Thomas Hoover - The samurai strategy

"This is getting wild." She lowered her voice. "But maybe… maybe you could be right. He just happens to locate the Imperial sword, and suddenly the emperor is resurrected from a discredited figurehead back to a symbol of Japan's greatness."

"Here comes that old-time religion. Everybody goes traditional, right on cue, and the nutty Japan Firsters are thriving again, just like the thirties."

"Good Lord."

"Doesn't it all fit somehow? Matsuo Noda started off by creating this shadow outfit, Dai Nippon, in order to get his hands on all his countrymen's money. Now the next step will be to start phasing out the demokurasu frills and the powerless prime minister and the MITI bureaucrats and turning the place into a kick-ass machine again. Look out world."

"One small problem. The emperor can't rule Japan. Not really. He's a living god. Which means…"

"See? That difficulty's nothing new. For a thousand years the emperor's had no real clout anyway. The nitty-gritty of running Japan was always the job of his stand-in."

There was a long pause. We both avoided speaking the word, but there it was. Finally she leaned back and closed her eyes, her voice barely audible above the din of the bar.

"Shogun."

"Komban wa, Tamara." The voice emerged from the dark as her key turned in the door of room 328. "How are you?"

"Ken!"

"Good to see you again."

"How did you…?"

He chuckled as he switched on the light by the chair. "Rank in MITI has its moments."

"I thought you were coming tomorrow."

"I am, officially." He rose and moved toward her. "But tonight I'd hoped we could be together." He smiled. "Alone."

She stood in the open doorway, unmoving.

"Ken, we have a lot to talk about, all right." She closed the door. "And I don't mean in bed."

Truthfully, she wasn't even sure she wanted to see him at all. The Dai Nippon scenario was getting too complicated, too insidious. Noda's play was turning into something with worldwide implications.

"Tamara, I came because we need to talk. I think you're in danger. Maybe we both are."

"From Noda? Just because he's a megalomaniac-"

"You think it's that simple?" he interrupted. "Don't be so sure. For now let's just say he's very, very clever, and very powerful." He reached out to welcome her. "But whatever he is, the time has come to stop him."

"I think Matt and I just figured out why. He's a threat to MITI, isn't he, Ken? A peril to your power base."

"He's a threat to everybody. But yes, MITI is definitely in his way at this point. Or at least I'm in his way. Somebody has to be."

"So what do you expect me to do about it? As a matter of fact, what has MITI done for me lately except try and move in on my work?"

"Tam, you can't stand up to Noda alone. But maybe together we can, at least for a while."

"What makes you think…?"

"I have a weapon at my disposal. A powerful weapon. The ministry. If we can use it to focus attention on what he's-"

"How?"

"I want to speed up the ministry's involvement. Bring in lots more people. We do that and we'll-"

"I see." She slipped past him and headed for the second chair. 'That's a terrific idea. Give it all to MITI." For a moment there she'd almost been ready to start trusting him again.

"Tam, we only have to make it seem that's what is happening." He turned to face her. "It'll be like waving a red flag under the nose of your Congress. Surely that'll wake everybody up to what he's doing. They'd move in and stop him cold. Guaranteed."

"Ken, Matsuo Noda made me a very intriguing proposition today. Matter of fact, it sounds better than yours." She got up and walked over to the small refrigerator fitted under the sink. "Want a beer? I'm going to have one."

"All right." He looked at her. "What were you saying just now? About a proposition?"

"Noda asked me to head up a Japanese-American consortium run as a single industry. It's almost as if he wants to put together an American version of MITI, an organization that can oversee and coordinate American R amp;D nationwide."

"Do you believe he means what he says?"

She turned and stared at him for a moment. "I guess the honest answer is no. I think it's just a smokescreen to get his hands on everything he wants in the U.S., disguised under the rubric of assistance." She retrieved two cans of cold Asahi and popped the tops. "On the other hand, you're suggesting we have to give America's industry to MITI in order to save it from Matsuo Noda." She extended a can of beer and a glass. "Right now, I don't trust MITI any more than I trust him."

"Tamara, this is a high-stakes game. Against a man with more money and power than the world has ever seen in one place. It's not going to be easy to stop him. It's also going to be risky. For us both."

"And you think a MITI takeover is the answer."

"It's the only thing that's left." He sobered. "Unfortunately it'll also damage MITI's political credibility badly worldwide. But that's the price I'm willing to pay to stop Noda. What other choice is there?"

"Hurt MITI? I'm not so sure. Taking over all of DNI's American research labs should give quite a boost to your Marketshare – 90 program, wouldn't it. You'd be acquiring America's high-tech sector for Japan all nicely wrapped up in a bundle." She poured from her can. "Ought to trim years off your timetable."

"I don't know where you heard about that, Tam." Vague surprise in his voice. "But that's not a real program. Market- share – 90 is just a planning exercise over in the General Affairs Section. Part of some training for their new people."

"When we asked Noda about it, he seemed to think it was real enough."

"Then he was just bluffing. He had to be."

"Ken, what do you take me for…?" She wasn't sure how much more double-talk she could stand.

He waved his hand to stop her. "Please. Just trust me for this once. That's all I ask."

"You're sure as hell not making it easy. I think it's time you told me what's really going on."

"All right. I'll show you the bottom line. Maybe then you'll accept the truth." He got up and went over to his briefcase. "I have something in here you ought to see."

"What?"

"It's an advance text of the speech His Majesty delivers on January second."

"That's his annual New Year's appearance at the Imperial palace, right? When he bestows his blessings upon the land."

"Exactly." He pulled out the sheet. "I think this sheds light on a lot of things. Here. I made a rough English translation, just to hear how it sounds."

She took the paper, torn from a yellow legal pad, and began to read.

The speech began with a long-winded celebration of the famous Yasukuni Shrine, home of the spirits of all Japanese warriors. That shrine, His Majesty then went on to declare, was increasingly misconstrued by the world as a symbol of Japanese militarism, a misapprehension both unfortunate and untrue, since Japan had indeed renounced martial force forever. However, to reinforce that commitment in the eyes of a nervous world, he was now announcing the dedication of a new national shrine to Japan's spirit that would have no such misleading overtones. This new shrine, at Tsukuba Science City, would be a memorial to the peaceful use of technology, to man's mastery of the physical world sanctified so long ago by the Shinto gods.

She looked up. "A new national shrine? Nice political move."

"Better read the rest before you jump to conclusions."

She glanced down and continued on.

It had further been decided, the Emperor would say, that the newly recovered Imperial sword would not be housed at Ise after all. It would instead be the centerpiece of this new memorial to Japanese technology.

Well, she thought, it still sounds okay. Theme shrines are perfectly within tradition. After all, the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo commemorated the nineteenth-century emperor who began Japan's modernization. However, the thing to remember was that new shrines can have a philosophical subtext. The Meiji told the Japanese that their country had accepted Westernization. So, given that the creation of a new shrine can embody a message to everybody, she found herself wondering what word was being sent out this time.