the Mitsubishi Group would have gone bankrupt due to the death of Yaynosuke Iwasaki, after all, there was a price war with the Inoue family over shipping.
Then, in 1916, Iwasaki Koyota, the eldest son of Iwasaki Yonosuke, took over the mantle of president of Mitsubishi from his cousin, Iwasaki Hisaya, and became the fourth-generation leader of the company.
After the defeat in World War II, the Japanese Zaibatsu were required to be dissolved, and Mitsubishi was divided into 139 companies, which were not allowed to use the “Mitsubishi” logo. Even so, the Iwasaki family retained 47.8% of the shares of each Mitsubishi company.
After the outbreak of the Korean War, the U.S. deregulated Japan’s economy, and the Zaibatsu group took advantage of the situation to re-emerge. “Mitsubishi Corporation was revitalized in 1954.
The business of the Mitsubishi Group grew rapidly, and 28 companies were reorganized under the Mitsubishi banner, including Nippon Yusen (one of the world’s top ten shipping companies), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Materials, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, and Mitsubishi Jisho.
In 1969, the sales of 10 Mitsubishi companies were almost equal to the annual budget of the Japanese state. By 1970, the total assets of the 44 companies of the Mitsubishi Group accounted for 1/10th of the total assets of all Japanese companies.