[Chapter 683: A Pair of Oddballs]
The plane landed smoothly, and William White adjusted his loose clothing. The late July heat in Japan was hardly cooler than that of a desert.
Wearing a light gray T-shirt paired with jeans and white sneakers, he also had on a burgundy suit. Quite the unconventional outfit, to say the least.
"Good afternoon, sir. Are you heading to the hotel or the office first?"
"Fujita, thanks for your hard work. Let's go to the office first. By the way, arrange a company dinner; everyone has been working incredibly hard."
"Got it, I'll handle it right away. Shall we go to that place in Ginza?"
"Huh, isn't that supposed to be reserved in advance?"
"Sir, the economy is struggling; high-end places aren't doing much business."
"Hmm, their sashimi is quite good; I think we can manage."
Seeing the current situation, Japan had lost even its surface glamour. Though there were still a few months left, the inevitable economic downturn had already set in.
Take, for instance, the Bentley he was riding in; sales around here had dwindled significantly. It was just a few years ago that the wealthy hardly looked at price tags, but now they were starting to be frugal.
"Fujita, how are the Sumitomo trading firms holding up? A slump in real estate shouldn't cause this much damage."
Fujita chuckled bitterly, saying that the people around here had gotten a bit too inflated. Almost every company was trading stocks and investing in real estate. At the very least, they needed to buy their office buildings.
"Sir, the losses this time are well beyond expectations. There's a significant amount of cross-shareholding between the conglomerates and trading firms. Nearly the same goes for publicly listed companies. Now everyone is in the same boat on this one."
William finally understood the gravity of the situation. No wonder it was so dire; these guys had been playing with fire.
It seemed like this latest economic harvest by the Americans was thorough. Before this, one could only mention the top ten American conglomerates but not the world's top ten.
If you counted Japan, apart from Morgan Stanley and Citibank, the others wouldn't even rank. In the late 1990s, it was basically the top ten American conglomerates that fulfilled the list of the world's top ones.
From this ranking, it was clear just how many resources the Americans had siphoned off. So, who was the puppet master behind it all? That was already quite apparent.
What's that? You claim that Japan must harbor resentment?
Ahem, not really. The truth is, the pressure on the average person's life had actually decreased. For a long time to come, inflation was nearly nonexistent in Japan.
A bowl of beef noodles that used to cost 300-500 yen had stayed the same for two decades.
Some would say that's not right; prices hadn't risen that much, and the prices of TVs and cars had even dropped. Ahem, you couldn't count the prices of industrial products in the same way as the consumer index. Just take a look at the Soviets; two thermoses could get you a motorcycle. How do you explain that?
In truth, beef noodles were the best measure for inflation levels. This dish didn't carry high profit margins and primarily depended on volume. The cost factors were simple: flour, beef, wages, and rent.
Over twenty years, pricing climbed from just under a buck to around ten. This meant if you earned 500 bucks in 1992, by 2002 if you earned less than 5,000, your standard of living had dropped.
Well, this is just one perspective and shouldn't count for much. Life in Japan hadn't changed much in those two decades.
Basic food prices stayed stagnant, rent actually declined slightly, and public transport costs remained fairly constant.
What? You claim gas prices have skyrocketed?
Ahem, people here owned a substantial number of cars. Yet, few drove to work. The people who did were usually either bosses with free parking or factory workers from the countryside.
So honestly, whether gas prices rose or not wasn't a major concern. The vehicles barely reached a few tens of thousands of kilometers before they were taken out of service. How much could that increase impact anyone?
"Fujita, looking at this report, I can't see any significant issues in Japan's economy. By the way, how are the other comic companies?"
"Sir, comics here suddenly exploded in popularity, catching us all off guard. Could it really be true that the worse the economy gets, the better the entertainment industry performs, just as you said?"
William found that somewhat amusing. It wasn't just the comic industry; hadn't you noticed the video rental business was also surging?
"Fujita, aren't you aware that 'action' films from here have started impacting the American market? You probably don't know, but they are absolutely enamored with your artistic expressions. Hahaha, don't be shy, Fujita. That jerk Jason Garrison was supposed to come along too. I heard he wanted to meet his mentor."
"Ahem, about that, these really aren't very clean. I've arranged other activities."
"Ha, I don't have Jason Garrison's tastes; that jerk would rather start a film company here."
The films from Japan were indeed looked down upon in the market. Their situation was so dire that they were hardly faring better than the U.S.
Thinking of the quirks of both Japan and the U.S., William couldn't help but smile wryly. Good grief, these two really were quite the oddballs.
The U.S. believed that everything in the universe belonged to them, and there was some justification behind that notion.
As for why films from Japan didn't do well, the reason was simple: all the talent had gone into 'action' films. Without good screenwriters, nothing could come out of it.
Films, at their core, were about storytelling. If your story was compelling, even if the film itself was mediocre, there would still be an audience. Films like The Blair Witch Project were prime examples of this.
In truth, their 'action' films had decent plots. If you seriously analyzed them, you'd find that they depicted the various darker sides of male psychology quite brilliantly.
For instance, they featured all sorts of hospital scenarios, even including dentists. Time-stopping concepts and plots like those in Dinosaur Express were probably far from accurate.
Exaggerating obscurity to the extreme became a form of art. Is that not odd indeed?
*****
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