Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 356 Wanting to Disregard Martial Morality
After watching Sato Aoji leave, Takeshita Masato went to the window and looked out the door.

"I guess their involvement will have a 'catfish effect'."

If East Asians are the kings of rolls, then university students studying in Japan are the kings of rolls among kings.

Whether they are self-funded students, government-funded students, or students sponsored by companies and individuals like Xinghai Group, the competition is fierce.

Among them, the students who are funded by the government and those sponsored by Xinghai Group mainly have to work hard and compete fiercely in China in order to get this opportunity.

As for self-funded international students, apart from a very few exceptionally wealthy individuals, most of them borrow money from all their relatives and friends before venturing to Japan alone.

Even so, the money borrowed is generally only enough for a year's tuition at the language school and a few months' living expenses.

Therefore, most Chinese people who go to Japan at their own expense through language schools have to work odd jobs everywhere.

Their weary figures can be seen in convenience store cashiers and small restaurant dishwashers.

What's even more painful is that they have to work part-time to earn tuition and living expenses while studying hard to prepare for the entrance exams for Japanese universities.

It can be said that Chinese self-funded students who manage to get into university understand the hardships of life better and are more willing to strive and work hard than most mainland Chinese university students.

Selecting them to join Xinghai Group would have a similar effect to selecting the eldest sons of rural families for the Chrysanthemum Factory.

These people are willing to work hard for money and have a particularly strong ability to withstand pressure.

After all, self-funded students studying in Japan who lack resilience and diligence simply cannot study hard while working hard every day, let alone get into a good university.

In addition to wanting to leverage their strength to develop Xinghai Group (China) related industries, it also aims to stimulate domestic employees in Japan like a catfish.

Masato Takeshita also wanted to help them.

These international students who come to Japan at their own expense have a tough time and aren't particularly lucky.

We are currently in a period of employment stagnation for Japanese university graduates. If young people do not provide assistance, there will definitely be international students who will be unemployed upon graduation.

The hard work of these international students deserves a better life, allowing them to see the brighter side of the world.

"Sigh, that's all I can do to help."

Life is truly powerless, even for Xinghai Group.

He knew very well that most ordinary people who went to Japan at their own expense, except for a few who could get into university, ended up as illegal workers.

Some were scammed and misled by the agents' advertising. They ended up attending a diploma mill in Japan, and no other schools offered them accommodation.

To survive, one has no choice but to become an illegal immigrant.

Another group consists of those with poor learning abilities, who cannot learn no matter how hard they try.

In addition, there are countless illegal immigrants.

After all, even in Japan in 1994, the average wage was still dozens of times higher than that in Shanghai.

One day's work is equivalent to one or two months' salary for a regular employee in Shanghai, China. A year's work is roughly enough to buy a house in Shanghai.

With so many people, even if Masato Takeshita wanted to help, he couldn't do anything about it.

He could only ask the company to take care of ordinary people in Japan to a certain extent, and even then, he had to use the excuse of developing business in China.

There's no way around it; he's Japanese now. Even if he shows a pro-China attitude on a daily basis, he can't go too far or he'll be ostracized by Japanese society.

After providing brief and superficial care to the international student group, the young man visited the headquarters of Xinghai Software.

"Nishimura-san, is everything going smoothly here?"

"It went very smoothly. New computers across the Asian and Australian markets will be equipped with the Starsea operating system as soon as possible."

"Keep it up, and absolutely do not give Microsoft the slightest chance to infiltrate."

Although there is a contract, the profits from operating systems are too great, and even if Microsoft violates the contract, it would be difficult for Xinghai Software to win a lawsuit against Microsoft.

Even if they win the lawsuit against Microsoft, they'll probably only get some compensation, and things will remain the same as before.

There's nothing we can do; Japan's international power is simply not strong enough.

Even if the US sides with Microsoft, Starsea Group can only suffer in silence.

"Don't worry, Chairman, we are keeping a close eye on Microsoft. We have also formed strategic alliances in the Asia region with computer retailers such as IBM, HP, and Dell in the United States, and Fujitsu, NEC, and Toshiba in China."

"Even if Microsoft wanted to get in, it wouldn't find an opportunity."

Masaharu Nishimura, president of Seikai Software, was extremely confident and simply did not believe that Microsoft could break through his Maginot Line.

