National Tide 1980.

Also in mid-October 1989, Ning Weimin, who had been in France for five months, quietly flew back to Japan alone.

Needless to say, the reason he left his wife and daughter in France was not only because Fog Studios was currently filming the first installment of the "Hurricane" series in France, starring Alain Delon and Patricia Kass, and needed Keiko Matsumoto as producer to negotiate the details of the collaboration with the local French distributor.

Ning Weimin's actions were also motivated by concern for the safety of his wife and daughter.

You should know that his purpose in returning this time was to take up arms against the enemy.

With the date of the final collapse of Japan's bubble economy approaching, his return to Tokyo this time was not only to gain some advance time and to start harvesting the profits of the entire Japanese society by selling off his stock holdings.

He also plans to use other, more ruthless methods to carry out one-on-one "precision strikes" against his arch-rivals EIE, Nomura Securities, and Dentsu.

It's hard to say what unexpected situations or sudden changes might occur during this process.

If his wife and daughters were around, he naturally wouldn't be able to devote himself fully to these things; instead, he would have an extra layer of concerns.

It would be better to let Keiko Matsumoto spend Christmas in France with the children before returning.

By then, he should have already dealt with most of the troublesome matters in Japan, and be waiting to witness firsthand how his enemies would perish along with the collapsing Japanese economy.

Moreover, it's impossible for all the funds he cashed out from the Japanese stock market to remain in Japan.

To avoid being targeted by the desperate Japanese government, and to prevent their ill-gotten gains from being stolen by them, leaving him with nothing in the end.

Ning Weimin absolutely needed to transfer a portion of his funds overseas as a form of financial gain before the Japanese stock and real estate markets collapsed.

Once the money is out there, the Japanese government can't do anything about it.

To achieve this, it would naturally be even more necessary for Keiko Matsumoto to act as his plenipotentiary representative in Paris to handle the relevant documents and use the transferred funds to continue purchasing high-quality assets.

When it comes to transferring and settling huge sums of money overseas, who could be more trustworthy than Ning Weimin's own wife?
Without a doubt, Keiko Matsumoto is irreplaceable and the person Ning Weimin can trust the most.

This is called a win-win situation for both public and private interests.

In fact, it was precisely because Ning Weimin's return this time was so important that, out of caution, he kept his itinerary a secret.

He even kept it as secret as possible from his in-laws; he didn't even go home, but instead checked directly into the New Otani Hotel.

As for the people who actually knew he had returned to Tokyo, there were only five at most.

They are Bian Gang of Tangong Restaurant, Watanabe Mitsuru of Matsumoto Office, Sun Wufu of Dadao Industry, A-Xia of Chixia Parking Lot, and Sagawa Kenichi, Ning Weimin's exclusive stockbroker.

This is mainly due to the need for managing the companies under its control.

After all, Ning Weimin and Qingzi had been away from Japan for so long, even though they could remotely control everything in Japan via telephone.

However, during this period, most things were handled by the subordinates themselves, who at most only had a general understanding of the industry's situation.

The information they possess inevitably differs from reality.

So now that he's back, he needs to understand the specific operation of his businesses, to see if there are any problems or potential problems that could arise, so that he can eliminate or correct them in a timely manner.

Especially considering that he is about to devote all his mind and energy to fighting in the capital market, I will definitely be overwhelmed at that time.

Before engaging in this final battle, Ning Weimin had to eliminate all worries and hidden dangers to ensure the safety of his industry.

As the saying goes, to repel external enemies, one must first secure internal stability.

Otherwise, if we encounter internal and external troubles at a crucial moment, that would be a real problem.

If not handled properly, it could lead to a loss of wealth in the hundreds of millions of yen.

However, the reality is much better than Ning Weimin imagined.

Because although the business of the Red Dew Club and the liquor store has plummeted, there is no good way to change this situation for the time being.

Even the liquor store was forced to relocate after losing a lawsuit. It can't even find a place to stay in Ginza anymore and can only find office space in Shinjuku. Many of its employees have also left.

But apart from that, Takahashi Harunori really didn't have any other tricks up his sleeve to cause any real harm to Ning Weimin.

After all, the parking lot business was already on track, and Xia could handle any problems that arose in the routine operations, whether legal or illegal.

