National Tide 1980.

Ning Weimin was surprised by the enthusiasm and adaptability of Sun Wufu and his group.

To be honest, when Ning Weimin brought Sun Wufu and the others here, he originally thought that it would take them at least one or two months to adapt to living in Japan after arriving in Tokyo.

In his opinion, if Sun Wufu and his team want to really find the way, set up their stall, and officially start the work of collecting scrap, it will take at least another three months or half a year.

However, he never expected that in just half a month, this group of people didn't even have time to wait for him to find a suitable place, and Sun Wufu and his team had already started working on it.

Not only did they figure out the way to purchase goods on their own, they also found the shipping channels on their own.

It has to be said that these workers from the bottom of society have extremely strong survival and adaptability, which is completely incomparable to ordinary people and far exceeded Ning Weimin's imagination.

Even that’s not all. Sun Wufu discovered the huge treasure trove hidden in the Japanese flea market without Ning Weimin’s reminder.

When they met again, he had already helped Ning Weimin collect seven or eight cultural relics that had been lost from China.

And the quality is quite good, and the price is super low.

I don’t know if it was because of Sun Wufu’s bargaining skills, or because his appearance as a poor foreigner was too deceptive in the eyes of the Japanese, but he only spent less than 100,000 yen on these things.

Ning Weimin looked at each item and felt that if he bought them himself, he would have to pay at least twice the price.

To put it bluntly, Sun Wufu's ability to hunt for antiques can help him in collecting antiques and solve the big problem that he has always been too busy to find time to buy and exchange treasures.

Then it would be worth his effort to bring this group of people over from the country.

Ning Weimin was so delighted that he left another 5 million yen for Sun Wufu and asked him to continue helping him collect Chinese antiques.

And the money they earned from recycling old items was also left to them as their reward.

At the same time, in order to encourage their interest in learning Japanese, Ning Weimin also invited everyone to go to Tan Palace for a decent meal, and then made a promise in public during the meal.

He said that if anyone learns Japanese well and can reach N3 level, he will pay for that person to take the driving test.

When the company opens and buys a truck in the future, he will not only be made a driver, but his salary will also increase from 5,000 yen per day to 10,000 yen.

If this happens, it will be really incredible. These people will be so excited that they will scream and shout. It can be said that the crowd is very excited.

Because for people in China, being a truck driver is a good job that requires skills, is worthy of respect, has good pay, and is exciting.

For these country men who have little cultural background and come from rural areas, this is definitely the best career development direction in their minds. Who would not be willing to do it?

What's more, Japan doesn't have the sturdy flatbed tricycles that we have in China for transporting goods.

Some in Japan are designed for the elderly, the kind with a small tricycle with a basket or a seat on the back.

It looks like a children's toy and can't pull any heavy objects at all.

So Sun Wufu and his colleagues are now collecting waste, and when they are invited to pick up goods, they do not have suitable means of transportation.

They could only walk there and then pull the things back on those big flatbed carts.

This feeling of suffering actually increases their desire to become drivers.

Therefore, it is only natural that the big pie painted by Ning Weimin has brought about overflowing expectations and high morale.

After that, these people's enthusiasm for learning Japanese increased immediately, which made Nakanishi Ryosuke, who was responsible for teaching them, both happy and puzzled.

Fortunately, there is more hope for teaching work.

What was puzzling was that he really couldn't understand why these people's enthusiasm for learning had skyrocketed.

Of course, having manpower alone is definitely not enough. Ning Weimin is very clear that the company’s legal access procedures and formal business premises must also be resolved as soon as possible.

So he entrusted someone to handle the issues related to company registration and industry access, and at the same time asked a real estate agency to help him look for various plots of land around Katsushika Ward.

Finally, in early October, we selected an abandoned plastic packaging factory covering an area of ​​more than 200 square meters as the base for waste recycling, and signed a contract for a five-year lease at a price of 4 million yen per year.

The reason why he chose to rent instead of buying was not because the land price in Tokyo had risen too high.

You should know that in 1988, the average land price in Japan rose by another percent.

The average increase in land prices in Tokyo is higher.