"We can't be careless. If Bill Sand can outmaneuver companies like IBM, our Xinghai Group might not fare much better."

Thinking of China's huge software market in the future, Masato Takeshita simply gave the order.

"Starting tomorrow, we will intensify the dissemination of pirated Star Sea content in countries with a GDP of less than $5000."

What is the most powerful force in this world? It must be free.

As long as the Starry Sea operating system doesn't make money in China, Southeast Asia, or other regions and countries, Microsoft's Windows operating system can forget about entering the market.

This is also Microsoft's future development strategy for its Windows operating system in China. Allowing pirated systems to flourish will stifle any PC operating system with the potential to grow.

"Supporting the distribution of pirated content?"

Nishimura Masaharu was completely bewildered, having no idea what his chairman was thinking.

"That's right, it's about supporting the spread of pirated systems. We can't sell many in these countries anyway, so we might as well let piracy take over the market."

"We will start charging fees when the time is right."

Haruaki Nishimura, having risen to such a high position, was no fool and quickly understood the chairman's meaning.

He simply didn't realize it for a moment. After all, Japan values ​​copyright highly and never even considered piracy.

"Understood. Do those major companies still need to charge fees?"

After realizing this, Masaharu Nishimura became even more radical than Masato Takeshita, and simply gave up all profits for the sake of the market.

It's not much anyway, so I won't feel bad about throwing it away.

"Sure. Apart from Japan, the Four Asian Tigers, and wealthy Middle Eastern countries, the entire Asian market is dominated by pirated systems."

While the free strategy is the strongest competitive advantage for operating systems, it requires an early advantage.

It is somewhat similar to the social media industry in later generations, where the first player to emerge will basically monopolize the market.

In my past life, people would always ask this question on platforms such as Zhihu, Weibo, Tieba, and Bilibili.

Why is WeChat limited to the Greater China market and unable to expand internationally?

The reason is simple: other social media platforms had a first-mover advantage.

By the time WeChat wanted to expand overseas, the international market had already been dominated by instant messaging software such as WhatsApp and Line.

"Yes, President!"

Operating systems are Xinghai Software's main business, but not its only business.

He then began asking about industrial software, databases, and other related fields.

Yes, Japan also has this business, and it holds a dominant position in it.

The demand is there.

At this time, Japan far surpassed China in both industry and data.

"The industrial software is progressing smoothly and has already suppressed its competitor SoftBank. The database is still in the research stage and there are no results yet."

"Oh, you suppressed SoftBank?"

Masayoshi Son's SoftBank is no ordinary company; it distributes countless American software products.

The fact that Xinghai Group can suppress SoftBank means that its industrial software division has matured. "Yes, we currently hold 35% of the domestic market, while SoftBank only has 25%."

Masaharu Nishimura was very proud because before he became the president of Seikai Software, the company had zero business in this area.

As a result, in less than three years, Xinghai Software became the number one in this business.

"Impressive, truly worthy of being called our software lion."

"The chairman is exaggerating; it's all just media hype."

The rapid rise of Xinghai Group is quite legendary, especially considering that its senior leaders are mostly young people.

Therefore, the media is very happy to report news about Xinghai Group and is also keen to give each young leader a nickname.

It can only be said that the Japanese people's chuunibyou (adolescent delusions of grandeur) has permeated the deepest part of their souls.

"Alright, there are often wrong names, but rarely wrong nicknames. Your actions are indeed brave and swift."

"However, we cannot be complacent. We must continue to strengthen our capabilities in the industrial software field, ideally achieving a 50% market share."

Masayoshi Son is currently focused on helping Cisco sell routers and related products, and hasn't put much effort into the industrial software field.

Xinghai Software naturally wanted to seize the opportunity to accelerate its development and capture the industrial software market.

"Yes, please rest assured, Chairman."

Masaharu Nishimura was full of confidence because he had already reached a basic agreement with Toyota and Honda.

It's fair to say that the entire automotive industry is already beckoning to Xinghai Software.

"OK, that's good that you're determined. Let's stop here for today and go to Xinghai Entertainment."

"Yes, President!"

Although he didn't understand what the young man wanted to do, as a subordinate, he naturally had to obediently follow orders.

Masato Takeshita didn't intend to hide anything, so he briefly explained the situation to him in the car.

