Traveling Through the Tokyo Bubble Era

Chapter 1044 It's not just dislike, it's extreme dislike.
Hideki Hanyu and Yukio Tanaka chatted for a short while before Tadashi Yanai, having finished entertaining his guests, joined them.

The three hadn't seen each other for so long, so they naturally had a lot to talk about.

Whether it's work or life, once you start talking about it, it's hard to stop.

Just as the three of them were agreeing to find a place to have a drink after the reception, a voice suddenly interrupted their conversation.

"Yanagi-san, it's been a long time."

"It turns out President Yuzuru is here too. I never expected to see him again today, since we met at Yanai-san's house last time. I feel truly honored."

Hideki Yuzuru recognized the voice and turned to see a short man with thinning hair on his forehead.

Whoops!

Hideki Hanyu instantly recognized the speaker: wasn't that Masayoshi Son?
The other person spoke so warmly, and their expression even carried a hint of flattery; anyone who didn't know better would think they had a very good relationship.

The problem is that when they met at Tadashi Yanai's house last time, their interaction could only be described as unpleasant.

Although Masayoshi Son's hair has become increasingly thinner over the past few years, he looks quite well, indicating that he has been doing relatively well.

This person, like Tadashi Yanai, is a descendant of Korean immigrants, so it's not surprising that he was invited here.

The last time at Tadashi Yanai's house, Hideki Hanyu's acquaintance with him was not exactly pleasant.

However, Hideki Hanyu is not the kind of person who would interfere in his friends' social circles based on his own likes and dislikes, so Tadashi Yanai's relationship with Masayoshi Son was not affected by him.

But that doesn't mean he'll give Masayoshi Son a friendly look.

Don't say that you can't hit a smiling face; it depends on who's coming up to you.

Influenced by his first impression of Masayoshi Son, a delinquent from a North Korean immigrant family, Hideki Yuzuru had absolutely no liking for him.

Last time at Tadashi Yanai's house, he completely ignored Masayoshi Son.

Back then, his career wasn't as successful as it is now, and the inherently rebellious Masayoshi Son harbored a hidden animosity towards him.

Now that he has gained more influence in Japan, the other party has wisely changed their hostility to ingratiation.

Regardless of Masayoshi Son's attitude, Hideki Hanyu ignored him.

After only one glance, Hideki Hanyu looked away and continued chatting with Yukio Tanaka.

Fortunately, Yanai was present and greeted Masayoshi Son, easing the embarrassment of Son being ignored.

However, Masayoshi Son's deliberate approach was not for the purpose of greeting Tadashi Yanai.

Otherwise, if Masayoshi Son knew that Hideki Hanyu had a bad impression of him, he should have avoided Hideki Hanyu long ago.

Therefore, the goal that Masayoshi Son was willing to sacrifice his dignity for must be something that could compensate for the dignity he sacrificed.

Therefore, even though Hideki Hanyu ignored him, Masayoshi Son still did not intend to give up and once again pretended to be familiar with Hideki Hanyu.

"President Yuzuru, I have a collaboration I'd like to discuss with you. I wonder if you could give me a little time?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Masayoshi Son looked at Hideki Yuzuru with anticipation.

The next moment, Hideki Hanyu spoke.

The problem is that Hideki Hanyu did not respond to Masayoshi Son, but instead spoke to Yukio Tanaka and Tadashi Yanai with a disgusted expression.

"I wanted to have a good chat with you all, but some flies just had to come buzzing around and ruin my mood."

"Never mind, I'll take Haruko to meet a friend. We can talk after the reception."

In front of Masayoshi Son, Hideki Hanyu made a few sarcastic remarks without giving Son any face, then took Haruko Naito's hand and prepared to leave.

Even so, Masayoshi Son still wanted to salvage the situation.

He immediately followed up and said to Hideki Hanyu, "If Chairman Hanyu were to cooperate with me, it would definitely be a win-win situation. Otherwise, you will surely regret it later."

"hehe!"

Masayoshi Son's words immediately elicited a cold laugh from Hideki Hanyu.

Hideki Hanyu turned his head and looked at Masayoshi Son, who had caught up, and asked in a mocking tone.

"Regret? How do you plan to make me regret it?"

Is it because of your small company that distributes overseas software and doesn't make much money every year?
"Or are you planning to have your Kyushu underworld father and brother send men to hunt me down?"

Masayoshi Son, who had remained unfazed by being completely ignored, finally lost his composure after hearing Hideki Hanyu's sarcastic remarks.

Because Hideki Hanyu's words not only mocked his proudest career, but also publicly revealed his family background, which he least wanted the outside world to know.

His SoftBank company, despite being Japan's largest software distributor, was utterly insignificant in Hideki Hanyu's eyes.