Not to mention that the land price in Ginza, Tokyo has soared to 50 million yen per square meter, even the land price in Katsushika Ward has risen to over 800,000 yen per square meter.

"One Japan can buy four Americas" and "Sell Tokyo and buy the entire America" ​​are shocking statements that appeared at this time.

If Ning Weimin wanted to buy this land, it would cost nearly 600 million yen.

It’s not that he can’t afford it, the key is that it’s really not worth it.

Ning Weimin knew better than anyone that Japan's magnificent economic bubble would burst in a few years.

That is to say, after he buys the land, he must sell it within one or two years at most and must not keep it.

Not to mention the hassle of settlement and tax payment, even choosing a new location and moving is too much of a hassle.

What he was even more afraid of was that the location here was not as popular as Tokyo's popular areas. If it was not used for waste recycling, he would even think that the profit was too low if he used it as a parking lot.

What if you want to sell it at that time but can’t find anyone to take over?

Wouldn't that be a complete loss?

What's more, he has so many parking lots at his disposal. If he really wants to release them all at once, how could he care about such a shabby place?

So he thought about it and decided that it would be more cost-effective and safer to pay rent for a five-year period.

Although the land prices in Japan have gone up, can they be driven up arbitrarily without breaking the gravity of the earth? However, the rents cannot be too unrealistic.

If it is too expensive, no one will rent it. However, the rent of houses and land in Tokyo has not increased too much as the land prices have skyrocketed.

All in all, according to the current market conditions, he would have to pay a maximum of 20 million yen, which is much less than the economic cost of spending 600 million yen to buy it.

If he really wants to buy land in the future, he will establish a long-term base for the waste recycling business.

The most cost-effective and reasonable way is to wait until the Japanese real estate bubble bursts and the market turns down for a few years, and then buy according to the actual situation at that time. Otherwise, it would be a foolish thing to throw money away, and he would not do it.

Later on, needless to say, once there is a place, it will have to be renovated.

There are very few reinforced concrete structures in Japan. This factory is made of iron and wood and has been abandoned for some time.

In order to ensure safety in use, Ning Weimin had to find a construction company and spend money to reinforce and renovate the building.

He didn't expect that he would accidentally meet an old acquaintance because of this incident.

what's up?

It turns out that the boss of the construction company that undertook the factory reconstruction project did so perhaps to reduce labor costs and increase profits.

Perhaps it is because construction is underway everywhere in Japan right now, the construction industry is booming, and there is a huge labor gap.

He found some temporary workers to help with the rough work at the construction site.

Most of these workers are foreigners from the third world, and the boss only needs to pay them on a daily basis.

As a result, when Ning Weimin was inspecting the progress of the site, he discovered Liu Yang, a fellow Beijing native with whom he had been on the same plane.

The guy was hanging on a safety rope, standing on a channel steel rack about eight or nine meters high in the factory, unloading old equipment in the factory in order to replace new ventilation fans.

I don’t know what happened, maybe I used too much force, I lost my balance for a moment and almost fell down.

So out of fright he cursed out of Beijing dialect, and it was this curse in his hometown accent that successfully attracted the attention of Ning Weimin, who was just passing by.

Looking up, Ning Weimin felt that the person above looked familiar, and then he quickly remembered the young man who had sat next to him and chatted with him all the way.

Ning Weimin still remembered that this person was an engineering major who resigned from a domestic research institute, so he tried to say hello.

"Hello, is this Liu Yang?"

Unexpectedly, he was not wrong. Although Liu Yang glared at him afterwards, he did not deny his identity.

"Why, you are Chinese? Do we know each other? Sir, I wonder what you can do for me?"

"Of course we know each other. What's the matter? Don't you recognize me?"

"Sorry, I don't remember."

"We were on the same plane. You were sitting next to me. I forgot..."

"Oh, it's you! Mr. Ning... Mr. Ning..."

At this time, Liu Yang finally recognized Ning Weimin and waved at him in surprise.

"Oh, by the way, you remembered? I say, don't call me sir, we are fellow villagers, both from Beijing, so just call me brother." Ning Weimin responded with a smile.

