Corporate Japan is changing, and so are the complex relationships between the business world and the individual human beings who own, manage, and make it work. In his latest book, author and lawyer Shin Ushijima uses his rare talent to weave a fictional story about love, loyalty, betrayal, war and peace, and the collapse and rebirth of Japanese corporate culture and the country. Join us chapter by chapter to read this gripping saga and follow the series.
Find earlier chapters through the Table of Contents
Chapter 5: Japan for Sale!
The Destiny of the Baby Boomer Generation
Speaking to his classmate, the lawyer explains: “Nonetheless, as Mineo has passed away, his eldest daughter and eldest son, that is, your second son, are due to inherit equally. But Mineo isn’t the sole shareholder of Hiroshima Kosan.”
“Midori holds just 10%. His deceased wife got 20%. That’s because her father provided funding when Mineo started the business.”
“Do you know what happened to the inheritance that she left?”
“Of course. I handled things. The only heirs were my husband, Mineo, and his daughter, Midori.”
“No doubt you know who the shareholders of Hiroshima Kosan are.”
“Mineo had 90% and Midori the other 10%.”
“Hmm, why didn’t Mineo get 100% of his wife’s inheritance?”
“Mineo understood his daughter’s feelings. After all, her grandfather helped start the company, and her mother inherited the shares acquired as a result. If Mineo were to take it away from her just because her mother had died, wouldn’t she wonder why? Back then, Mineo still thought Midori was his biological child.”
Reiko Nishino let out a deep sigh. There was a faint smell of alcohol in the air.
A Grief-stricken Daughter
“Mineo was extremely kind to his late wife’s child. Of course, that’s understandable, since her mother died in a traffic accident when the eldest daughter, Midori, was only 10 years old. After she lost her mother, little Midori refused to go to school. She had been enrolled in a prestigious, private elementary school about an hour away from their home. But nothing could get her to keep going to school.’
“Mineo tried everything he could. Figuring the commute to school was too much for her, he even gave her a ride in a company vehicle, taking her to school himself.’
“If something proves impossible, then it’s best to just leave it at that. She wasn’t going to that school again. I came to realize that clearly, Mineo later confided in me. He explained in detail everything that happened. He really was a remarkable man.”
“Hmm.”
“I heard all about what happened from Mineo. They got to her school, and apparently they had only made it halfway up the stairs to the classroom on the second floor, with him nudging her along. But just when they reached the landing, the girl had stopped dead in her tracks. And nothing he did could get her to move.
“‘Look, we’re almost there.'”
“‘Pointing that fact out proved useless,’ Mineo explained to me. ‘So, I pulled hard on her belt from behind. I was trying to get her to move along somehow. Then, that child’s body bent in two, just like a shrimp. I was amazed at how much the human body can bend. Even so, I simply couldn’t get Midori to budge from that spot.’
Whispers in a Child’s Ear
“Mineo told me it was a sudden realization. He said, ‘That was the moment I thought, Okay, I get it, that’s enough. It’s OK, it’s OK. You don’t have to go to school anymore,’ he whispered in the girl’s ear. Then the two got back in the car and headed home.”
“He didn’t know the reason why Midori was so determined not to go to school. But he understood very well that this kid didn’t want to attend class. I guess you could say he was made to realize that the world as seen through this child’s eyes was completely different from the world he saw through his own eyes. After all, the world that dragonflies see through their compound eyes is something that must remain incomprehensible to us human beings.”
“Then and there he decided what he had to do as a father. He had no doubts whatsoever in that regard. He said, ‘All I cared about was this child. I didn’t give a damn about the rest of the world.'”
“But after you and Mineo started trying to conceive, he found out that his deceased wife had had an affair,” I observed. “In other words, that’s how their daughter was born — meaning the child wasn’t his.”
A Depth of Kindness
“Yes. I see Fujitomo already told you. I felt so sorry for Mineo. It was sad to hear how he had first lost his wife, and then his daughter refused to go to school. I also had a son about her age. It wasn’t someone else’s problem. Those two kids were so close, just like they were twins.
