African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1620 Anchorage Airport
East Africa has been a sporting powerhouse since the late 19th century, but before 1910, East Africa was not enthusiastic about the development of sports, the sports industry was not mature, and athletes rarely appeared on the international stage.

The change began in the 1920s, when East Africa began to emerge as a sporting powerhouse in the world.

Of course, the background of the rise of sports in East Africa is also very subtle. The widespread attention that modern sports have received from the world is not something that happened overnight, but a gradual process. However, the key turning point occurred from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century.

In 1896, the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens. Although small in scale, it revived the concept of an international sporting event and marked the first milestone in the globalization of sports.

In other words, the rise of sports in East Africa coincided with the rise of sports worldwide. However, at the end of the 19th century, the focus on sports in various countries was still limited to domestic affairs and the elite class.

The early 20th century was a pivotal period for the popularization and entertainment of sports, thanks to technological advancements such as newsreels shown in cinemas, which allowed people to witness clips of major sporting events.

Alternatively, radio and television broadcast live events such as boxing matches, baseball world championships, and football cup finals, allowing millions or even tens of millions of people to "listen" to a game simultaneously, greatly enhancing the immediacy and public participation in sports.

It is precisely because of this that sports have gained a wide "audience" around the world and have become an important tool for political propaganda.

The German government has clearly recognized this, which is why it actively organizes international sporting events to promote and glorify Germany.

Ma Xuesen said, "During the Winter Olympics, my family stayed in front of the radio to listen to the competition. I hope our Alaskan athletes will achieve even better results at this year's Summer Olympics."

Radios are now an essential household appliance in almost every home in East Africa, including Alaska, where they have been widely adopted by most families.

This is unique among the East African colonies; even East Kalimantan, with its larger population, cannot achieve this.

The reason is simple: Alaska developed earlier, even earlier than the East African mainland. In contrast, colonies like East Kalimantan developed later, and many immigrants were newcomers. These first-generation immigrants generally did not have much savings and were more frugal, so they could not spend as freely as the people in the mainland and Alaska.

……

Behind the tour group, a short guy was also listening intently to the conversation between the tour guide and the tourists, muttering a few words under his breath before quietly walking away.

He arrived at an apartment in Anchorage, a few newspapers tucked under his arm, walked up the stairs, knocked on the door, and when the door opened, a head popped out.

This guy also had a shifty look on his face. He opened the door wide, let the person in, and asked, "Fujino, why are you more than ten minutes late today?"

The man named Fujino replied nonchalantly, "Keishita-kun, I just ran into an East African tour group on the street, and I overheard them chatting with their tour guide for a while."

Fujino's nonchalant attitude displeased Yasuji Keishita, who reprimanded him sternly, "You idiot, I thought you'd discovered some important information, but you've come to do this kind of pointless thing."

“If you had come back any later, I might have even reported to my superiors that you had been arrested in East Africa!”

Fujino was completely oblivious to the reprimand from Yasuji Keishita. He said, "Keishita-kun is making a mountain out of a molehill. Although our work is shady, everyone knows that intelligence work in Alaska is a very easy job."

"Having been here for so many years, we have learned quite a bit about the Alaskan government. These guys are a bunch of incompetent fools, not worth the effort of our Great Japanese Empire."

In the North Pacific region, Japanese espionage activities were rampant, with various Japanese intelligence organizations operating extensively in various countries and regions, including the Far Eastern Empire, the United States, the Soviet Union, Canada, and Alaska.

Japan's main espionage activities were conducted in three countries: the Far Eastern Empire, the United States, and the Soviet Union.

Japan certainly attached great importance to Alaska in East Africa and carried out intelligence work there. However, Japanese intelligence agencies soon discovered that the East Africans in Alaska did not care about, or rather, had no awareness of, the need to carry out secret work in the area.

Therefore, Japan had virtually no access to intelligence in Alaska, making it a "retirement home" in the eyes of Japanese intelligence agencies. In this very relaxed environment, Japanese intelligence personnel in Alaska were prone to letting their guard down.

