I was just chatting with Ichiro Watanabe about the General Association House, and Arai Yu handed over the information about the General Association House that he had obtained through special channels in the past few days.
As a member of a gang, there is very little information publicly available about the gang.
Most of the information that Arai Yu could find was information about the general meeting house collected from financial channels, listed company intelligence, business rumors and other fields.
As for the information about the dark side, Yu Arai doesn't have much contact with it, but it doesn't matter, because Ota will complete this information.
However, just the information on the surface was enough to make Arai Yu look serious.
"President Shirakawa, the relationship between the General Association is more complicated than you might think, especially in the financial industry where they have infiltrated too much."
After taking the information collected by Arai Yu, Shirakawa Feng looked through it and his expression became much more serious.
"The guys in the Soukaiya claim to be 'walking on the border between light and darkness', but in fact, they are no different from the Yakuza in nature.
They take advantage of loopholes or weaknesses in business operations and often exaggerate these issues at shareholders' meetings, magnifying small problems into intolerable defects.
Many presidents of family-run businesses may be very knowledgeable in their profession, but they lack the overall coordination and operational capabilities to deal with conflicts at the management level.
In addition, the Japanese are very concerned about their reputation, so in order to end the conference as soon as possible and reduce trouble, companies gradually compromised with the headquarters and paid a fee to be settled.
To put it bluntly, the Clubhouse gang started out as extortionists and then grew rapidly in the 1970s.”
It can be said that the reason why the associations can grow and develop is closely related to the connivance of major companies. They thrive on the weaknesses of the Japanese national character.
“Because Japanese people are sensitive and prone to getting stuck in a rut, the so-called shareholders’ meeting is more of a formality.
For many companies or the outside world, a shareholders' meeting is considered a success if it can be completed within half an hour.
In order to deal with the trouble caused by the General Meeting of Shareholders and to end the shareholders' meeting in the shortest possible time.
Many companies even have an internal department called "Shareholders' General Meeting Countermeasures", whose main responsibility is to study how to quickly conclude this year's shareholders' meeting.
In order to prevent shareholders from storming out at meetings, the company allocates a large amount of human resources and budget every year to rehearse annual events repeatedly.
This... Upon hearing this, Baichuan Feng was also stunned.
Shirakawa Electric also holds shareholders' meetings every year, but it is not as exaggerated as this.
In the past , Baichuan Feng tried his best to answer those shareholders who had questions.
Isn't it normal for the outside world to have doubts about the business operations of a company?
Have the big companies of later generations encountered few questions and challenges from the outside world at media conferences and press conferences?
As a business leader, necessary public relations skills are a basic requirement, right?
"Mr. Shirakawa, not every entrepreneur has your courage."
Seeing his somewhat incredible look, Arai Yu flattered him subtly.
But what he said was true. Shirakawa Kaede has unique and distinctive characteristics that Japanese entrepreneurs do not possess.
What is most impressive is his vigorous and decisive style, as a true action-oriented person.
Baichuan Feng can basically make a decision in a very short time regarding what to do.
But if it were any other company in Japan, it would probably take a month just to hold meetings and discuss the issue.
Even at this point in the end, they may still not have decided whether to do this. After all, breaking away from tradition and making so-called innovations is something that most Japanese are unwilling to try easily.
Of course, opponents can also say that Baichuan Feng is a dictator, but in the face of repeated success, all opponents' doubts seem insignificant.
Even the quality of "dictatorship" is an indispensable quality for strong men of all generations, that is, chaebols or the first generation heads of families.
Can those indecisive people make everyone believe in him unconditionally?
A leader must have the courage to make decisions on his own, which is another characteristic of Shirakawa Kaede that makes him different from the Japanese.
For the sake of so-called decency, most corporate presidents would rather others not speak at the press conference.
But Baichuan Feng is different. Facing some difficult questions from reporters, he always answers with a smile.
Doubts and opposition will not make him back down in front of reporters. His responsibility, commitment and courage make him shine brighter than other business operators.
This is why Shirakawa Kaede was so surprised when he heard that Japanese companies were conducting various shareholder meeting rehearsals.
