Thomas Hoover - The samurai strategy

It had all the easy resonance of a grand historical venture, except… except what if this was still ken, superficialities, not kan, the real truth?

"Before we go any further, I think Dr. Richardson and I should talk this over." I looked up to see the Tsukuba Hotel, where we were scheduled to stay overnight. Noda had made other accommodations for himself, saying he also needed to drop by the Metallurgy Lab and check to see how work was going on the sword. My scheduled viewing was to be tomorrow.

"I agree." Tam looked at me sharply. "We can discuss this more in the morning."

"As you wish." The limo was pulling to a stop. "Tomorrow should be an interesting day for you both. We can continue our discussions then." He smiled. "However, be aware that time is of the essence."

With that parting shot, the long black Nissan sped away.

"Tam, let's see if this place has a bar. I need a drink."

"Double." She was carrying the small overnight bag Noda's New York staff had handed her as we left. I had one too, just a shirt and essentials.

The hotel saloon was modernistic, vinyl, and leaned heavily toward Japanese beer and Suntory whiskey. By now some middle-level executives were getting off work at the labs and dropping in to start their usual evening round of drinking, but at this early hour it was still sparsely occupied.

We headed for a comer table and ordered a couple of draft Kirin. After the beers arrived, we got down to brass tacks.

What the hell was Noda's real agenda?

Two heads, so the saying goes, are better than one. I don't know, could be they're worse. Because as Tam and I sat there, Noda's offer to head up some kind of new world consortium dangling before us, what our two heads came up with was the scariest thing that'd ever crossed my path.

Maybe it was the thought of America's working stiffs, whose jobs Noda supposedly was so determined to save. Trouble was, I didn't buy that in the slightest anymore. So what made any sense?

Simple. Why not the most obvious answer of all? Noda wasn't doing this for them. Or for Japan. That wasn't his game. Noda was planning this grand design for Noda.

"Tam." I sipped at my beer. "Did you believe a word of what he said?"

"Of course not. At least not the United Nations speech. It's pure hogwash."

"Totally agree. But he's about to do something big, I'm convinced."

"Got any ideas."

Luckily the place was getting noisier now, so nobody could have been listening even if they'd tried. Which was the very reason I wanted to talk in the bar and not in either of our rooms. Who knew the reach of Noda's electronic ears?

"Not really. But what if we stepped back a second and tried looking at this latest move from a longer view. Maybe we've been tangled up in the trees, missing the forest."

"We've seen plenty of forest lately."

"But what if it's the wrong one? Let's try the teki ni naru to iu koto strategy, become the enemy. Pretend for a minute we're Noda, a guy who's got it all-money, clout, everything. So why does he all of a sudden want to come across the Pacific and buy himself a load of industrial headaches, then hand them Japan's technology?"

"It's MITI somehow. I'm convinced that's the key. Which is why I'm going to nail Ken."

"Well, let's not jump to conclusions. I'm wondering. What if Dai Nippon is taking over American industry not because it's strategic to MITI as those memos we found would lead us to think. What if the reason is because it's strategic to Noda?"

"But why?"

"What if his relationship to that ministry is something totally different from what it seems?"

"Well, if MITI's not behind the buy-ups, then who're they for?"

I sat a minute, again trying to think like Noda. "What if this scenario is actually aimed at… what if it's a global power play?"

She looked at me skeptically. "I don't get it."

"Okay, granted it sounds crazy, but let's chase that for a minute. I think we agree this whole scenario is not what he wants it to seem. So what are some of the other things in all this that aren't what they appear to be? Does anything dovetail?" I sat musing a second, searching for an opening. "What are some of the twists about Japan that're obviously misleading?"

"Well, acceptance of gaijin, for one. It goes only so far, then stops like a brick wall." She was obviously speaking from personal experience.

"Maybe that's because they've always been isolated. Some things never change," I pondered aloud. "Which is probably the secret of their success. Take the ruling clique. Sure, Japan is a democracy, but is it really? Not the way we understand the word. What they actually have, after you get past all the slogans, is just a retread of the old system. The truth is it's still run as it was a thousand years ago. By the old families, the old money. Elections never decide issues. They're handled by the power structure. Half the seats in the Diet are practically hereditary, going back generations in the same family. There's only one real political party. The ministries are fiefdoms. I mean, the goddam country is still feudal. They don't even have a word for democracy. They had to borrow it. Demokurasu."

"Well, Japan's a pragmatic place. The old ways work. Remember the zaibatsu, those industrial conglomerates that ran the war machine? MacArthur dismantled them, but they reappeared almost as soon as he left."

"Right, the power structure restored those right away. The zaibatsu are back and chewing up world commerce. But the demokurasu eyewash is still around. The job's not finished."

She stared around the room. "Matt, I don't like where I think you're headed."

"I agree it's sick, but let's push it a little more. What is it about Japan that's made it such a dynamo the last couple of decades?"

"Hard work, organization, drive."

"Exactly. But where did that come from?"

"They had to have it. Over the centuries most Japanese were dirt poor. They had to hustle just to survive. Matthew, Japan is a collectivist society driven by capitalism, an idea so alien to the West nobody can even see it."

"Perfect description. Only problem is, all this demokurasu is sooner or later going to start cutting away the very thing that's made Japan so successful-a country powered by obedient, collective action and glued together by hierarchy and tradition."

"You're saying Noda wants to turn back the clock?"

"Don't know. But what if these industrialists, these zaibatsu honchos, are fed up with having to deal with all the cumbersome demokurasu machinery. And they're especially fed up with a certain ministry making them jump the hoop. Tam, what if Noda's real agenda is to go to America and buy himself a gun to hold to MITI's head."

"You don't think he's buying America's companies to help MITI?" She looked unconvinced.

"If I had money to bet, I'd almost be willing to put it on the possibility he's buying leverage to use against MITI and through them the whole inefficient government setup. How come MITI's suddenly sending staff over to look in on Noda's play? Could it be somebody there's figured out what he's up to and they want to head him off? They realize Matsuo Noda is the only man on the planet who could conceivably beat MITI at its own game? Bring it to its knees? First he acquired control of half the capital in Japan, then he came to the U.S. and started grabbing up all the R amp;D that'll be competing with MITI through the end of the century. When he's got it, he'll have a power base to match theirs. He's set to call the new tune."

"Which is?"

"Who knows? But try this for an agenda: time to cut the crap, Noda's thinking, get rid of all the clumsy Western-style demokurasu charade, tighten up, lean and mean. Go back to the only system that's ever really clicked for Japan. Imperial rule. Make the 'Land of the Gods' sacred and invincible."