Fujino was clearly a seasoned veteran; he had lived in Alaska for many years, so he was lax in his work and just drifted through each day. On the other hand, Yasuji Keishita had only been here for a short time, and his enthusiasm had not been completely extinguished, though it had been worn away quite a bit.

This can be seen from the clues that Fujino knocked on the door earlier. There was no code, no observation, and when Keishita Yasuji let Fujino in again, he did not show the necessary vigilance at all.

Sure enough, after being rebuked by Fujino, the team leader, Anji Keishita, said helplessly, "I simply can't believe how much the Empire's personnel in Alaska have degenerated. Just as you said, our work is indeed not difficult at all."

He slumped onto the sofa, opened a bottle of beer and started drinking, looking utterly dejected.

Fujino, far from being ashamed, smiled with pride and said, "Keishita-kun, isn't this kind of life good? Although we can't make any great contributions to the Empire, we are still contributing to it by collecting various intelligence from Alaska and then summarizing it back to the mainland."

"So our work is still meaningful. Under that premise, it's perfectly fine to relax and enjoy life."

"Such a good job is probably only available to us; others don't have this kind of treatment."

Kashiwa Yasuji was speechless at Fujino's old tricks, but he didn't say anything to refute it. Instead, he asked, "You just said you were listening to East Africans talking. What were they saying? Why are you so interested?"

From the Japanese perspective, Alaskans are also East Africans, so there is no difference between the two.

Fujino said, "It's nothing, just the situation of the Winter Olympics in Germany. Alaska won one silver and one bronze medal representing East Africa this time, and an East African even shamelessly said that they would do very well at the Berlin Olympics this year."

Kashita Anji said with some disdain, "This so-called Winter Olympics has no real value. If our Great Japanese Empire participated, we could easily win a few gold medals. It's astonishing that a country like East Africa can't even win a single gold medal. Their blood has indeed been polluted by backward nations."

Japan didn't even get the chance to participate in the German Winter Olympics. It wasn't that Japan didn't want to participate; in fact, Japan was very eager to participate. However, the Western world rejected Japan's request due to the Far East issue. Fujino was also somewhat indignant about this, saying, "Those European countries are simply ungrateful. They're probably afraid that our Great Japanese Empire's performance at the Winter Olympics will be too outstanding, after all, the Empire is very good at these kinds of ice and snow sports."

"If we participate, we can definitely wash away the shame of 1928. After all, the rules of the Winter Olympics are unfavorable to us, as they are mostly events that Europeans participate in. As long as we take it seriously, we can achieve good results."

When Fujino talks about the so-called humiliation of 1928, he is referring to the previous Winter Olympics in Switzerland, which was Japan's first time participating, and Japan gained nothing.

The reason why Fujino remembers the Winter Olympics, a relatively obscure international sporting event, so clearly is because he has lived in Alaska for the past few years. As a completely high-latitude region, Alaska has a great passion for winter sports, and it also pays a lot of attention to the Winter Olympics, the international event for winter sports.

Alaska has represented East Africa in the first Winter Olympics in France, the second in Switzerland, and the current one in Germany, although it did not win a medal in the first two.

However, the enthusiasm of the Alaskan people for the Winter Olympics has never waned and has continued to grow over time. During the second Winter Olympics in Switzerland, the Alaskan news media showed great interest in the athletes from the region.

Fujino had already been in Alaska for some time at the time, and the second Winter Olympics was the first time a Japanese athlete had competed, which is why he had such a clear memory of the second Winter Olympics in Switzerland.

As for why Fujino was dissatisfied with the athletes from his own country at the second Winter Olympics, it was due to the comparison with Alaska. Although Alaska did not win any medals that year, its rankings in many events were quite good, far surpassing those of Japan.

Alaska's immigrants mostly came from the Far Eastern Empire, and Alaska performed better than Japan. Does this mean that the Far Eastern Empire had stronger physical fitness than Japan?
Clearly, this was an unacceptable outcome for the Japanese in the 20th century.

Fujino harbored resentment over this, and at the Berlin Winter Olympics, Alaska achieved a silver and a bronze medal, while Japan didn't even qualify for the Games, which made him extremely dissatisfied.