"Ah, President, you've granted us permission to enter the gaming realm?"

Masaharu Nishimura was very surprised because he had asked the question tactfully many times, but each time he was refused.

Unexpectedly, it suddenly worked this time.

Although it's a subsidiary in China, it doesn't really matter; it belongs to the same large group as Xinghai Software.

"That's right, starting today, any subsidiary can enter the gaming industry."

Starsea Games' future lies in first-party games, so the more games the better. However, Starsea Games simply cannot achieve this goal on its own. Therefore, the more companies within the Starsea Group that develop the game industry, the happier Starsea Games will be.

"That's wonderful!"

Software companies are a natural fit for the development of the gaming industry, so he was ready to make a big splash.

The game's ability to win big with a small investment is so strong that no one can help but envy it.

"Yes, but you must remember. Games can only be a side business; the company's focus should still be on developing operating systems and office software."

"Don't worry, President, I understand. Games will just be a small part of the company's business."

Games do make money, but there are also many competitors.

Unlike operating software, it is not only very profitable, but also has no competitors.

Masaharu Nishimura isn't stupid; he naturally knows the company's main strategy.

"Ah That's good."

Takeshita Masato smiled and nodded, then casually asked a question.

How's our email software development going?

If the 21st century is the era of instant messaging in the social sphere, then email was the king of social media in the 20th century.

Basically, every worker who needs to use a computer cannot do without it.

And even in the 21st century, email software hasn't disappeared. Many large companies still prefer to use email to assign tasks.

"It's still just a framework at the moment, and we expect it to be completed smoothly by the end of this year."

“Great, as long as there are no serious bugs, we can promote it online directly.”

"We are free software, and countless people will help us find bugs."

Many free software programs are not very good at the beginning, but are gradually improved by the help of netizens.

The Starry Sea mailbox, which may be launched at the end of the year, will naturally follow the same path.

"I understand, netizens are our testers."

Xinghai Software's main business is operating systems, so he is very familiar with the open-source operating system that his company supports, which was developed under the leadership of Ken Sakamura.

This operating system was initially very rudimentary, but now it is quite sophisticated and has even surpassed the graphical operating system developed by Xinghai Software in some areas.

It can be said that Masaharu Nishimura is one of the employees within the Xinghai Group who has the clearest understanding of the power of netizens.

"Oh, right. We'll release the English version first, then the Japanese and French versions."

"And don't release it under the name of Xinghai Software, just set up a shell company to distribute it."

"When the time is right, that is, when the number of users reaches a certain scale, we will fully roll it out under the name of Xinghai Software."

Masato Takeshita planned a covert operation to seize the global email market as soon as it was exposed, leaving no opportunity for Microsoft to exploit.

Of course, even so, it would be difficult to achieve a monopoly in Europe and America.

Microsoft has operating system support, which allows it to easily gain a large market share in Europe and America.

Masato Takeshita was fully aware of this, but he didn't care.

Email is destined to be a niche product; he just wanted to cause trouble and distract Microsoft.

"Yes, I understand."

Masaharu Nishimura was well aware of the advantages of a monopoly.

If Microsoft had discovered it in its early stages, its development would indeed have been much more difficult.

Xinghai Software is wary of Microsoft, and Microsoft is equally wary of Xinghai Software.

Once Microsoft finds out that the email service is a product of Xinghai Software, it will inevitably face endless suppression.

After all, Microsoft might have died if it weren't for the support of the US government.

Xinghai Software is not far from Xinghai Entertainment; both are located in the port area.

In less than half an hour, the two arrived at the foot of the office building.

After exchanging pleasantries with Rogers who came to greet them, the group arrived at the luxurious small conference room of Starsea Entertainment.

"We're all acquaintances, so there's no need for excessive formalities. I'll just get straight to the point."

Sitting at the head of the table, Masato Takeshita didn't bother with Japanese etiquette and simply continued speaking.

“Starsea Games’ growth has reached a bottleneck, and it is difficult to make a breakthrough in revenue. Therefore, I am prepared to relax restrictions on the game industry and support other companies within the group to enter this industry.”

"Does the chairman mean that Xinghai Software should be allowed to enter the gaming industry?"

Rogers picked up the conversation, asking calmly.

He wasn't ready to reveal his true thoughts immediately and wanted to learn more.

(End of this chapter)