"Okay, man. What brings you here?"

"Is there any need to ask? This is the factory I rented. You are working for me..."

"Fuck, is this true? It's amazing..."

In this way, the two of them exchanged secret codes by calling each other "brother" and got in touch with each other through an unexpected meeting.

But Ning Weimin tilted his neck and shouted at Liu Yang. It was not a good thing for one to be on top and the other one to be below.

He simply said hello to the Japanese boss who was accompanying him and called Liu Yang down to chat and reminisce about the past.

Needless to say, no boss would like something like this to hinder the progress of construction.

But even if the Japanese have heads made of granite, they would not be so stupid as to be ignorant of the ways of the world and dare to offend customers.

At this time, even a Japanese boss will be able to read the situation and know how to adapt to the changing circumstances.

Seeing that Ning Weimin and Liu Yang were old acquaintances and seemed very surprised, the Japanese boss not only readily agreed to his request and let Liu Yang stop working and rest for a while, but also as a gesture of goodwill, asked someone to buy a few cans of coffee.

After the coffee was bought, the Japanese boss gave them each a can, then tactfully excused himself and went aside to drink coffee, allowing Ning Weimin and Liu Yang to talk freely without being disturbed.

So Liu Yang was finally liberated.

Not only did he immediately escape from the hard and dangerous work, he was also able to chat with Ning Weimin and tell him about each other's situations.

The key is that there are free cigarettes and free coffee. It’s so wonderful. I’m really lucky.

"How is it? It's been over a year since we said goodbye after getting off the plane. How have you been during this time?"

"fine and you?"

"Ah, the way I ask it, I see you're good. But I'm not so good."

"what happened?"

"Oh, it's hard to explain. I can only say that after I came here, I realized that I thought going abroad was simple. It's really hard here. Don't laugh at me. A poor man has low aspirations, and a thin horse has long hair. Not everyone is as respectable as you."

"Haha, when a person dies, his luck dies, and only those who have endured hardships can become the best. You may be in a bit of trouble now, but things will change. As long as you get through it, I believe you will have a bright future."

"Thank you for your good words, but I really don't have much hope. Especially compared with you, I am really a disgrace to the people of our capital. I really want to find a hole in the ground to crawl into."

"Don't say that. Oh, by the way, where are you studying now? What's your major?"

"Still studying? Man, this is too much of a dream for me right now. I'm not afraid of you laughing at me, I've been struggling for food and clothing since I came to Japan for so long. Even now I still owe 19,000 yen in rent. Otherwise I wouldn't be doing this. I feel stupid now, still dreaming of studying and working part-time. I should have lowered my status and faced the reality when I came here, and worked hard to earn money, at least I could help my family fill the hole of borrowing money to go abroad sooner..."

"You're having such a hard time. Is it hard to find a job in Japan?"

"That's not the case, but we don't get good jobs. I've worked several jobs. I started out washing dishes in a restaurant. Then I worked as a machinist in a factory, and now I work odd jobs on construction sites. These are jobs that Japanese people don't like to do, and the key is that the Japanese are also black-hearted. They hired us just because we have low wages. In my first job, the boss was very cruel. In order to wash the dishes quickly and cleanly, he made me use 70-degree hot water all day long, which almost burned my hands. Later, the boss of the factory, the factory's performance was not good, so he deducted my salary in various ways. This construction company pays the most, and you can get 10,000 yen a day, but the labor intensity is not small. Digging trenches, burying water pipes, dismantling iron frames, carrying cement, and transporting sand, the labor intensity is comparable to that of prisoners in prison. Otherwise, they are all high-altitude operations, which are quite dangerous, and the protection is just a rope, which is inevitable. People's calves are cramped..."

Listening to Liu Yang's complaints, Ning Weimin fell silent.

He had never expected that his fellow Beijing native was in such a difficult situation in Japan, and it was difficult for him to find any words of comfort.

After a moment, he thought of using an interruption to eliminate the awkwardness, and continued to ask, "How are the other people on the same flight with us? Are you still in touch?" (End of this chapter)