Due to the different environment and cognition he grew up in in his previous life, his attitude towards the shareholders' meeting is completely different from that of other Japanese people.
"Also, President Shirakawa, do you know why most Japanese companies' shareholders' meetings are held in June every year?"
"Hmm?" Baichuan Feng's eyes showed a thoughtful look.
"Besides the mid-year, the intensive shareholder meetings in June will also make the headquarters office very busy."
Baichuan Feng raised his eyebrows. He really didn't expect this explanation.
"Some related or cooperating companies will inform each other in advance and make surprise attacks on the date arrangement.
In the past, there have even been cases where hundreds of listed companies held general meetings on the same day.
The purpose is to allow shareholders who hold shares of multiple companies to attend only one of them, so as to disperse the manpower and meeting resources of the general meeting room.
After the meeting, in order to end it as quickly as possible to avoid interruptions in the general meeting room , the general process is to go on stage to give a speech - thank shareholders - ask if there are any questions (no questions) - adjourn the meeting, and so on. "
Okay, our daily life is almost going to be a mess because of the shareholders' meeting.
It was a rehearsal and a surprise attack, making it like a war.
And all this was just to avoid the club house?
"Arai-san, if the companies hate the General Association so much, isn't there anyone doing something?"
Since all the club houses are about “literary battles”, isn’t this exactly what the big companies are good at?
Besides, the existence of the General Association has undoubtedly hindered the development of Japanese enterprises, and the government cannot be unaware of this.
“Because of the opposition from many companies, the general association has a bad reputation among the people.
For this purpose, the Commercial Law of 1981 specifically strengthened the control over the acceptance of bribes, provision of benefits and improper trading practices.
This is in the hope of using the law to sever the conflicts of interest between the "association house" and businesses.
In 1982, the Commercial Law once again strengthened the penalties for profiteering. Since then, the police and procuratorate have been cleaning up the association houses in full swing.
Of course, the resistance from violent gangs such as the General Association House is also becoming increasingly fierce,..."
"Wait!" Baichuan Feng suddenly interrupted Arai Yu's explanation.
"So from a legal perspective, the actions of the General Association House have been deemed illegal, and the procuratorate has been squeezing their living space?"
"Hai, that's true. Since 1981, the number of people in the headquarters has been decreasing year by year.
In 1979, the size of the clubhouse reached 8,000 people, but by 1983, it was reduced to 1,700.
Later, as the number of shares held by the General Chamber of Commerce decreased, there may be less than 800 members left in the General Chamber of Commerce this year. "
The Japanese government is not stupid. Parasites like the Sokaku Club have clearly played a harmful role in economic development.
Therefore, restricting its development and making it gradually disappear has always been what the procuratorate has been working on.
However, due to the complicated interests, Japan can only impose various legal restrictions on it, just like dealing with the Yakuza.
Using administrative power to forcibly ban an organization is an unconventional measure in Japan, and only the "Red Army" has ever been treated this way.
The root cause is that during a special period in history, some leaders within the underworld had military experience and later became affiliated with the US intelligence organization.
Because of its strong political background, it is somewhat restricted in dealing with the extremely ruthless Japanese government.
Therefore, the only way is to slowly strangle the living space of violent gangs by continuously enacting laws.
The same goes for the General Association. The right-hand man named Kodama has a similar background.
But as these people gradually died, those political relationships also slowly disappeared.
Moreover, the procuratorate is the vanguard in strangling the general association, which is good news for Shirakawa Feng.
Why? Why not check which school he graduated from?
Meiji was an expert in law, and most of the people in the prosecutor's office in Tokyo were his seniors.
Wouldn't it be a shame not to make use of such personal connections and political inclinations?
Seeing the smile on his face, Arai Yu had to pour a bucket of cold water on him.
“It is precisely because of the reduction in living space that the activities in the headquarters have become more frequent and secretive.
Regarding the things they have been involved in over the past few years, President Baichuan might as well take a look at the attached table behind these materials."
As he spoke, Arai Yu pointed to the information in Shirakawa Feng's hand. It was a thick stack of information, which contained all the great achievements of the General Association in the past few years.
