Chapter 527: The wind is too strong to hear
September of 1990 was destined to be an extraordinary month for Japan.
Especially for banks and securities companies, their attention is focused on the various new land regulations announced by the Ministry of Finance a few months ago.
These land tax reforms are undoubtedly a heavy blow to the real estate industry, as well as the banking and securities industries.
No, to be more comprehensive, it has a huge impact on the people of Japan.
Because many of our book assets are in land, if land prices fall, the consequences will be disastrous.
Many banks and securities companies have issued large loans using land as collateral.
If land prices collapse, it means that banks and securities companies will have huge amounts of non-performing loans.
Not to mention the impact on ordinary people, Japan's financial industry is likely to rise collectively.
So everyone is betting that the Ministry of Finance will not dare to really take action on the land.
Or is the myth that land prices will not fall in value true?
However, the economy and the market can never be controlled because there are too many factors that influence them.
Even the Ministry of Finance, which claims to be the helmsman of Japan's economy, cannot do this, although they may not realize it yet.
However, the Ministry of Finance’s restrictions on land prices were not the last straw that burst the bubble.
Late in the night of late September, the entire Tokyo media community was in a state of panic.
Yes, panic.
Because according to the news reported by frontline reporters , what happened in Yeshan is enough to turn Neon's financial industry upside down.
The gang fight was indeed big news, but it was nothing compared to the "bad debts" of major banks revealed at the scene.
Japan's financial industry is about to change. This is the first reaction of the heads of major newspapers.
They knew that if such news were published, it would definitely cause a major earthquake.
So while I was panicking, my heart couldn't stop boiling.
If I can be the first to publish the news on the front page tomorrow, then my newspaper will definitely be remembered by the people of Japan.
However, the Ministry of Finance would certainly not be happy to see news like this that is enough to cause an earthquake, right?
Sang, the newspaper president, was startled by a phone call in the middle of the night. He wandered around the room for a long time and finally decided to call his colleagues to get some fresh air.
Shiro Nakamura of Asahi Shimbun picked up the landline and dialed a number. After waiting for a few seconds, the call was connected.
"Moshimoshi?"
"Matsumoto-san, this is Nakamura."
"So it's Nakamura-san. What's the matter? Why are you staying up so late at night? Are you planning to surrender to the Mainichi Shimbun?"
There has been a fierce competition between Asahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun recently, with the circulation of both newspapers being around three million copies.
Originally, the circulation of the Mainichi Shimbun was only over one million copies, but in recent years, under the reforms of Shirakawa Holdings, the circulation has increased significantly.
Now the second place position of Asahi Shimbun has been threatened, so Matsumoto’s first sentence made Nakamura very angry.
"Stop pretending, you bastard. What are you going to do about Ye Shan's situation, Daily News?"
It's already past two in the morning, but he answered the phone within seconds and still looked energetic. You can tell at a glance that he woke up early.
"Haha, what should I do? Nakamura, just expect to be defeated by me this time. Tomorrow the circulation of the Mainichi Shimbun will definitely exceed that of the Asahi Shimbun!"
"Baga! You must be dreaming, you bastard! The Asahi Shimbun article has been written, but your reporter is still in Hayama, right?"
"You don't have to worry about that. See you tomorrow... oh no, at seven !"
"Wait! If the Ministry of Finance asks us to refrain from reporting, what are you going to do, Matsumoto?"
"Hello...? Nakamura-san, what did you say...? The signal is bad and I can't hear you...?"
Click, the phone was hung up!
Nakamura was about to scold him, but before the words came to his lips, he suddenly laughed.
This guy is so cunning!
Now that he knew the Mainichi Shimbun's plan, Nakamura no longer hesitated. He immediately picked up the phone and called his editor-in-chief again.
"Murakami, get up right now! You have one hour to write a special report on what happened in Ye Shan!"
"Hey, Hayama?"
“You don’t need to ask any more questions. Reporter Xiaosong will be downstairs at your house soon.
Call up all your men and start working together!
We must suppress the Daily News tomorrow! The newspaper must be delivered on time before four o'clock!"
"Hai!" Although he didn't know what was going on, Murakami immediately got up out of professional habit to prepare for the upcoming big news.
As the editor-in-chief of a newspaper, he often encounters such things. When it comes to breaking news, timeliness is what matters!
The delivery time of major newspapers in Neon is generally between 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.
It's already two o'clock. The manuscript must be finished before half past three and then sent to the printing factory for printing.
Only in this way can the first batch of newspapers be delivered on time at four o'clock.
After mobilizing all the manpower at hand, Nakamura hung up the phone and breathed a sigh of relief.
His intuition told him that this big news would definitely have a huge impact on Neon.
Ding-a-ling…
Nakamura was wandering around the room, and before he sat down, the phone on the table rang again.
"Moshimoshi?"
"I am the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Finance..."
"Moshimoshi?... Hello? Hello?... Sorry, the wind is too strong and I can't hear you!"
Click! Nakamura hung up the phone directly~
He learned this trick from Matsumoto. Wow, it’s quite useful.