He stubbornly said, "Alaska's results this time were entirely due to cheating. We in Japan also have Hokkaido, which is very suitable for developing winter sports, and the national quality is even better."

"Without the obstruction of the Western world, we can definitely achieve better results than in East Africa."

Yasuji Keishita agreed with Fujino's words, even though they themselves knew very little about winter sports.

"Alright, this Winter Olympics doesn't mean anything. At this year's Berlin Olympics, we can compete on the same stage with Western countries and show them the strong physique of the Yamato people."

As he spoke, Anji Kishita waved his fist, which, combined with his childish expression and short stature, made him look quite comical.

Of course, Yasuji Keishita's "prediction" is not impossible to come true. As a great power, Japan's current sports development ranks among the top in the world. At the Berlin Olympics, Japan achieved an excellent result of eighth place in the world in terms of medal count, winning eighteen medals, including six gold medals.

Even if Japan's performance declined in this timeline, it's impossible for them to have achieved nothing at all.

At that moment, Yasuji Keishita suddenly remembered something and said to Fujino, "Let's not talk about the Olympics now. I almost forgot, buy today's newspaper. Is there any noteworthy information in it?"

Fujino was suddenly interrupted by Keishita Anji, and he remembered their identities. He put down the newspaper and said to Keishita Anji, "I brought the newspapers back, but I haven't read them yet. After all, Alaska is quite cold."

Ignoring his explanation, Yasuji Kishita laid the newspaper out on the table as usual and quickly scanned the day's news.

Fujino also picked up a newspaper and started reading it with his legs crossed. Unlike Yasuji Keishita, Fujino read the newspaper mainly to relieve boredom. In this era, reading newspapers was also an important form of leisure.

Just as Anji Keishita was searching for and verifying various pieces of information, Fujino suddenly spoke up: "Keishita-kun, I think there's an important news item in this newspaper. Take a look."

As expected, Xi Xia Anji was alarmed and said, "Quickly, let me see it!"

Fujino handed the newspaper to Yasuji Keishita, then pointed to a headline in a news section and said, "It seems to say that Anchorage is going to build an airport. I think this is definitely a very useful piece of information for the Empire."

Xi Xia Anji was also very excited at this moment. He carefully read the news. The meaning of the article was very simple: East Africa planned to build a large airport in Anchorage and make it a core hub in the North Pacific region.

Anchorage Airport was one of the world's three most famous cargo airports in its previous life, thanks to its excellent location.

Anchorage was once located at the crossroads of the Arctic Circle routes in major global aviation markets, making it a natural and irreplaceable "refueling station" and "transfer station".

The route that Anchorage is on is the shortest path connecting Asia and the east coast of North America. After all, the Earth is a sphere, so the shortest path does not cross the central Pacific Ocean, but bends northward, passing through Alaska and the Arctic region. Anchorage is located near the midpoint of this route.

Of course, Anchorage's status as one of the world's three major cargo airports was a glorious achievement of its previous life, and the rise of Anchorage's aviation industry in its previous life occurred after the 20s.

During World War II, the United States built a large amount of infrastructure in Anchorage, as well as runways suitable for large military take-offs, which became one of the important foundations for Anchorage's rise.

There is no doubt that if a large airport were to be built in Anchorage, East Africa, it would have extremely high military and strategic value.

Both Yasuji Keishita and Fujino were well aware of this. Yasuji Keishita said, "If this airport is built, it will become the shipping center for East Africa in the North Pacific. If they use it for military purposes, Anchorage Airport may pose a threat to the Empire."

“The distance from Anchorage to the Imperial mainland is not far. If military aircraft from East Africa take off from here, they can carry out military missions such as reconnaissance and bombing against the Empire. Therefore, we must report this intelligence to the Empire so that the Empire will pay more attention to Anchorage.”

In fact, Anchorage Airport serves a purpose beyond that. If it were used for military purposes, East Africa could use it as a base to deter the Soviet Union, Japan, the Far Eastern Empire, Canada, and the United States.

(End of this chapter)