Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 270 Not Leaving Anything

Chapter 270 Not Leaving Anything
The year is 1991, and the Japanese New Year has just ended.

Just as people were still immersed in the good times of the holidays, Japan's real estate market began to decline quietly.

"Alas, an era has ended."

Masato Takeshita put down the newspaper in his hand which said that real estate prices had fallen by 2% today, and stood by the window looking down.

I wonder how many people will fall from a height and scatter the flowers of life in a month.

However, the Japanese people have not discovered anything from it at the moment.

Just like last year's stock market, everyone thought it was a short-term technical adjustment.

Masato Takeshita's melancholy did not last long, as Secretary-General Keiko Sakai soon broke it all.

"President, President Kobayashi of Matsumoto Manufacturing is already waiting outside the office, what do you think?"

"Well, let him in."

Masato Takeshita put away his sentimental emotions and once again became a decisive and ruthless head of a large company.

"Yes!"

Keiko Sakai bowed slightly and slowly left the office.

Less than a minute later, he returned with Kobayashi Hiroaki.

"Good morning, President!"

"Well, sit down."

"Yes!"

Kobayashi Hiroaki had just sat down when Sakai Keiko had already instructed her subordinates to serve a pot of good tea.

After the two of them drank a few cups of hot tea, the young man asked simply, "Tell me, what do you want to talk to me about today?"

Kobayashi Hiroaki was used to his president's directness and quickly organized his words.

"Yes, that's right, President."

"Our travel luggage competitors have all expanded production at their factories."

"There's a lot of disagreement within the company. Some want to expand production, while others want to be more conservative."

Masato Takeshita did not respond directly, but asked: "What about you? What do you think?"

Kobayashi Hiroaki responded in confusion, "My thoughts? I'm not sure myself. I always feel that expanding production is not appropriate, and maintaining the status quo is even more inappropriate."

The president of Matsumoto Manufacturing wanted to support the expansion of production, but subconsciously thought that this was wrong.

His mind was in a state of confusion and he longed for guidance from his own guild master.

"Neither is appropriate."

Masato Takeshita knew that he was a subordinate who did not have much of his own opinion, so he did not beat around the bush and gave orders directly.

"The Japanese economy has peaked and will soon start a downward cycle. Matsumoto Manufacturing's factories in Japan will produce more Linglong brand suitcases in the future."

"As for the most high-end elegant luggage, we will reduce the scale by 5% this year."

Japan is currently a major luxury goods country, accounting for 70% of the world's transactions.

After the economic collapse, the sales of luxury goods will continue to decline year after year. This year, cutting the production of high-end elegant luggage by 5% will be enough to cope with the shrinking Japanese market.

"Hi!"

Kobayashi Hiroaki did not expect that his own chairman was so pessimistic about the Japanese economy.

While other companies were expanding their production scale, our company was reducing it.

However, the authority he had established over a long period of time had made him accustomed to obeying Masato Takeshita's orders.

Since our president said so, there must be a reason behind it.

At this moment, Masato Takeshita suddenly thought of it.

Every February, our factory recruits high school and vocational high school graduates.

"Also, this year's factory recruitment will be as minimal as possible, requiring only those who meet the factory's basic requirements."

Japan's job collapse occurred in 1993, so even if Matsumoto Manufacturing hires fewer people, it will not affect this year's job market.

It would be better to suspend recruitment first and then hire more people in 1993.

In this way, Xinghai Group's sense of social responsibility can be better demonstrated and it will be easier to win social reputation.

"Hi!"

Kobayashi Hiroaki picked up his notebook again and wrote down quickly, like a primary school student in front of his class teacher.

“As for food and beverage factories, they are still developing at the most aggressive pace.”

"We must take advantage of the giants' inattention and develop the energy drink industry to a position that even the giants cannot defeat."

Pepsi and Coca-Cola will definitely be in trouble.

After all, it’s a market worth tens of billions of dollars every year, and no beverage giant would not be jealous.

But as long as Matsumoto Manufacturing does well, it can rely on its first-mover advantage and sponsorship of various niche sports.

It can occupy the majority of the market just like Red Bull in its previous life.

"Please rest assured, President. The two Cokes will not be our opponents."