As for his family background, it has always been something he has tried to hide the most, and he has gone to great lengths to add various inspirational stories to his life.

However, Hideki Hanyu exposed his deception with a single sentence.

What does President Yuzuru mean?

With a livid face, Masayoshi Son gritted his teeth and questioned her.

Hideki Hanyu, however, said impatiently, "Can't you understand human language? I've made it so obvious, why are you still asking me what I mean?"
Let me be blunt: you and I are simply not on the same wavelength.

I know all your secrets, like how you call laundering money for your family a business venture, or buying someone else's patents your own invention.

If you want to tell a story, go find someone else; if you want to deceive someone, go find someone else as well.

If it weren't for Yanai-san's sake today, I would have had my bodyguards throw you out the moment you got near me.

After finishing his speech, Hideki Yuzuru ignored Masayoshi Son's increasingly grim expression and left with Haruko Naito.

Despite the fact that Masayoshi Son's SoftBank is doing quite well now, in Hideki Hanyu's eyes, it's nothing more than a small-scale operation, completely insignificant.

Of course, there is another crucial point, which is the opportunity in another timeline that helped SoftBank achieve a qualitative change: acquiring the Cisco system distribution rights in Japan. This opportunity could never be replicated in this timeline.

Because Hideki Hanyu, as an investor in Cisco, would never cooperate with Masayoshi Son.

Moreover, judging from the timing, it's highly likely that Masayoshi Son approached him this time to discuss Cisco's agency.

……

"Does Yuzuru-san dislike him?"

Haruko Naito suddenly asked Hideki Hanyu.

“It’s not just that I hate it, it’s that I absolutely hate it,” Hideki Hanyu said.

Just as he said, Masayoshi Son is trying to whitewash himself and his family, and is fabricating inspirational stories for himself, but Hideki Hanyu doesn't care at all.

But as the other party continued to convince themselves, they even began to believe it and planned to use this method to cooperate with him.

Moreover, the emotions the other party subtly revealed during their last meeting, the feeling of wanting to coerce or entice, made Hideki Yuzuru even more disliked.

If he weren't capable, Masayoshi Son wouldn't be so polite when discussing cooperation.

Of course, the most crucial reason why Hideki Hanyu fundamentally dislikes Masayoshi Son is that if Son were to rise to power as he did in his previous life, it would definitely impact his future strategies.

Therefore, he had to, and absolutely had to, nip Masayoshi Son in the bud during his early development.

"He's actually worth hating so much?"

Haruko Naito was quite curious.

After all, in her view, Masayoshi Son was a complete "small fry," and logically speaking, he shouldn't have been able to provoke Hideki Hanyu's emotions at all. If Hideki Hanyu had to care about such a small fry, he would be exhausted.

"worth."

Hideki Hanyu gave a simple and clear answer.

As for more details, he couldn't very well tell Haruko Naito how successful Masayoshi Son, who seems so unremarkable now, was in another timeline.

Seeing that Hideki Hanyu wasn't going to explain in detail, Haruko Naito decisively stopped asking and instead looked around before speaking.

"Whom does Yuzuru-san intend to meet with me?"

Hideki Hanyu pointed to a spot not far away and said, "They're here."

Following Hideki Hanyu's gaze, Haruko Naito saw a "fashionably" dressed man walking briskly toward them.

After the other party approached, he immediately spoke to Hideki Hanyu.

"Sir, it's so nice to meet you."

"Editor-in-Chief Kaneda, I didn't expect to see you here. I've never seen you here before."

As soon as Hideki Hanyu said this, he knew who the visitor was.

Kaneda Shichisuke, editor-in-chief of the Japanese edition of Cloud Fashion magazine.

"Actually, I don't really like attending year-end receptions, but Cloud Fashion has collaborated with Uniqlo on several projects in the second half of this year, so I really couldn't refuse President Yanai's invitation."

"I see. I remember you went to North America to investigate Cloud Fashion a while ago. How did your talk with Simon Lister go? Did you learn anything about his success?"

After the North American version of Cloud Fashion achieved success under the leadership of Seymour Lister, it naturally attracted the attention and study of other divisions.

Kindaichi shook his head and replied, "Editor-in-Chief Simo Lister's management ideas are indeed very creative, but they are not suitable for Japan."

"Oh, tell me more about it." Hideki Yuzuru became interested.

Kaneda Shichiyo explained, "First of all, the style of the Japanese version of Cloud Fashion has been established and has gradually matured in the minds of readers, which has directly influenced the characteristics of the OGC fashion show."

In this situation, it would be unwise to rashly try other styles.

It's not just in Japan; other regions' cloud fashion initiatives should also refrain from simply copying the successful model of the North American version.

