America: My Time

Chapter 467 Doubts
Chapter 467 Doubts

"Heh, interesting. Everything is just as I suspected. Someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes. There's someone orchestrating things for Akina's family. I just didn't expect it to be Yoshiaki Tsutsumi of Seibu, but Mitsui Fudosan. It seems those guys at Mitsui have their own agenda. Fortunately, they're only targeting Akina's family. Perhaps they think this family is easier to control. What does Mitsui want to do? Are they going to have a showdown with Sumitomo? Are they trying to undermine Sumitomo?"

When Kuroki Hitomi told John what she knew, a hint of doubt appeared in John's eyes. Although someone was indeed plotting against Akina's greedy family, the target was beyond his expectations. The other party had no malicious intent; they were merely influencing Akina's family. No wonder the greedy family was so frantic—Mitsui Fudosan had given them a huge discount.

Since there was no malice, John decided to ignore it. It was indeed a good opportunity to make money, but whether this family could control their greed was another matter. John didn't want to dwell on it any longer.

"Alright, let's leave it at that. Let's pretend we know nothing and let these guys do whatever they want. As for the funding issue, let's cut it off. How it ends is up to their own fate. People need to take responsibility for their choices. They'll never understand their shortcomings without experiencing some lessons."

John didn't care whether Mitsui Fudosan had any schemes or intentions. Knowing who the other party was and that they meant no harm was enough. He would let everything else unfold as it would. If Sumitomo was so easily manipulated and its employees poached, it only showed how slow they were to react.

"Are you sure the Mandarin Oriental Group's development direction has shifted to Taiwan and Southeast Asia, and that its expansion in Japan has stopped?" Mitsui Fudosan and the other ambitious guys frowned, finding the Mandarin Oriental Group's change unbelievable. Just a moment ago, it was expanding on a large scale, and now it's like this. Is this just because of the Seibu Group's obstruction? Things are probably not that simple.

"Yes, the Mandarin Oriental Group has now completely halted its expansion in Japan. Not only the Mandarin Oriental Group, but all of John's other companies have also stopped their real estate expansion; they've all slowed down their growth. However, according to our statistics, the amount of real estate they control is not small. They own a considerable number of karaoke bars, nightclubs, and restaurants, not to mention the numerous apartments they provide for their employees in Tokyo. Their physical stores, like 7-Eleven, occupy a large portion of the convenience store market in Japan, and most of these are their own stores!"

"To stop so abruptly and so cleanly, do you think there are other reasons behind this? Is the shopping mall market in Japan saturated? Is the hotel market saturated?"

"We wouldn't say shopping malls are saturated, because that's not our area of ​​expertise. But hotels are definitely saturated. Mandarin Oriental Group has hotels in major cities, and they're all built by Mitsui Fudosan. We make a lot of profit from that alone. There are still some hotels that aren't finished yet, but they'll all be completed soon!"

"It's really a difficult decision. Based on John's past investment track record, we should indeed be cautious. However, according to official guidance, real estate is very promising and there shouldn't be any problems for a long time."

In fact, this situation wasn't limited to Mitsui Fudosan; Akio Morita of Sony was also hesitant. Although Sony had also ventured into real estate investment and reaped significant profits, John's reaction made him uneasy and wary. He didn't believe John's words that a mere obstruction from Seibu would make John give up. While Seibu was a good company, it was impossible for them to shake John's investment in Japan. Perhaps the rapid rise in Japanese land prices was the biggest problem.

The same investment now requires significantly more capital in Japan's rapidly rising land prices compared to other places. Moreover, with the appreciation of the yen, such an investment will lead to greater growth. This may be the real reason why John, the shrewd businessman, wants to withdraw from real estate investment in Japan. With the same amount of money, he can make more investments and own more properties in other major cities in Southeast Asia, and it will be easier to recover costs. Under these circumstances, everyone knows which choice to make.

While real estate in Japan may appreciate rapidly, it still takes a long time to recoup the investment unless the entire property is sold. In contrast, the investment pressure in other major Southeast Asian cities is much less than in Japan.