Kobayashi Hiroaki has great faith in Chambers' marketing capabilities and believes that with him, the company's market share in the United States will never be second.

As for the Japanese domestic market, Matsumoto Manufacturing has already firmly occupied it through various means, and latecomers will have no hope.

Only in the European market, perhaps feeling the pulsating competitive pressure, Austrian Red Bull began to expand abroad.

Currently in the German-speaking areas of Germany and Switzerland, its sales volume is even higher than that of Pulse.

But in general, Pulse still dominates the European energy drink market.

Because apart from Germany and Switzerland, only Pulse is sold in other European countries.

"Well, it's good to have confidence, but you can't take it lightly."

"The two cola brands have been working in the beverage market for countless years. If we are not careful, we will lose our first-mover advantage."

Austrian Red Bull will be a formidable competitor in the future, but is currently relatively weak.

Relatively speaking, the danger of two colas is right in front of us.

Except for the two Cokes, of course.

Suntory, a local Japanese company, is also a competitor of varying sizes.

However, due to Matsumoto Manufacturing's first-mover advantage and financial advantages, the development of Suntory's energy drinks was very limited.

This is also related to Suntory's current development direction.

Suntory's main goal now is to enter the more profitable wine and beverage industry. As for the insufficient investment in the beverage market, it basically has a "three-shot" mentality.

"Yes, understand!"

After solving the problem created by Matsumoto, Masato Takeshita called Lou Gerstner to his office.

"Japanese real estate has begun to fall, and it is expected that the stock market story of last year will repeat itself. The production quantity of English and Japanese mobile phones must be adjusted flexibly."

Xinghai mobile phone currently only has two languages - English and Japanese, and it is very simple to adjust.

The general principle is to reduce the number of mobile phones that can send text messages in Japanese and increase the production of mobile phones that can only send text messages in English.

"President, rest assured, I have always been concerned about economic issues."

Today's mobile phones are luxury items that only a few people buy.

Once the economic situation is bad, the sales of mobile phones will be greatly reduced.

Unless technology advances and reduces the cost of mobile phone production.

If the cost becomes a few hundred dollars, or even tens of dollars, the impact of the economic crisis on mobile phone sales will become very small.

The Asian financial crisis, the Nasdaq dot-com bubble, and the global subprime mortgage crisis in 08 all failed to affect mobile phone sales.

"Ah That's good."

At this time, Gerstner suddenly asked: "The Japanese economy has reached its peak. Will land prices also enter a downward cycle soon?"

"Obviously, it's going to fall by at least half. So, do you have any ideas?"

"Yeah. What I mean is that the company should hold off on purchasing industrial land until a few years later."

"That's not necessary. Our prices are already very cheap, and we can't affect the company's development just to save money."

"But we can't be too wasteful. Factory land can be purchased once a year."

The most important thing for Xinghai Semiconductor right now is to expand its production capacity, rather than saving the cost of purchasing industrial land.

Always remember who is the sesame and who is the watermelon.

"Yes, I understand."

Lou Gerstner understood this as well; he simply wanted to save money by renting first and then buying. Xinghai Semiconductor was spending too much, and he couldn't stand the fact that its profits were consistently negative.

"But this way, it will be easy for other land companies to take advantage of us and control us, right?"

Lou Gerstner was worried that using this method would be detrimental to the expansion of the factory.

Because as long as a large company like Xinghai Group invests, there will inevitably be other land companies buying land around the factory.

Then when the factory wants to expand, we will sell it to you at a high price.

"Haha, don't worry about it. We might be able to get the land at a lower price when the time comes."

This wave of real estate collapse in Japan will cause countless companies to go bankrupt.

If a company really buys too much land around Xinghai Group, the situation will be absolutely terrible in a few years.

"Ah That's good."

There was not much to do at Xinghai Semiconductor, so Lou Gerstner quickly left in a car.

After watching him leave, Masato Takeshita gave instructions to Keiko Sakai again.

"Let's go to Xinghai Investment."

"Hi!"

Xinghai Investment is just downstairs from the Xinghai Group headquarters, and the two arrived there in less than 5 minutes.

"Hello, President!"

"Ah hello."

"Good afternoon, President!"

"Well, good afternoon."

