America: My Time

Chapter 887 The Pain Caused by Foam
Chapter 857 The Pain Caused by Bubbles
"What a bunch of old foxes! These guys are unwilling to take the initiative and just want to sit back and wait for the benefits to come to them. It seems they've got me cornered. Toyota, Mitsui, Sanwa, even those bastards in the government think I'm easy to bully." Akio Morita was incredibly agitated at this moment. After all, Sony's situation was indeed very difficult. The losses in real estate had severely damaged the once-wealthy Sony. Even with the internet cafe alliance and the game company, there was still no possibility of making a profit.

"Is that little fox John still not making any moves, and is still pushing for the expansion of 7-Eleven convenience stores?"

"Yes, there haven't been any other actions besides that. However, there have been some changes in the entertainment industry these past few days. Someone is pushing for some arrangements, but they're doing it very well, so no one can find out the details!" Riko quickly mentioned the changes in the entertainment industry. Although she suspected that someone was preparing a honey trap, she couldn't say it out loud. After all, if she guessed wrong, there would be trouble. In this situation, it was good to give a timely reminder, but the less she said, the less likely she was to make a mistake.

"So that's it. It seems those guys are up to something again. No wonder Toyota is so calm; they want to get rid of us and do it themselves, trying to forge a relationship with that little fox, John." In an instant, Akio Morita understood what had happened and the scheme behind it all. However, he wasn't just thinking about Toyota; he was also considering Mitsui and the others. Even the banks that did business with John were involved. Given the current situation, it wasn't impossible for them to be anxious.

When he understood everything, Akio Morita's mood grew even heavier. Using a beautiful woman as a weapon was a perfectly normal tactic in Japan. Oh, now it should be called using beautiful female escorts. He just didn't know what methods these guys had prepared, or how they would get John involved. Most importantly, once these guys realized John had no intention of settling scores, they all felt relieved and could make their move. So, the situation was about to change.

"Riko, do you remember the targets those guys chose back then? With your understanding of the entertainment industry, you should have heard about these things, right? After all, there are no secrets in this circle." At this moment, Akio Morita turned his gaze to Riko, hoping to get an answer from her.

Riko smiled wryly and said, "There were indeed some rumors at the time, but none of them were confirmed. I only heard rumors about two people: Rie Miyazawa and Noriko Sakai, because they were the easiest to control. As for the other candidates, I don't know. It seems that they haven't entered the circle. Only they themselves know who they are."

That's just how Japan is; they don't take such things seriously at all. Just as Riko said, Rie Miyazawa has a greedy mother. As long as you give her enough money, it's not a problem. And everyone in the industry knows that. Noriko Sakai's problem is a family issue; it's not difficult to control her.

Akio Morita was already quite satisfied that Riko knew about these two candidates, proving that she had done her research and hadn't been careless. However, Akio Morita didn't intend to stop it; he knew it was impossible and beyond his control. He only asked to understand Riko's attitude towards the matter.

Akio Morita doesn't want Riko to give orders for everything. He wants initiative, because only in this way can Riko prove her ability and continue to follow him. Otherwise, she will eventually be abandoned. This is the cold-bloodedness of Akio Morita. To him, Riko is just a tool, a tool that can be used.

Riko breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Akio Morita nod in approval. Luckily, she had made preparations, otherwise this would have been a real problem. She knew how cold-blooded Akio Morita was; a woman like her was nothing to him. If it weren't for her abilities and her relationship with Naoko, she would probably have been abandoned long ago.

Does she regret it? Yes, she has, but it's too late now. Riko doesn't even dare to think about leaving. She still hopes to get more benefits from Akio Morita so that she can have a peaceful old age instead of a miserable one. After all, she has seen far too many of her predecessors meet tragic ends.

Although Riko didn't understand why Akio Morita was unwilling to see John, she knew there must be reasons she couldn't fathom. Therefore, she didn't try to persuade him, but instead remained silently waiting for his decision. While Sony's condition wasn't ideal, even a weakened giant is still formidable; no matter how frail Sony was, she couldn't comment on him. Akio Morita could dismiss her with a single word.