Skipping the previous introductions, Baichuan Feng went straight to the form at the end of the document.
At first glance, Baichuan Feng saw a familiar name.
"Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank has been cooperating with the Soso-ya since 1985 through financing and stock issuance.
So far, the amount of benefits transferred between the two parties has reached 46 billion yen.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries issued targeted shares worth 12 billion yen through Yamaichi Securities, with Sosoya as the intermediary.
Nomura Securities roughly estimates that there is a profit transfer of 6 billion yen with the general association.
Daiwa Securities, 7 billion...
Nikko Securities, 3 billion..."
"Huh~" Baichuan Feng sighed deeply. You won't know how shocking it is until you see it.
Every transaction is shocking, and few people in the financial industry are clean.
"Mr. Arai, from a legal perspective, are these transactions considered off-site profit transfers?"
“Hayi, these are all illegal acts from a legal point of view.
Of course, these materials are just compiled rumors and cannot be used as evidence, nor do they have any legal effect. "
Arai Yu was afraid that Shirakawa Kaede would get carried away and go all in, so he gave him a special warning.
Baichuan Feng nodded to show that he understood.
He is not that stupid. If he really did that, the first to die would be Kitato Bank and even Shirakawa Holdings.
As a chess player, everyone has to follow the rules of the game.
An unwise move like overturning the table will only make you a target of public criticism.
"So the reason why Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank remained silent about the actions of the General Association was also because of this transaction?"
Transactions with the General Association made all kinds of shady dealings easier, but this also left room for both parties to use leverage over one another.
Perhaps this is the reason why the clubhouse is becoming more and more secretive nowadays.
With these financial giants providing cover, the procuratorate is likely to be powerless.
When hearing Shirakawa Kaede's question, Arai Yu's expression became gloomy.
…
Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank has been the sponsoring company of Shirakawa Electric since the day it started to operate Shirakawa Electric's IPO.
In the eyes of the outside world, Shirakawa Electric has since become an affiliated company of the Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank Group.
It was also because of this consensus that Shirakawa Electric avoided a lot of external troubles at the beginning of its development.
For example, after its listing, Shirakawa Electric has never been visited by any general association, and this is because Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank was secretly protecting it.
Apart from the Soujyouya, hostile takeovers by other yakuza organizations or large companies have basically not occurred.
Therefore, the care given by Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank in the early stage also played a certain role in the growth of Shirakawa Electric to what it is today.
This is also the reason why Shirakawa Kaede chose to accept financing from Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank and Nomura Securities.
As the saying goes, it is good to lean on a big tree for shade. If you fight alone in Japan, you will either die or be acquired by a large enterprise.
Of course, in such a relationship, Shirakawa Electric also brought huge profits to Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank and Nomura Securities.
Even though the stock market has plummeted this year, they have no plans to reduce their holdings of Shirakawa Electric shares.
Because Shirakawa Electric is an electronic technology entity, the dividends and profits it gives them every year are not a small amount.
The more volatile the financial market is, the more valuable shares like Shirakawa Electric with stable returns become.
Of course, speculative companies are another matter. When the Nikkei index plummeted, they had already sold all of their shares in Shirakawa Electric.
But no matter what, from beginning to end, Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank is a special existence for Shirakawa Electric.
Based on this, the cooperation between the two parties has always been very pleasant. However, now because of the matter of the General Association House, the top management of Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank has remained silent.
As his former employer, Arai Yu also has mixed feelings about Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank's actions.
Perhaps in the eyes of those senior executives, it is just a small amount of protection fee, which should be quite easy for Shirakawa Electric.
But for Shirakawa Electric, this is not a question of cost.
Shirakawa Electric is the face of Shirakawa Holdings, and the controller of Shirakawa Holdings is Shirakawa Kaede.
If a group as big as a chaebol actually compromised with a violent gang, Shirakawa Feng would be too embarrassed to face that.
This is no longer a matter of face, but a matter of the brand image of Shirakawa Electric and the family status of the Shirakawa family.
In a more traditional family, it would be tantamount to declaring war.
