Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 14 Men's Favorite Things

People are happy when they are happy.

With this simple cooperation agreement with Masato Takeshita, Uno Noriyuki was almost invincible.

"Would you like to go to Ginza for a drink?"

Feeling a little unsatisfied, Uno Jixing tries to invite his younger brother to show him around some high-end membership venues to avoid embarrassment in the future.

"Okay, Senior Brother will make the arrangements."

Masato Takeshita nodded readily. He also wanted to criticize the extravagance of the Japanese upper class.

Maybe it was the first time they met, so Uno Jixing didn't do anything too fancy. He just found a few girls and drank some wine with them.

"Order whatever you like, and I'll pay for it tonight."

"Well, the second one in the middle."

Masato Takeshita prefers girls without makeup, so he didn't order those flashy ones. Instead, he ordered a girl with a bun, wearing a yellow floral dress, with fair skin and a pure face.

"Not bad, you have good taste. Huixiang is very popular in this store."

"The guest is exaggerating."

The girl is very professional. Even when ordered by a distinguished customer, she just smiles slightly, a real killer of boys.

"Want something to drink?"

Hostesses basically make money from commissions on drinks, so whenever there is an opportunity, these people will take the opportunity to sell their products.

"Well, a bottle of 82 Lafite."

Although Takeshita Masato doesn't like red wine, the 82 Lafite is so famous that he has to try it today as it's a rare opportunity.

"Okay, guest."

When she heard that it was 82 Lafite, the girl's eyes lit up and her smile became even sweeter. If she debuted in the entertainment industry with the image of a young and beautiful girl, she would definitely be able to seduce a group of innocent men.

"How is it? How does it taste?"

"Well, not my type."

"That's normal. How can French red wine be as delicious as our sake?"

Uno Kiyuki is a nationalist who is proud of everything Japanese. Now is the time to relax and naturally start to show his true self.

"That's right, sake is the best in the world. Don't you agree, Yukiko?"

"Yes, sake is the best."

The girl accompanying Ichiro Haneda responded to the sponsor, and there was no flaw in her expression.

"Good, that's right. Come on, give me a kiss."

"Oh, you are so bad."

The beautiful woman with dyed blonde hair showed an attitude of wanting to refuse but also wanting to.

Masato Takeshita did not join in, but he did not disturb the two people's revelry. Not to mention kissing the yen on the chest, he rarely even touched it with his hands.

He felt unfamiliar with all of this and instinctively didn't want to fit in.

Of course, because he felt comfortable having such a girl by his side, he was not stingy. Instead, he gave the most tips among the three.

Perhaps he noticed his junior's reservedness, so Uno Jixing didn't stay here for too long. In less than an hour, he dragged the two to a nearby izakaya.

Izakaya is definitely the soul of many Japanese office workers.

Many office workers who have been busy all day will choose to sit in an izakaya for a while. With a glass of beer and a portion of edamame, they can enjoy a bit of the world. It can soothe the souls of busy workers who are spinning like a top.

Many workers who need to vent their emotions will even visit more than a dozen izakayas in one night, drinking at one izakaya and going to the next until the next morning.

At this time, office workers will find a toilet or a similar place, take a quick shower, change their clothes, and then continue their busy work for the new day.

"How's it going? Do you feel better?"

"Yes, it is a bit uncomfortable."

He was very wary of hostesses and didn't want to have too much entanglement with them.

These people are too good at it, and it is easy for men to indulge in it. In the past, Japanese prime ministers had people who failed in this aspect, and he didn't want to have an accident himself.

"It's normal. Just go a few more times and it will be fine."

Ichiro Haneda carelessly broke open a bunch of edamame, his voice a little unclear.

"That's right. You'll get used to it after going there a few times. I was the same at the beginning, even worse than you. I was at a loss, like a piece of wood."

Uno Kiyuki also ate the edamame with gusto, and in order to take care of the feelings of his guest Masato Takeshita, he even did not hesitate to reveal his past embarrassing experiences.

Ichiro Haneda interrupted and responded: "Hey, me too."

After three rounds of wine, five flavors of food.

Uno Noriyuki, who was a little drunk, began to curse the senior leaders of the Ministry of Finance.

"The Finance Minister is an idiot. He cut interest rates in a few months and implemented financial liberalization reforms without giving banks like us time to prepare. He is a fool. Damn it!"

The impact of financial liberalization reforms on financial practitioners is unprecedented. Banks that once monopolized the Japanese market now find it increasingly difficult to do lending business.

"Also, the company's decision-makers are not good people. They actually thought of lending to unsecured individuals. Sooner or later, problems will arise. Once this kind of thing starts, it will sooner or later develop into lending to the unemployed."

Many times things are like this. They are good at the beginning, but soon the decision-making will be distorted due to greed, and even continue to develop in a downward direction.

The most typical case is the current Japanese bubble crisis.

After Japan signed the Plaza Accord, there were actually no major problems at first. The key was that the government opened up its financial sector too quickly.

If the pace had been slowed down and banks had been given enough time to transform, there would not have been the absurd situation of arbitrarily lending to individuals and all the funds pouring into the stock and property markets.

"That's right, they are all a bunch of idiots." Haneda Ichiro's eyes were blurry, and he followed his senior in scolding: "Why should we open up the financial market? Isn't it better to just keep it like this?"

When Ichiro Haneda graduated, the finance class was the most popular class. But after 1986, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, and lending to companies became increasingly difficult.

Although I know that even if I can't complete the task, Senior Uno will help me solve it.

But who doesn't want to be a hero?
Ichiro Haneda also has lofty ideals and does not want to transfer to another classroom in disgrace.

This was also the main reason why he insisted on staying in the Financing Department when Uno Noriyuki was about to transfer him.

He didn't want to be a deserter, he wanted to be a Showa man who stood tall and proud.

"Well, maybe there are some unavoidable reasons."

Masato Takeshita still wants to develop his business in the future, and since he is weak now, he does not plan to engage in keyboard politics.

The current Finance Minister, Takeshita Noboru, is the leader of Japan's most powerful political faction. Until 2000, he controlled the fate of Japanese politics behind the scenes.

If the black money scandal had not had such a huge impact, he would definitely have become the prime minister who would rule for a long time.

But there is no other way. In this era and even in the future, in Japanese society, if you don’t engage in black money, you can’t even think about standing at the top of the political stage.

Fukuda Keiji is a typical case. Whether he was running for prime minister against Kakuei Tanaka or Masayoshi Ohira, he was ultimately defeated by the shell-shrinking offensive.

(End of this chapter)