The fact that the former editor-in-chief of the North American edition of Cloud Fashion was transferred to Europe, but has not been able to change the operational difficulties of Cloud Fashion in Europe, is a good example of this.

Of course, we can't completely replicate Editor-in-Chief Simo Lister's data-driven management approach, but we can learn from it to improve the operation of the Japanese version of Cloud Fashion.

After listening to Kindaichi's long explanation, Hideki Habu smiled and said...

"The stones from other mountains can be used to polish jade. It seems that Editor-in-Chief Jin Tian's trip to America was not entirely fruitless."

"It's just a preliminary idea."

Kindaichi said modestly, then quickly changed the subject.

"The two models that you introduced me to last time are quite popular now. Even President Iijima of Yunshang Entertainment contacted me personally, intending to collaborate with them."

"Two models?"

Hideki Hanyu couldn't immediately recall who Kindaichi was referring to.

King Kindaichi immediately explained, "It's Gianna Kolopova and her sister."

"Oh, so it's them," Hideki Yuzuru said in surprise.

After visiting relatives in Slovakia, Ziana Kolopova and her sister decided to return to Japan to pursue their careers.

Hideki Hanyu simply recommended the two to Shichiro Kaneda, getting them signed with Cloud Fashion and becoming the magazine's exclusive models.

This model of magazines directly signing models is actually very common in Japan, especially women's fashion magazines. Many well-known Japanese female celebrities started their careers as magazine models.

In addition to recommending them, Hideki Hanyu also gave the two foreign images and a promotional strategy based on a neon style.

The main theme is that a beautiful foreign woman loves Japanese culture, thereby satisfying the vanity of a large number of Japanese readers.

Of course, this kind of approach has been around for a long time, but just because it's an old approach doesn't mean it's ineffective.

In retrospect, his old approach has proven quite effective.

Moreover, after being reminded by Kindaichi, Hideki Habu felt that he should perhaps go and meet the two sisters, Gianna Kolopova.

After all, it's inappropriate to bring someone back from Slovakia all the way, only to forget about them completely.

Of course, more importantly, even scumbags want to try something new.

However, Kindaichi only touched upon the matter of the two girls briefly.

They then started talking about other things.

Hideki Hanyu asked, "Has the location for next year's OGC Spring/Summer Fashion Show been confirmed? Are you planning to go overseas, or will it be held in Japan?"

Kaneda Shichi replied, "The organizing committee and manufacturers' representatives have discussed this several times. In order to maintain the Japanese market, everyone felt that after holding it overseas twice in a row, it would be better to hold it in Japan this time."

As for the specific location, Sapporo and Osaka have been the most active applicants, and one of them will likely be chosen.

Upon hearing the name Sapporo, Hideki Hanyu said with some concern, "Wouldn't it be too cold in Sapporo? Doesn't that fit the theme of the Spring/Summer fashion show?"

In March, the average temperature in Sapporo is still hovering around zero degrees Celsius, which is far too low for a fashion show.

Unless the OGC organizing committee is willing to scale down the event and move it indoors, such low temperatures will definitely affect the models' catwalk.

"The temperature in Sapporo is indeed our biggest concern."

However, Sapporo had already applied to the organizing committee long ago that if the show wasn't held in Japan this time, and the autumn/winter show had to be held overseas, Sapporo would have to wait another two years.

Kindaichi revealed the OGC organizing committee's thoughts.

After careful consideration, Hideki Hanyu realized that the OGC organizing committee's considerations were also valid.

The OGC organizing committee must take seriously the enthusiasm and support from local communities for the OGC fashion show, as this is fundamental to the OGC's development and is often even more important than the objective environment.

If the show cannot be held in Sapporo next March, and the Autumn/Winter OCG Fashion Show must be held overseas, then Sapporo will have to wait until 1992.

But we need to consider the temperature issue in Sapporo next year. Should we consider it in 1992?

If we were to consider it, would the Sapporo event be postponed until August 1992?

After waiting for more than two years, even the most enthusiastic person would have lost all interest.

"Let the organizing committee decide this matter themselves."

Hideki Hanyu said that he does not intend to interfere with the work of the OGC.

From its inception in 1987 as TGC (without a name change) to its current status as OGC (now OGC) held overseas, the OGC organizing committee, having held eight events over four years, has become a very mature organization.

Although Cloud Fashion still dominates the event, the organizing committee is paying increasing attention to the influence and opinions of local and brand entities.

In this situation, even if Hideki Hanyu could, he would not forcibly interfere with the natural development of OGC unless absolutely necessary.

Finally, Hideki Hanyu said to Kindaichi.

"Remember to let me know when you get the results. I haven't paid attention to OGC in a long time, and I suddenly want to go to the show in person."

(End of this chapter)