After greeting the employees with a smile, Masato Takeshita went straight to Shinji Kikuno's office.

"I wonder if Kamoto-san told you about selling war-related stocks at the end of the year."

Masato Takeshita went straight to the point without any nonsense.

"The president has repeatedly instructed us that the company is dealing with this tonight."

Naturally, Kamoto Takamasa would not hide such a big thing.

As early as the end of the banquet that day, he immediately called Shinji Kikuno and Masao Nagasawa.

He also invited the two of them to a private club that evening to explain the matter in more detail to prevent any mistakes.

"That's right, let's complete the deal as soon as possible. We won't make a single cent."

"Understood. Please rest assured, President."

Just when Masato Takeshita was handling the company's business in an orderly manner, Japanese real estate began to fall continuously.

But just like last year, what was written in the newspapers were all technical adjustments.

Japan's land resources are limited, and real estate is a market with infinite growth.

The current decline is just accumulating momentum for future growth.

Soon, Japan's land prices will see a new round of increases.

"Oh, this happened once last year, no one will be fooled again this year."

In the Xinghai Investment office, President Takashi Yoshimoto threw down the newspaper with disdain.

"That's not necessarily true. There is never a shortage of adventurers in this world."

The only lesson humanity has learned from history is that humanity never remembers lessons.

There are far more fools than people think.

"Indeed, last year there were many people who bought at the bottom halfway up the mountain, and I expect there will be no fewer this year."

Jia Benlong was thinking about the situation after the stock market crash last year and felt that his previous thoughts were indeed a bit ridiculous.

There will always be someone to take over at any time.

"Yes, humans are the product of greed. I occasionally have impulsive thoughts."

"Fortunately, we have the president."

Having said that, Kikuno Shinji couldn't help but clasped his hands together and bowed respectfully.

In his mind, his own president is a god on earth.

"Yes, fortunately we have the president here."

Takamasa Yoshimoto also admires him, but he may not have been directly involved in the stock market that much, so he is not as crazy as Shinji Kikuno.

The collapse of the property market quickly brought down those highly leveraged real estate players.

Many real estate tycoons who used to spend money lavishly became penniless and even heavily in debt.

In Marunouchi, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, a middle-aged man in a high-end suit sat slovenly and decadently on the rooftop.

"Such nice weather is really suitable for passing away like cherry blossoms."

The middle-aged man held a cigarette in his left hand, looked up at the blue sky, and thought alone.

At this moment, on the rooftop, accompanied only by the wind, there was a harsh sound of a door opening.

A young man who was less than 30 years old walked to the edge of the rooftop with numb steps and staggering steps.

"Would you like one?"

The middle-aged man saw someone coming and asked out of sympathy.

"Thank you!"

The young man's voice was dry and hoarse, as if he hadn't had water for two days.

"Cough cough..."

The young man obviously had never smoked before and let out a series of coughing sounds.

But even so, he still mechanically put the cigarette in his mouth.

Take a deep breath, then cough.

Nothing matters anymore, nothing has any meaning anymore.

"Brother, did you also go bankrupt investing in real estate?"

The young man did not respond, his expression numb and empty.

"It seems so. Me too. I'm in so much debt that I have to buy a huge suicide insurance policy."

"I hope I can pay back the money and have enough left over to support my wife and children."

The middle-aged man seemed to be venting his fear, or reminiscing about the good old days. He didn't care whether the other person cared or not, and just kept talking to himself.

But soon, the middle-aged man shut his mouth.

Because just when he was about to say something, the young man had turned into a bright red flower of hell.

War can keep people young forever, and so can stock market crashes.

The young man's departure made the middle-aged man's heart tremble. He stretched out his hand, but soon fell down with weakness.

"That's good, at least I have someone to accompany me on the road."

After saying that, the middle-aged man looked up in the direction of his home again, his eyes full of nostalgia.

Then there was a muffled "bang" sound, and the rooftop was once again left with only traces of wind.

Empty, as if nothing had happened.

The bloody scene downstairs did not frighten the Tokyo citizens walking by.

They simply chose to bypass it numbly, as if they saw a pile of garbage.

Because in recent days, we have witnessed too many similar tragedies nearby.

No matter how sympathetic you are, your tears have basically dried up.