Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 123 Shadows Under the Bubble
“Wow, that’s really well said.”

Nobuyuki Saito's blood boiled as he heard this, and he looked at Masato Takeshita on the stage excitedly.

"Yes, he is indeed a genius that appears only once in a thousand years."

Tomokazu Furukawa also clapped his hands vigorously, firmly believing that he would be able to promote progress for the entire world as the president said.

After the applause subsided for a while, Saito Nobuyuki asked expectantly, "Furukawa-san, which department are you going to join?"

"I, I'm going to join the chip department. Other departments are equally interesting, but I really prefer to invent things that don't exist in the world yet."

Tomokazu Furukawa is a similar person to Fujio Masuoka. The reason he joined Star Ocean Semiconductor is because the company's president is an inventor.

He felt that only by working with such an inventor president could he achieve better growth.

"It's actually a new product. It really suits your personality. I decided to go into the chip foundry industry. I'm not as smart as you, nor as hardworking as you. I think a wafer factory that tests stability is more suitable for me."

In the 20s, mainframes still dominated the computer industry, and great emphasis was placed on the stability of chip quality.

Japanese chips have a shelf life of more than 25 years, which is very suitable for mainframes.

This is also the key to Japan's storage industry's victory over the United States.

In fact, the reason why Japan is so stable and sophisticated is due to the malice of the United States.

1973 was a very important time point.

This year, the Fourth Middle East War broke out.

The Middle Eastern countries immediately used oil as a weapon and imposed a global embargo.

Only those countries that condemn Israel can become friendly countries in the Middle East and win the required share of oil.

Japan is very dependent on oil, but the United States does not allow Japan to negotiate peace with Middle Eastern countries, so the country is facing collapse.

On the other hand, Gao Mu, who is good at catching people, doesn't care about that. He immediately follows the instructions of the Middle Eastern country, and even does it more strictly than the Middle Eastern country requires.

Takagi's prompt decision brought another great development opportunity to South Korea.

Middle Eastern countries have contracted a large number of infrastructure projects to Koreans.

When Japan saw that Takagi did not receive any sanctions at all, it also chose to stab him in the back.

In the end, Uncle Sam verbally forgave Kakuei Tanaka for choosing to backstab him, but he had already made another note in his little notebook.

The reason why Bungeishunju reported so much gossip about the prime minister in the past few years was because it was guided by some unspeakable force.

The United States really can't tolerate this troublemaker and must force him to step down.

Although Japan's backstab was eventually forgiven by the Middle East, the price had already been paid.

Coupled with the three-fold increase in oil prices, Japan faced serious economic difficulties.

Faced with a difficult situation, Japanese companies can only work hard to improve their management level, enhance production efficiency and reduce waste in production.

The effect was obvious. Japan quickly emerged from the crisis and gained an advantage in the subsequent competition.

When producing the same product, my loss is only 1%, while yours is 5% or even 10%.

How can you, America, compare with me?
It can be said that watching Japan gradually collapse at that time led to the failure of American companies in competition today.

The world is a cycle.

"Wafer foundry sounds good, too. I think it makes a lot of sense. The cost of wafer fabs is getting higher and higher, and sooner or later they will move to a decentralized manufacturing model."

Tomokazu Furukawa was also very happy about his friend's choice.

Wafer foundry is indeed not as important as the chip industry, but it also tests R&D capabilities.

Unlike tape recorders and computer peripherals, you can tell at first glance that they lack technical content.

These two products are more about creative thinking rather than R&D capabilities. More importantly, chips and wafer fabs are closely related, and the two may continue to cooperate in the future.

"I think so too. When the time comes, one of us will do research and development while the other one will do production. With our two swords combined, we will be invincible."

"Well, invincible."

Tomokazu Furukawa solemnly bumped fists with his friend and decided to start a career to make his life worthwhile.

Nobuyuki Saito and Tomokazu Furukawa were full of enthusiasm, as were Ryoma Jochi and Taro Tojo.

However, the two of them are not so ambitious and would rather work in the hardware industry.

"Sangzhi-san, have you decided to join the computer peripherals department?"

"Well, I think developing a motherboard must be interesting." Shang Zhilongma nodded, then raised his head and asked back: "What about you?"

"I?"

Taro Tojo's eyes were a little confused, and after a moment he responded at a loss.

"I don't really know what I want to do, but I want to try the radio department first."

Taro Tojo experienced an earthquake when he was a child, and something unfortunate happened to his grandmother.

At a very young age, I learned for the first time what death is.

Taro Tojo wanted to develop a better disaster emergency radio to save those unfortunate people.

But the disaster emergency radio looked very simple, and he was unwilling to let his talent go to waste.

"The radio department is indeed simple, but it also involves a lot of knowledge." Shang Zhilongma saw his friend's confusion and continued to comfort him with a smile: "For example, how to better project the signal, how to make it lighter and more cost-effective."

“The current disaster emergency radios are still too expensive for poor families.”

Japan's bubble era was an era of wealthy people and investors.

They made a lot of money through the stock market and real estate market, and then stopped treating the money as money and squandered it everywhere, causing prices in Japan to continue to rise.

Ordinary people who worked quietly did not enjoy the dividends of the bubble era at all, but instead had to bear the side effects of the bubble.

Whether it is the rise in food prices or the increase in rent, the cost of living for ordinary people has increased.

After the Japanese bubble burst, there was a special book with statistics showing that the overall consumption index of Japanese people did not increase much during the bubble era.

It can be seen that the glory of the bubble is nothing more than transferring money from the poor to the rich.

But this is not the most terrible thing. The most terrible consequence of the bubble era is the change in social atmosphere.

People no longer believe that success can be achieved through hard work.

A lot of money can be made by simply taking shortcuts, while those who work hard most of the time get nothing.

The same is true for enterprises. Those that set up investment and financial management departments are thriving.

Companies that continue to produce honestly have no choice but to withdraw from the market due to the continuous increase in costs.

This speculative trend seriously dampened the Japanese people's spirit of struggle and ultimately harmed the country's development potential.

This is also the biggest reason why Japan's drastic interest rate hikes and cuts in the 70s did not cause serious consequences, but the same policy this time caused it to fail.

In this world, people are always the most important.

This is true whether in times of war or in periods of economic development.

Japan was able to become the second largest capitalist economic power after the war thanks to the efforts of one generation.

The lost decades after Japan's bubble were because many people no longer had confidence.

(End of this chapter)