With the bursting of the real estate bubble, Riko has also been affected to some extent. After all, the value of her own house has also depreciated, and houses are a considerable amount of wealth for people like her. So this has caused a significant reduction in her wealth. Fortunately, she did not invest in the stock market or the real estate market, otherwise it would have been even worse!
Of course, there are many people in worse situations than Riko. The environment in Japan is getting worse and worse, and Riko doesn't want to be abandoned by Akio Morita at this time, as that would be a disaster for her. So she needs to work hard.

“Riko, go and find out more. As long as they have ideas and take action, word will get out. See who's behind this. Two people alone are definitely not normal. You know how cunning those guys are. I need to know more. You don't have much time. I believe it won't be long before someone can't hold back and makes a move. After all, the authorities have set an example. They can't just sit idly by. Once they make a move, something will definitely slip up!” Riko was in a difficult position. This kind of thing was hard to investigate. If a big shot was involved, they would be very secretive, or perhaps not even looking within the industry. After all, Japan was currently in a real estate bubble crisis, affecting too many people, especially students. Compensation dating had always been prevalent in Japan. As long as the money was right, nothing was impossible. How could she possibly find out?

Seeing Riko's troubled expression, Akio Morita didn't feel anything was wrong. He simply said, "You only need to understand the situation in the industry. No matter how hard you try, it won't help. Japan is so big, they have plenty of ways to do things. I only need to understand the situation in the industry."

Sony has now had to pay attention to the record industry. After all, with the bursting of the Japanese real estate bubble, consumption patterns have changed. High-end hotels and entertainment venues in Tokyo have gone bankrupt one by one because they simply couldn't survive. There weren't many people spending money, which allowed the record industry to recover.

Of course, the television industry will gradually enter a good period, but it hasn't been reflected yet because advertising business has been affected. Everyone is short of money, so advertising naturally has to be carefully budgeted, and the same goes for production.

Under these circumstances, Sony naturally needed to increase its focus on records and investment in games to stabilize itself, as these were highly profitable industries. Akio Morita, of course, needed to understand the situation in the industry and be prepared. At this time, Morita was deeply saddened; the situation in Hollywood had not improved, and continuing like this would be extremely detrimental to Sony. At one point, Morita even considered abandoning development in Hollywood altogether.

However, Akio Morita did not do so. Giving up the previous investment now would be a waste. He had originally hoped that Toyota would offer some benefits, but now that company was not making any move. This made Akio Morita somewhat annoyed. If things continued like this, with the continuous losses in real estate investment, Sony would not be able to hold on for long and would soon enter a loss-making situation, at which point the impact would be much greater.

Akio Morita isn't the only one suffering; everyone involved in the real estate industry is having a headache, but there's still no hope in sight, and no one is willing to take over their investments. All their investments are stuck in their hands. Banks are currently engaged in rampant fraud, but such fraud can't last long.

The now wildly active "Dark Lady" Onoe Seki is aided by banks. In 1991, Industrial Bank lent her 2400 billion yen to purchase Industrial Bank bonds. In addition, 29 other banks and financial institutions also provided Onoe Seki with financing, totaling 28000 trillion yen, which shows how huge her debt is.

This is just about Onoue Sei alone; the debt of the entire Japanese nation is even more staggering. Moreover, Onoue Sei isn't just a bank investor; there are other people's investments as well. Soon, all of this will be exposed, because such a bubble cannot withstand a shock.

With the bursting of the real estate bubble, the Japanese stock market has plummeted, showing no sign of recovery. Otherwise, banks and financial institutions wouldn't have resorted to such methods to maintain their stock prices. But a lie is still a lie, and deception will eventually be exposed. Japan's actions will only exacerbate the bubble crisis, making it even more chaotic and terrifying.

Akio Morita's suffering is merely the tip of the iceberg for Japanese companies; it's nothing compared to what's to come. Although these large corporations are frantically investing overseas and fleeing Japan, they simply don't have enough time. Moreover, manufacturing isn't an easy field to succeed in. Most importantly, John's presence has caused them even greater shocks and damage, resulting in significant losses in the North American market!

(End of this chapter)