Ding-ling-ling...the phone rang again~
This time, Nakamura simply unplugged the phone line.
Alas, due to force majeure, the phone call really cannot be connected~
Nakamura found his cell phone and started calling his subordinates one by one.
After the call, the phone was turned off.
Nakamura has made up his mind to make big news tomorrow.
This is not just the Asahi Shimbun's idea. The Yomiuri Shimbun, the leading print media company, has even inserted emergency news broadcasts on Japanese television.
However, perhaps they don’t know yet that this big news is far more than just an earthquake in the financial industry.
The shock it caused was a major earthquake in the entire Neon!
…
On the morning of September 24, Takahashi Oshinori wore his pajamas as usual and went to the sofa in the living room to prepare for his daily routine and read the newspaper.
Every morning his wife would take the newspapers from the door, sort them out, and then place them on the table for him to read.
As a director of EIE International Group, financial news and newspapers from several major print media were placed at the top.
His wife knew what he cared about most: land first and finance second.
Because the fate of EIE International is closely related to them, especially land, which is almost the lifeblood of EIE.
Starting his business in 1985, Takahashi Oshinori has raised more than 1.5 trillion yen in land financing in recent years.
In 1987, he renamed the Electronic Peripheral Equipment Company EIE and listed it on the stock market. At the same time, he bought the Hyatt Regency Saipan for 3.2 billion yen.
In 1988, he spent 20 billion yen to buy a piece of land to build a golf course, invested 13 billion to buy the Regent Sydney Hotel, and spent 2.2 billion to establish the private Bond University.
In 1989, he bought Nissin Steamship Company for 130 billion yen, and then spent 80 billion yen on hotels, villas and land around the world.
In 1989 and 1990, more than 100 billion yuan was invested in various land projects.
It can be said that Takahashi Oshinori's business front is so vast that it is hard to even know where to start.
But there is no doubt that land is the lifeline of EIE International, and the second artery is the stock market.
Since the beginning of the month, due to the stock market crash again, some projects financed by EIE International have experienced funding shortages.
How big is the shortfall? It’s so big that even the company’s fake financial statements can’t cover it up!
For this purpose, the main bank of EIE International, Long-Term Credit Bank, is ready to enter EIE to carry out asset restructuring.
The stock market and the property market are closely related. The sharp drop in stock prices has caused the financial situation of many companies to deteriorate, and EIE is one of them.
Takahashi Osunori has been troubled by this matter recently, and the tax reform policy of the Ministry of Finance is also giving him a headache.
Then he picked up the newspaper on the table and glanced at it.
"The financial tsunami under the darkness! Fueled by the underworld!"
"The enemy is in Honnoji! The enemy is in the Ministry of Finance!"
"Major earthquake! No bank or securities company is spared!"
At first, Takahashi Oshinori thought he was seeing things, but then he changed several newspapers and found that all the headlines were saying almost the same thing!
There is a big problem in Japan’s financial industry!
Takahashi Oshinori quickly spread out the newspaper and read it carefully, but the more he read, the more frightened he became.
Insider trading, profit transfer, financial fraud, non-performing assets, financial fraud...
All the illegal operations he could think of were reported in the newspapers, and not only that, they also published detailed data.
From Takahashi Oshinori's professional perspective, these data are very likely to be true? !
The protagonists of these problems, Japan's major banks and securities companies, were almost all affected...
If...if these data are true, and the bank involved is also true...
So what was the first thing that was hit in Neon, apart from finance?
Oh no! Takahashi Oshinori turned pale. It was the land!
…
For business executives like Oshinori Takahashi, what they are concerned about is the possible impact of the news on their careers.
But when ordinary people get their hands on today's newspapers, the most interesting part is of course the report about the Yakuza gunfight in Yeshan.
In particular, the Daily News spent three pages to give a detailed account of what happened.
First of all, there is the gunfight that took place in Yeshan last night, although there are no photos of the on-site firefight.
However, a large number of people around can testify that there were flames in the Yeshan villa area at night, and there were constant gunfire and artillery fire.
Photos of the interior of the villa taken afterwards also showed how fierce the exchange of fire was, with bullet holes and blackened surfaces caused by the explosion everywhere.
However, the strange thing is that despite such an intense exchange of fire, no casualties or bodies were found at the scene?!
According to the reporter's visit and investigation, the villa here in Yeshan belongs to the assets of the Yakuza Association.
An insider of the General Association House revealed that the top management of the General Association House was holding a meeting there on the night of the incident.
There are more than 100 people in total, but now I can’t contact any of them.
It was as if they had disappeared out of thin air. The Metropolitan Police Department summoned them one by one, but there was no news from them.
As of the moment the newspaper was published, no one knew what had happened to Ye Shan.
However, the scandals involving major banks discovered at the scene were widely reported by major newspapers.
Some of them were organized by the association, some were organized by the association itself, in short, there were all kinds of things.
However, ordinary people are not interested in these things, and the gang fights are more interesting.
However, they did not know that the seemingly boring financial data had brought an unprecedented impact to Neon.