Therefore, from the beginning to the end, Shirakawa Feng had no intention of bowing to the General Association, and there was no question of Daiichi Kangin's persuasion.
Looking at the transaction figures in his hand again, Baichuan Feng's expression was indifferent.
"Since the General Association has interests in so many financial companies, they must have their own network of connections in the political world, right?"
If the four major securities firms and several major banks can be regarded as the relationship between the General Chamber of Commerce in the financial world, then the profits they transfer must be delivered to the political world.
The general method is nothing more than banks and securities firms first transferring some of the unissued financial products to people under the head office for holding.
The General Association then sells these bonds and stocks to political officials at extremely low prices.
When the newly issued stocks and bonds are officially listed, their prices will definitely rise.
Especially during the bubble period, it was not a problem for the prices of these new stocks to double in a short period of time.
In that case, the stocks originally worth 100 billion yen would double to 200 billion yen.
The difference in price is the net profit.
The financial community, the social organizations and the political circles are the direct beneficiaries.
The three are integrated into one, forming a miniature secondary market on their own.
So will such clubs be eliminated? Some people in the financial and political circles may not want them to be eliminated.
It's all about interests~
As for whether this is insider trading, it depends on who is behind these transactions.
The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries CB incident in 1997 was when Mitsubishi Heavy Industries commissioned Yamaichi Securities to transfer unissued preferred shares to many people in the political circle through the general association.
Narita, the vice president of Yamaichi Securities who was about to expose the truth, committed suicide in the warehouse.
Prosecutor Morita, who intervened in the investigation, eventually resigned from the prosecutor's office.
As for the court verdict? Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was not guilty, Yamaichi Securities was not guilty, and no one from the general association or the political circles was arrested.
This is how this insider trading case ultimately panned out.
In 1988, Recruit's Vice President Doho E was accused of bribery for the same insider trading, and even some cabinet officials were forced to resign.
Why are the results ? Because the political forces behind the two are different.
So being guilty or not has nothing to do with the law; the key lies in whether the backing is strong enough.
This is neon, where deformity and frenzy coexist.
It is precisely because of the need for profit that violent groups such as the Association House have a breeding ground for survival.
"President Shirakawa, the reply from the General Association has arrived."
While Shirakawa Kaede was thinking about the complicated relationship behind it, Hasegawa also handed over the latest reply from the general meeting room.
Without time to think about it, Baichuan Feng opened the folded letter and wanted to take a closer look.
However, on the empty piece of letter paper, there was only a word "10 billion yen".
"Ha~" Baichuan Feng almost laughed out loud. It turned out that there was no hope of talking in the club house at all.
This price, how can it be protection money? It's clearly robbery.
But it just so happened that Baichuan Feng didn't expect to compromise with them.
In that case, let's see who has the stronger fist.
"Tell them that Shirakawa Electric is ready to welcome you!"
"Huh!" Hasegawa had long been annoyed with these despicable guys.
After receiving Baichuan Feng's order, his chest immediately straightened up a little.
When Arai Yu saw the number on the paper, he shook his head. It seemed that the person was indeed up to bad intentions.
In the past, the price that the general association offered to other companies was no more than a few million or tens of millions of yen, which was already a very large number.
10 billion? What a joke! Not even half of the listed companies can achieve this profit figure.
"I will personally attend Shirakawa Electric's shareholders' meeting this year. I want to see what confidence the General Manager has in offering such a price."
Having been in the business world for more than ten years, Baichuan Feng has never been treated like this.
Violent gangs are really eye-opening.
"President Shirakawa, there are too many people at the shareholders' meeting, you shouldn't..."
Baichuan Feng waved his hand, "The shareholders' meeting of Baichuan Electric is not a dangerous place. This is our own meeting. There is nothing to worry about."
Shirakawa Kaede had presided over several shareholder meetings before, but as he gradually retreated behind the scenes, these matters were handed over to Hasegawa.
Now the headquarters was obviously well prepared, and Baichuan Feng was worried, so he decided to go and take a look in person.
After all, the 1990s was a special period, and the ups and downs of the stock market could easily become an excuse for others to make trouble.
