Tokyo, 1991: Starting as a bank clerk

Chapter 194 The Roots of the Eastern Committee [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

Keiko Miyazawa took the key out of her handbag and opened the side door.

The two crossed the courtyard and went inside the house.

Several pairs of shoes were placed in the entryway, and an ashtray with a few cigarette butts was on the coffee table in the living room.

It is clearly a trace left by Miyazawa in the past.

Kiryu Yaya sighed softly.

When a person dies, even the cigarette butts in the ashtray become relics.

The house is still there, the things are still there, but the person who spoke is gone forever.

"My aunt stayed at the hospital all night last night and only came back to rest this morning."

Keiko Miyazawa whispered, "She should be upstairs now."

Kiryu Yaya nodded without asking any further questions.

The two walked through the corridor and arrived at the end of the first floor.

That was Miyazawahara's study.

The door wasn't locked.

Keiko Miyazawa pushed open the door, and Yaya Kiryu followed her inside.

The study is not large, about ten folds in size.

Against the wall is a row of dark brown bookshelves, neatly filled with various books and folders.

Next to the bookshelf, a safe that is half a person tall is very conspicuous.

The desk was by the window, with several documents spread out on it and a fountain pen lying to the side.

It gives the impression that the owner has only left temporarily and will return at any time.

Kiryu Yaya stood by the desk, his gaze sweeping over the documents.

Most of them are just ordinary company information, nothing special.

He looked at the floor-standing safe and was about to ask how to open it.

Keiko Miyazawa walked naturally behind the desk, squatted down, reached into the hidden compartment under the desk, and pulled out a key.

She picked up the key and waved it in front of Kiryu Yaya, a hint of nostalgia in her eyes: "When I was little, I often came to my uncle's house to play, and he could always conjure up candy for me from under his desk."

"Back then, I thought it was magic, and I kept pestering him to do it again."

Kiryu Yaya didn't urge him, but just listened quietly.

Keiko Miyazawa walked to the safe, squatted down, and inserted the key into the lock.

Click.

The safe door opened.

She opened the door; there was no cash or gold bars inside, only a few other items.

Keiko Miyazawa took them out and placed them on her desk.

There aren't many items.

A kraft paper envelope, a blue notebook, a tape recorder, a cassette tape, and a photograph.

Keiko Miyazawa first took out the brown paper envelope, tore open the seal, and pulled out the contents.

It was a stack of documents, which was handed to Kiryu.

Kiryu Yaya took the document, his gaze falling on the few pages in his hand, and then his pupils contracted slightly.

This is a list of members of the Dongzheng Association.

The names and their corresponding numbers were recorded.

The list is quite long and likely consists of all of Miyazawa Hara's trading partners over the years.

Kiryu Yaya saw three familiar names inside.

Ogaki Kiyomasa TKS-OS-00137!

Shuichi Kuroda TKS—OS—00091!

Kouyuu TKS—OS—00018!

Kouyuhiko's membership number was surprisingly ranked 18th, much earlier than Ogaki Kiyomasa and Kuroda Shuichi.

No wonder he was able to climb so fast at Mitsubishi Bank, rising from branch manager to head office manager in a short period of time, achieving a three-level leap in his life.

The Dongzheng Association must have provided him with tremendous support behind the scenes.

Kiryu Yaya continued reading, noting several unfamiliar names on the list, each with brief notes beside it—

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Ministry of Finance, Kansai Electric Power, Sumitomo Bank —

Each note points to the most central power node in this country.

The influence of the Dongzheng Association.

How terrifying!

Kiryu Yaya was secretly alarmed. He folded the list, put it back in the envelope, and didn't show too much emotion in front of Miyazawa Keiko.

"These things are very important."

Kiryu Yaya said, "I'll keep it safe."

Keiko Miyazawa nodded without asking why.

Moreover, Miyazawa had already specified in her will that she intended to give these things to Kiryu Yaya.

Next up is that blue notebook.

Kiryu Yaya turned to the first page.

The densely packed handwriting records various information that Miyazawahara has collected from within the Toei Association over the years.

Transaction records, personal connections, meeting minutes, and his own analysis and speculation.

He quickly flipped through a few pages and stopped at one of them.

It was a hand-drawn relationship diagram. The center read "Eastern Association Affairs Bureau," and more than a dozen lines radiated outwards, with names and organizations labeled at the end of each line.

He didn't recognize most of the names, but he had seen or heard of two of them: Seiichi Takatsukasa and Kimiyoshi Saionji.

Among them, Seiichi Takatsukasa was the big shot who casually tossed him 1000 points the night before last at the underground venue of the East Association because he appreciated him.

Saionji Koyoshi was the third person mentioned by Yayoi Kazuko as one of the founders of the Toseikai during her account of Yayoi Masateru's life.

At the time, compared to Yayoi Masaki and Takatsukasa Nobumoto, Saionji Koyoshi was still relatively young.

Sixteen years later, he is still active on the front lines of the Eastern Committee.

At the very bottom of this relationship diagram, there is a line of small print: "The core of the East China Steering Committee is the Secretariat, and the root of the Secretariat is the Ministry of Finance."

Upon seeing this sentence, Kiryu Yaya suddenly shrank back.

In a single sentence, it directly points to the source of the East China Association's power.

Tibet Province.

In Japan in 1991, these three words carried far more weight than their literal meaning suggests.

The Ministry of Finance was the highest administrative body under the Daijōkan system, ranking alongside the Imperial Household Agency, the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Construction, and the Economic Planning Agency.

However, its status far surpasses that of all other provincial departments.

Because it manages the money.

Japan's national budget, tax system, national debt, foreign exchange, banking supervision, and securities market supervision are all under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance.

The economic lifeline of this country, from government spending to corporate borrowing, from taxes paid by ordinary people to national debt issuance, is all in the hands of Tibet Province.

Kiryu Yaya remembers a statistic:

In 1989, Japan's total national tax revenue was approximately 60 trillion yen.

At its peak, the national budget compiled by the Ministry of Finance approached 70 trillion yen annually.

What does 70 trillion yen mean?

It was equivalent to the combined budgets of West Germany and Great Britain at the time.

The Ministry of Finance is not only the purse strings, but also the rule-maker.

In Japan, banks, securities, and insurance are all under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance.

Any bank that wants to open a branch, merge, issue bonds, or establish a trust needs the permission of the Ministry of Finance.

If the Ministry of Finance says it's okay, then it's okay.

If the Ministry of Finance says no, then no.

All bank presidents in Japan must bow their heads before bureaucrats in the Ministry of Finance.

A single directive from the Ministry of Finance can determine the life or death of a bank.

But the most terrifying thing about the Tibet Ministry is its origin.

Almost all the bureaucrats in the Ministry of Finance are graduates of the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo.

Every year, the top graduates from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo choose to go to the Ministry of Finance.

The second-place winner goes to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the third-place winner goes to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

This is almost a fixed route map.

A law student from the University of Tokyo, after graduation, entered the Ministry of Finance and started as a clerk.

Ten years later, he may be assigned to an important bank to provide guidance.

Twenty years from now, he may become the director of the Ministry of Finance, controlling the flow of hundreds of trillions of yen.

Thirty years later, he may retire and descend to earth to become the president of a large bank or the chairman of a conglomerate.

This is Japan's "bureaucrat descending to earth" system.