As for Ning Weimin, he would avoid going to A-Xia's place if he could avoid it, since he already had the parking lot deeds in his hands, which was enough to protect his core interests.

Therefore, even now, Harunori Takahashi has not discovered the cooperative relationship between Ning Weimin and A-Xia.

The scrap metal business is considered low-end, and not only Takahashi Harunori, but even ordinary Japanese people look down on it, so Takahashi Harunori naturally doesn't bother to deal with them.

In addition, the rolling suitcases from Da Dao Trading Company are sold through mail order channels.

The building housing the Chinese restaurant and bookstore still belongs to Ning Weimin.

Huiwentang Bookstore, in particular, focuses on importing Chinese books, so it doesn't matter if it can't get bestsellers from Japan.

Even if Harunori Takahashi wanted to get involved in these deals, he wouldn't know where to begin; at most, he could only make some minor, harmless moves.

The most crucial factor is Sumitomo Bank. Due to the profits from the loans, Sumitomo Bank has become Ning Weimin's protector, providing him with a continuous stream of financial support. This is the foundation that Ning Weimin finds difficult to eradicate.

Therefore, all things considered, Takahashi Harunori has very limited options for dealing with Ning Weimin.

It's nothing more than a deep collaboration with the Guo Group in the catering and entertainment industries, attempting to further undermine and damage Ning Weimin's catering business and Matsumoto Keiko's acting career as a competitor.

But this is not something that can be accomplished overnight. After all, the most effective measures, such as cutting off the supply of raw materials and banning television stations, have already been used. It is now a protracted war. So what does Ning Weimin have to worry about?

To be honest, in the entertainment industry, Takahashi Harunori and the Guo Group are actually outsiders who rashly entered this field. Apart from having financial capital and a lot of advertising business that they can extort from TV stations, they have no other advantages. They have to rely on those two guys, Kagawa Haruki and Fukasaku Kinji, to manage everything for them.

In particular, the lack of real big stars in its subsidiaries and the single nature of its business are its shortcomings.

The situation is different for Keiko Matsumoto's side. Her agency represents big stars like Teresa Teng and Tomokazu Miura, and through acquisitions in recent years, its business has expanded beyond film, television, and music, even encompassing video production and distribution, music album production and distribution, and passive income from copyright ownership.

This entertainment empire is not only fully capable of ensuring that its staff and artists are well-fed and clothed, but also, by increasing its investment in production resources this year, it has achieved many unexpected and surprising results.

For example, in the film industry, the movie "The Job Is Not Normal," starring Hiromi Go, was a dark horse at the box office.

Although this film was originally intended as a form of compensation, it was decided by Fog Studios to soothe Hiromi Go's broken heart after her advertisements were forcibly removed by EIE.

The production budget wasn't high, only 350 million yen.

However, because this is a comedy film focusing on the job competition among college students, the theme is too close to the current phenomenon of companies vying for talent.

The plot designed by the screenwriter may seem exaggerated to ordinary people, such as receiving tens of thousands of yen for travel expenses to attend a job interview, being treated to caviar and champagne wherever they go, and even companies locking up their doors and using honey traps to hold job applicants captive.

But this is the reality of society. Many of these are experiences that young people are going through or have already gone through, which has resonated with almost all young people in Japanese society, especially university students who are facing job choices.

As a result, the film quickly sparked public discussion after its release, becoming a hot topic in society and even appearing on the social news pages of several print media outlets, achieving a successful crossover.

As a result, the film's box office soared thanks to the film becoming a hot topic in society.

Surprisingly, it became the biggest box office winner after the summer vacation, with box office revenue exceeding 1.1 billion yen in less than a month, becoming the best example of a small studio achieving a big result this year.

There's also Kyoko Koizumi, who originally came from the "Burning" genre. She almost covered a single called "Gakuen Tengoku" (College Paradise) just to fill out her solo album, but unexpectedly, it resonated with the tastes of today's youth and became a phenomenal hit among middle school students this year.

This song is surprisingly on par with Chisato Moritaka's "17 Years Old" in terms of popularity, and its sales are also close to Teresa Teng's "The Flowing River," which makes Taurus Palace very happy.

Moreover, the explosive popularity of this movie and song has led to the rise of Hiromi Go and Kyoko Koizumi, putting TBS and Dentsu in a difficult and passive position.

