Tokyo, 1991: Starting as a bank clerk

Chapter 195 Tibet Province [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

After retiring, bureaucrats from the Ministry of Finance often take the connections, information, and power they accumulated in the Ministry of Finance with them and enter private companies as senior executives.

Banking, securities, insurance, real estate—

The destinations of retired bureaucrats from the Ministry of Finance cover almost all core sectors of the Japanese economy.

This phenomenon is called "天下り" in Japanese.

The literal meaning is "to fall from the sky".

Kiryu Yaya opened his eyes and looked at the line of text on the notebook.

"The core of the East China Steering Committee is its secretariat, and the root of the secretariat is in the Ministry of Finance."

The meaning of this sentence is very clear.

The secretariat of the Eastern Rectification Association was very likely composed of retired bureaucrats from the Ministry of Finance.

With the power, connections, and information they had accumulated in the Ministry of Finance, they used the East China Economic Association as a platform to continue weaving that invisible net in the shadows of the Japanese economy.

Kiryu Yaya recalled what Takaji Seiichi had said to him the night before in the underground meeting room: "The waters run deep in this place."

The water is deep.

Now he understands the true value of those words.

This is more than just profound.

It's so deep it's practically bottomless!

But it was precisely the overwhelming power of the Ministry of Finance that led to its collapse in just a few years.

The excessive concentration of power in the Ministry of Finance led to repeated policy errors in handling the banking crisis following the bursting of the bubble economy.

Coupled with the numerous scandals that have been exposed within the Ministry of Finance itself, this led to its demise.

In particular, the corruption scandal involving the reception of guests in Tibet Province in 1998.

That spring.

The actions of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office Special Investigation Department have sent shockwaves through the entire Ministry of Finance.

The investigation revealed that officials from the Banking and Securities Bureaus of the Ministry of Finance had long accepted huge sums of money for hospitality from financial institutions.

High-end kaiseki cuisine, Ginza clubs, golf course memberships —

There are even sex services that are called "no underwear hot pot restaurants".

Ultimately, 112 officials, including Finance Minister Hiroshi Miyabe and Vice-Minister Takeshi Komura, were punished, and several high-ranking officials were arrested.

Even the Governor of the Bank of Japan, Yasuo Matsushita, resigned as a result.

The scandal was featured on the front page of the media for weeks, and public anger reached its peak.

In June 1998, under the strong impetus of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, the Japanese Diet passed the Financial Supervisory Agency Establishment Law.

Financial regulatory authority was separated from the Ministry of Finance and a Financial Supervisory Agency was established, directly under the Prime Minister's Office.

In 2000, the Financial Supervisory Agency was reorganized into the Financial Services Agency.

On January 6, 2001, Japan reorganized its central ministries and agencies.

The century-old sign for "Ministry of Finance" was removed and replaced with "Ministry of Finance".

The Ministry of Finance was thus dissolved.

Therefore, it is perfectly normal for a province like Tibet, riddled with scandals, to be able to produce such a makeshift organization as the Eastern Rectification Committee.

However, it is still 1991.

There are still a full ten years until the dissolution of the Tibet Ministry.

Kiryu Yaya let out a soft sigh.

It wasn't the time to consider such grand narratives yet; his gaze remained fixed on the blue notebook as he continued to flip through the pages.

The latter half of the blue notebook contains scattered daily information.

Memos for bank transactions, meeting times, and contact information for key individuals.

There are no more core elements like those mentioned earlier that could shake up the situation.

He closed the notebook and put it aside.

There are three other things on the table.

Tape recorder, cassette tape, photographs.

Kiryu Yaya picked up the tape recorder first.

The SANYO brand item is about the size of a palm, and the paint on the edges is somewhat mottled, indicating that it is an old item that has been used for many years.

The tape drive was completely empty.

He picked up the cassette tape next to him and looked at the label.

The label is in Miyazawa Hara's handwriting, with only one line of date and no title.

He inserted the cassette tape into the chamber and pressed the play button.

A faint hissing sound came from the tape recorder, and the tape began to spin.

Then came a man's voice.

He recognized the voice.

Ko Utahiko.

"Director-General Miyazawa, the Rokko project is not something you can stop just because you want to. The decision has already been made, and all the necessary procedures must be followed."

"Your current task is to keep Miyazawa Tourism receiving funding until the land transfer in Rinko City is completed, at which point everything will naturally come to an end."

There was a moment of silence in the recording.

Then, Miyazawa Hara's voice rang out, filled with suppressed anger.

"You initially said Rokkaku was just a pretext, and Rinku Castle was the real focus. But Rokkaku has already crippled Miyazawa Tourism, and when will the land in Rinku Castle be transferred? How long are you going to drag this out?"

Kouyuki Hiko's voice remained calm.

"This isn't a question you should be asking. You just need to cooperate. If you cooperate well, you'll receive your share after the transfer of Lingkong City is completed. If you don't cooperate well..."

He paused.

"Executive Director Miyazawa, you should know that Higashi Sei got to where he is today not because of being soft-hearted."

The recording abruptly stops here.

The tape continued spinning for a few more seconds, making a soft "click," and then stopped automatically.

Kiryu Yaya pressed the stop button, rewound the tape to the beginning, ejected it, and put it back on the table.

He didn't listen to it a second time.

That's enough information.

Kouyuu Hiko not only knew that Rokko was a trap, but he also personally participated in the process of forcing Miyazawa Hara to cooperate.

This is almost identical to his reasoning process last night.

However, "it's already been decided from above."

Who does "above" refer to?

Kiryu Yaya put the question aside for the time being and picked up the last thing.

a photo.

The photo is small, about five inches square, and the edges are slightly yellowed.

The background shows a building under construction, with scaffolding still in place and exposed concrete walls.

Two people were standing in front of the building.

He knows the one on the left.

Miyazawa Hara.

He looked younger than he does now, wearing a dark blue work jacket, and his hair was still quite thick.

The person on the right—

Kiryu Yaya's gaze stopped.

He was a man in his forties, wearing a light gray suit, no tie, and the top two buttons of his shirt collar were fastened.

His facial features were deep-set, with high brow bones, a straight nose, and a faint smile at the corners of his mouth.

Kiryu Yaya stared at that face for a few seconds, then slowly raised his head and looked at Miyazawa Keiko.

"Who is this person?"

Keiko Miyazawa took the photo, her gaze falling on the unfamiliar face, and shook her head.

"I don't know him. My uncle has never mentioned this person to me."

She turned the photo over.

There was a line of small characters written in pen on the back. The characters had faded a bit, but they were still legible.

"In March of Showa 61 (1942), I visited the empty castle and met Takatsukasa-sama."

Kiryu Yaya's pupils contracted slightly.

Takatsukasa.

Takatsukasa Nobumoto?

No, the ages don't match.

Masaki Yayoi and Nobumoto Takaji founded the Toseikai in 1978, when Nobumoto Takaji was already fifty-two years old.

He must have been sixty years old when this photo was taken in 1986.

But the man in the photo looks to be in his early forties at most.

It's not Takatsukasa Nobumoto.

Who is that?

Kiryu Yaya flipped the photo over and looked at the face again.

The faint smile on his chin, bridge of his nose, and corners of his mouth —

Kiryu Yaya looked at the familiar lower half of the face, and his memory slowly merged with the masked face from the night before.

He was suddenly jolted.

Seiichi Takatsukasa!

This man is Seiichi Takatsukasa!

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