As a seasoned shrewd man, Akio Morita quickly figured out the underlying issue. Just as John had said before, he didn't lack investment projects or investment environments. There were projects where it was easier to recoup costs, so why choose Japan for investment? The appreciation of real estate was not the most important factor in deciding on an investment.

Mitsui Fudosan was already investigating John's real estate holdings in Japan, so how could Akio Morita be completely unprepared? He was naturally aware of the true situation of John's real estate holdings in Japan, and even more so of the fact that the Mandarin Oriental Group had already completed its layout in Japan, with hotels in major cities and resort destinations. It could be said that the Mandarin Oriental Group was now the largest hotel group in Japan, not only having its own hotels in major cities, but also a vast number of resort hotels that many other hotel groups did not have. Now, the Mandarin Oriental Group was expanding into Southeast Asia and Europe, which was both reasonable and expected, except that its investment in resort hotels was far greater than that in luxury hotels.

The more Akio Morita learned, the more he realized how impressive John's hotel business was, how amazing his shopping mall business was, and how profitable these resort hotels were. Given the current development of these resort hotels, they might be able to recoup their costs in two or three years. All of this depended on the promotion by Phoenix Group and Legendary Entertainment.

The promotion by two major media groups has provided an astonishing boost to these resort hotels. These hotels not only generate tremendous profits themselves but also stimulate local tourism projects, as can be seen from the surrounding areas of these resort hotels in Japan. This is why the Japanese government has been trying to win over John.

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show brought more attention and benefits to Japan and Tokyo. It was precisely because they saw the benefits that these guys put in so much effort. It's just a pity that the Mandarin Oriental Group has now begun to change its investment direction, which made Akio Morita sigh.

"Riko, what has that little fox John been up to all this time?"

"Mr. John is adjusting the development of Elite Agency and accelerating the development of Phoenix Group. TV Tokyo is speeding up the completion of its layout of television stations in South Korea. I heard that Phoenix Group and Legendary Entertainment's television stations will soon enter the era of satellite television, and they are all coping with this transformation. I also heard that TV Tokyo is going to establish a 24-hour animation channel to meet the needs of the global animation market."

"Didn't he do any research on the Japanese semiconductor industry, or understand the current state of the Japanese semiconductor industry?"

"It seems that Mr. John doesn't care about the situation of Neon Semiconductor at all. He only focuses on the entertainment industry. He even communicated with the creative team of Phoenix Comics. It's as if he came to Tokyo not for semiconductors, but for entertainment development. He didn't even know anything about Western Energy's oil refinery."

John's reaction was unusual to many. He didn't care how enormous the profits in the semiconductor industry were, nor how important Western Energy's oil refinery in Japan was. He was focused solely on his arrangements for the Japanese entertainment industry, which many found unacceptable and couldn't understand what John was up to.

In the eyes of these people, real industry is the best asset, while the entertainment industry is not worth paying attention to. However, John thinks differently. Perhaps this is the case in Japan now, where real industry is the best investment, but such development cannot last long. The bubble era will eventually pass, and when the bubble bursts, Japan will face a huge disaster. The appreciation of the yen and the surge in real estate prices will deal a devastating blow to Japan's real economy. In contrast, the entertainment industry will be minimally affected, and may even rise against the trend.

While others focused on investing in real estate and physical industries, John turned his attention to the entertainment industry, specifically those sectors unaffected by the bursting of the bubble economy. It was precisely because he understood how long the Japanese bubble economy could last that John made this unconventional move, investing more and making more arrangements when everyone else was pessimistic about the Japanese entertainment industry.

The Japanese record market is shrinking, the Japanese film industry is in a slump, and even television is not doing so well. There are hardly any promising opportunities in the Japanese entertainment industry. Yet, John has chosen to focus on it so much at this time, which is puzzling to many.

With the arrival of the bubble era, everyone was engrossed in frenzied enjoyment, and few people cared about the entertainment industry. The slump in the record market is the best explanation. Although Elite Records and Universal Music had decent profits, they were generally insignificant and far from being comparable to Phoenix Comics or Universal Studios.

(End of this chapter)