Seeing that Shirakawa Kaede had made up his mind, Arai Yu did not try to persuade him any further, as he knew that Shirakawa Kaede was a man of action.
“Of course, in order to be fully prepared, it is also necessary to review Shirakawa Electric’s business performance over the past one or two years.
I will have to trouble Mr. Hasegawa for this part of the work." Shirakawa Feng firmly believes that only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you win every battle.
"Please rest assured, President Shirakawa, we have already started this part of the work." As the president, Hasegawa will certainly arrange these tasks.
Seeing that everyone was mentally prepared for this incident, Baichuan Feng felt relieved.
When facing this group of tough guys, you really need to be more careful.
After saying a few more words to them, Baichuan Feng signaled the two to go about their own business, as this year was destined to be a turbulent year.
The stock market, which had just stabilized, seemed to be showing signs of instability again.
If there is another crash, many financial and securities companies that are struggling to survive will probably go bankrupt.
According to the information that Baichuan Feng had learned, many banks and securities companies actually already had a pile of bad debts and were just waiting for the day when they would explode.
But speaking of banks, Shirakawa Kaede actually wanted to make a call to Kuniji Miyazaki, the chairman of Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank.
However, after thinking about it, he gave up this plan and decided to wait until after the shareholders' meeting.
So he picked up the phone and called another person.
…
"Is this the connection between the Association House and other Yakuza organizations?"
"Hui," Ohta nodded, "There are currently 670 people in the General Association, including 160 core members .
According to the division of labor, they each have their own duties, and most of them are non-combat personnel engaged in 'civilian' work. "
Well, Ohta’s introduction is pretty hardcore too.
In his eyes, the Yakuza can be divided into only two types, combatants and non-combatants.
When Shirakawa Kaede saw the division of functions of the general association house collected by Ota, he almost thought he was seeing things.
Split House: A group that is specifically responsible for making written requests to companies, such as "divide the purchased stocks and transfer them to more people".
To put it bluntly, it is deliberately increasing the workload of enterprises. For example, in reality, requiring game companies to issue invoices for every recharge is purely disruptive.
Event House: Those who dig up dirt and shit will use these things as reserve ammunition during the shareholders' meeting in order to stir up trouble.
Publishing house: To ruin a business, the media and public opinion are naturally indispensable. As the name suggests, "publishing house" refers to people who are engaged in the business of spreading scandals and bad reviews.
The Soukaiya: This is the one who introduces himself to the other party and tells them his name. The Soukaiya letter received by Shirakawa Electric was from them.
Attack House: As the name suggests, they are the main attackers against the Enterprise.
In addition to being experts in the field, they are also good at using various means such as sowing discord and using beauty traps within the company.
Arbitration House: This is the partner of the "Attack House", and usually cooperates to play the good cop and the bad cop role.
When the attack house is launched, they play the role of a fair party, mediate, and provide the company with a successful promise of "ensuring the smooth conduct of the shareholders' meeting" and then receive a reward.
The Headquarters: They are the real power holders of the Headquarters. When an agreement is reached with a company, their appearance means that the company is protected in the industry.
Banzai House: These people are the ones who shout "I have no objection, I agree, Banzai" at the meeting to interrupt the speeches of shareholders who really have ideas and opinions, so as to ensure that the shareholders' meeting ends as soon as possible.
Look, the division of responsibilities among the eight departments is quite detailed, more complete than that of many companies.
Well, if you continue to run your business with this momentum, things may not be that bad in the future.
“Since the Soujōya is not responsible for fighting, other Yakuza provide them with protection.
These include the Yamaguchi-gumi, Sumiyoshi-kai, Matsuba-kai, Ichijo-kai, yakuza and local groups.
The core figures of the Association House, Ryuichi Koike and Kaoru Ogawa, often attend parties and group activities attended by government officials.
Hearing this, Baichuan Feng couldn't help but become serious, and the general power of the General Association became clearer in his mind.
"So they are behind all the financial events in the past one or two years?"
Shirakawa Feng thought of a series of economic crimes in the past two years, including Sumitomo, Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank, and Yamaichi Securities...
It seems no one is spared.