Because today's young people are a new consumer class in society. They are not only staunch supporters of consumerism, but also have the financial support of their parents and are willing to consume in advance through financial credit.

In other words, whichever celebrity is recognized and popular among young people is the best advertising spokesperson for manufacturers and companies, meaning they can increase sales and are a gold mine that brings them substantial profits.

So TBS and Dentsu want to keep blacklisting Matsumoto's artists, but the question is, can they do it?

Many fashion apparel, youth accessories, and snack and beverage manufacturers are willing to spend a lot of money to hire Hiromi Go and Kyoko Koizumi as their advertising spokespeople, and many TV variety show and talk show producers are also eyeing their current influence.

Do you think the TV station and Dentsu felt immense pressure? How could they continue to maintain their arrogant attitude and ignore the influence of artists under Matsumoto Productions?

If they refuse again, it's like pushing away a large sum of money; they're just making things difficult for themselves.

As a result, Fuji Television, which had a good working relationship with Fog Studios, was the first to break the ice. They seemed to have obtained permission from Dentsu to be the first to broadcast a cosmetics advertisement featuring Kyoko Koizumi on their own television station.

Fuji Television then tentatively broadcast Teresa Teng's "The Flowing River" and Kyoko Koizumi's "Gakuen Heaven".

After seeing the high ratings achieved by Fuji Television, which "defied the world's opinion," and Dentsu's passive response, the public was skeptical.

This prompted other TV stations to follow suit.

They all began to "selectively forget" Dentsu's ban and invited Hiromi Go and Kyoko Koizumi to their own variety shows.

At this point, the "blacklist" that Matsumoto's office still had was effectively null and void.

When Matsumoto's office disclosed that Hiromi Go and Kyoko Koizumi had signed advertising endorsement contracts for Guinness beer and McDonald's fast food respectively, Dentsu and TBS's boycott became a complete joke in the industry.

Because everyone knows that even Dentsu can't refuse international fast-moving consumer goods companies like Guinness and McDonald's, otherwise the economic losses would be too great.

So when Ning Weimin returned to Japan, he was surprised to find that the artists under Matsumoto Agency had fully resumed their cooperation with the television station and had been reintegrated into the Japanese television system.

Fuji Television was particularly clever; it even knew how to use its relationship with Shochiku Films to secretly poach employees from TBS Television.

The president of Shochiku has already informed the people at Matsumoto's office that Fuji Television intends to strengthen its cooperation with them in the field of dramas.

If possible, Fuji Television would be willing to broadcast "Women's Staircase," a film that was completed by Fog Studios but was not broadcast on TBS, during prime time.

Furthermore, they are willing to sign a long-term cooperation agreement with Ning Weimin regarding the introduction and broadcast of mainland Chinese TV dramas.

For Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko, wouldn't this be a stroke of good luck?
When Watanabe Mitsuru told Ning Weimin all the latest news about Fuji Television, he was overjoyed.

I originally thought it would be a lot of trouble, but it turned out to be solved naturally just by lying down.

Especially considering the influence of Fuji Television's dramas in the 1990s, he was almost immediately tempted.

It has to be said, fortunes really do change.

It's like that saying goes—what doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

The ones who are suffering now are not him and Keiko Matsumoto, but Dentsu Corporation and TBS Television.

Logically speaking, since they couldn't blacklist the artists of Matsumoto Productions, Dentsu and TBS should have taken the initiative to show goodwill towards Matsumoto Productions, apologize, and reconcile, whether for the sake of the advertising contracts with LVMH and Saint Laurent or for the influence of the artists under Matsumoto Productions.

But perhaps because of face-saving issues, Dentsu and TBS are still acting like dead dogs and haven't made any response.

It seems they are hoping that Matsumoto's office will take the initiative to reconcile with them.

Needless to say, Ning Weimin had no backbone. In his eyes, Dentsu and TBS were nothing but rotten meat, and he no longer intended to pay them any attention.

Since they are so out of touch with reality and willing to suffer for the sake of saving face, then let them be.

He only felt somewhat wronged on behalf of TBS because of his past friendship with the station's director, Kaga.

They were completely manipulated and used as pawns in this matter.

Not only did they not gain any advantage, but they also severed their long-standing friendly cooperation with Ning Weimin. That was a huge loss for them. (End of Chapter)