“Well, as I listened to Mineo talk that way about Midori, I realized things I could never have known through our work relationship, like how Mineo was actually a very kind-hearted person. That’s how our relationship deepened. Before that, there had been nothing personal between us.
“However, I now understood he had been a husband who cared deeply for his wife, as well as an unfortunate man whose wife had been taken from him. And watching how he raised Midori, who was bereft of her mother, I realized what a truly kind-hearted person Mineo was. At work, he was the kind of person who pushes himself forward without regard for others. Now I realized that he was more than just that.”
“Hmm. When did your husband pass away?”
“So you want to know when I started having a physical relationship with Mineo, right? It was later, much later. I never cheated or anything like that.”
“No, that’s not what I was getting at. He found out that his deceased wife had been having an affair when he tried to conceive a child with you. That’s how he learned that the child he had automatically assumed was his eldest daughter was actually not related to him by blood. But Mineo didn’t change his attitude towards his eldest daughter after that discovery, did he?”
“That’s right.”
A Woman’s Influence
“I think your influence, or rather your way of thinking, played a big part in that. A man is shaped by the woman in his life, after all.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“Maybe. Anyhow, if you two had a child together, regardless of what Mineo might think, I feel that any woman in your position would naturally find her own child more endearing.”
“Really? Well, maybe I’m not normal then. I also doted on Midori-chan. For example, I attended school events in Mineo’s place…. I already told you, didn’t I? My own boy is the same age. I’ve been like a mother to her, and I was happy that she became so attached to me.”
“But after you had a child with Mineo, wasn’t it natural that you started to view his child from his previous marriage in a different light?”
“We got married as if it were the most natural thing in the world. But both Mineo and I were very concerned about Midori.”
“Is that really so?…. Since both of you felt Midori was like a fragile sculpture made of glass, it was only natural for you as adults to avoid putting on any kind of pressure that might upset her. I mean, Mineo raised Midori as his own beloved child for years before he found out she wasn’t his offspring. Could he be expected to change overnight?”
“But then the child that was born next was yours, right?”
“Mineo was everything to me. And he was the father of my child.”
Growing Up as Siblings
“So, Midori-chan, your first son and Eijiro grew up as if they were an older sister and younger brothers.”
“Of course. Midori is three months older than my first son.”
“By the way, what is the name of your elder son from your first marriage?”
“Yuichiro.”
“Including Yuichiro, that makes two brothers and one sister. So, there were three siblings in your family, right?”
“Correct. One older sister and two younger brothers. A five-member family, including the parents.”
“When did Midori find out that she wasn’t really the child of the only father she had ever known?”
“She still doesn’t know. That’s why I want to consult with you. We’ve been living together all this time.”
“All five of you?”
“Of course. We’re a family after all.”
An Experienced Lawyer
Reiko took her brandy glass to a nearby table where she refilled it. She then returned immediately to where I was. Her light, almost floating gait remained unchanged from when she was a young girl.
“But now that Mineo has died, I want to buy all the shares in Hiroshima Kosan. That’s because the two of us, Mineo and I, built the company.”
“Is that how it is?”
“I realize it’s a bit perverse, but my mind’s made up.”
“Does the company’s articles of incorporation state that the company itself can buy out shareholders in the event of a shareholder’s death?”
“They do. Our legal advisor made sure a ‘death of shareholder’ provision was included.”
“Then everything should be fine.”
“But it can be a bit of a hassle, I suppose, deciding how much to pay for the shares and so on. I’d like to ask a lawyer who’s experienced in these kinds of things.”
“In that respect, my law firm is number one in Japan.”
By this time, Reiko Nishino was performing fully in her role as managing director of Hiroshima Kosan.
Follow the story chapter by chapter as it continues.
(To read the book in Japanese, please visit the publisher’s website.)
READ Other Books in English by Shin Ushijima:
Author: Shin Ushijima
Ushijima & Partners, Attorneys at Law
Translation by: John C Carroll
(Edited by Susan Komori, Japan Forward)
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