Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 402 Interview
"Ah, cool!"

Takeshita Masato didn't bother to dry himself off first; he immediately buried himself in the hot water pool.

"Sure enough, when people are irritable, they just want to cause trouble."

After swimming in the nearly 100-square-meter hot water pool for a while, the young man lay half-reclined by the pool and talked to himself.

Then he stared blankly at the ceiling above him, not thinking about anything, his mind completely blank.

After an unknown amount of time, Masato Takeshita, feeling somewhat uncomfortable lying down, turned over and began to sort out his thoughts.

This is an essential part of his daily shower routine, and it works very well, somewhat like a student reviewing new lessons in advance.

"The media must be in a hurry, so let's arrange an interview with the Daily News first."

"As for the other media? Well, we'll schedule it for the day after tomorrow."

Daily News Group is the only traditional media company under the Xinghai Group, so it naturally needs to be taken care of.

However, other media outlets cannot be offended, so a special press conference needs to be held.

This way, you won't offend anyone and you can avoid being asked the same questions too many times.

"After the daily news interviews are over, I will continue to call everyone back."

"We'll probably have to work another day, so the company's celebration banquet will have to be postponed again."

"Then let's put it on the night after tomorrow, and then ask the cafeteria to prepare some good dishes."

Xinghai Group has too many employees, and it's difficult to find many suitable restaurants in a short period of time.

Why not rent some tables and chairs, and then buy high-quality food from the market to cook in the company cafeteria?

Firstly, employees don't have to run around, and secondly, the food is more enjoyable.

Internal celebration banquets are easy to arrange, but external ones are more troublesome.

After careful consideration, Masato Takeshita decided to attend the dinner party hosted by Noboru Takeshita and Keizo Obuchi first.

This is the official force that Xinghai Group currently relies on most, and its importance must be demonstrated from every angle.

"The Inamori clan should also hold a victory celebration banquet. Hmm, let's hold it after the official victory celebration banquet."

The celebratory banquet for external guests mainly invites senior political figures, CEOs and shareholders of major companies, and leaders from various industries.

Therefore, it would be inappropriate to postpone the banquet until after the Inamori clan's time.

Xinghai Group is already a giant company. If it acts too much in favor of the Dao family clique, it will cause rejection from the whole society.

This is also an unspoken rule in the Japanese business community.

You can favor your alma mater when hiring, but you should also leave room for other schools.

Especially now that Japanese university students are facing a job market slump, it is even more important to maintain a balance in recruitment.

There can be many, but not one that stands out from the crowd.

In fact, it's not just businesses; the Japanese government is also showing this increasingly clearly.

Other universities acknowledge that the University of Tokyo is excellent, but they also need to give other universities a chance to succeed.

Unlike before the end of World War II, when Japanese politics was dominated by the University of Tokyo and other universities were practically nonexistent.

After clarifying everything, Takeshita Masato was finally mentally prepared.

However, the thought of the phone call after the interview tomorrow morning gave him a headache.

"Damn it, I hate these boring, polite phone calls the most. Even in my past life, I found it incredibly annoying to call relatives to wish them a Happy New Year."

"I wonder when my status will be elevated to the point where I can have my secretary handle everything."

After muttering to himself in frustration for a while, the young man scratched his head, looking somewhat troubled.

"I guess it's impossible in this lifetime, but if my status improves further, I guess I can only respond to calls from a small number of people."

Social interactions are the cornerstone of social development and can never be eliminated.

At most, if he were to rise a bit higher in rank, he could only respond to calls from a few politicians, such as the prime minister, and a small number of business leaders who control the lifeline of the Japanese economy.

At that time, I estimate I'll only need to return for twenty or thirty days, and I won't encounter the current troubles.

Of course, he could have avoided this level of stress, as many issues could have been handled by his secretary. However, considering the sentiments in Japan, he opted for the more demanding approach of taking full responsibility.

……

At 9:05 a.m. the next day, the editor of the Daily News gave the order.

"Nakajima-san, go arrange the manpower. We need to go to the group headquarters to interview the chairman. Let's leave now."

"Hi, please wait a moment, Mr. Maehara."

Upon hearing the name of the group's chairman, Nakajima's assistant immediately realized what was going on. He hurried to the main office and found his chief scribe's most trusted stenographer and cameraman.

"Chief Writer Maehara is going to the headquarters of Xinghai Group for an interview. Mr. Yagi, Mr. Kataoka, we need to leave now."

After hearing what the assistant writer said, the two of them became serious.

This is explosive news; it might even boost our newspaper's sales and increase our bonuses.

Speaking of which, the employees of Daily News Group are truly grateful to Xinghai Group for acquiring their company.

Since the acquisition, Mainichi Shimbun Group has not only gained a new signature project—the Fortune Global 500 list—but also many exclusive reports on Seikai Group, which has always been at the center of Japanese public opinion.

Yes, since 1993, the Seikai Group has been at the center of public opinion in Japan.

The reason is simple: most companies at the same time do not hire college graduates or hire very few college graduates.

The only exception is the Xinghai Group, which hires more people year after year, significantly reducing the unemployment rate among Japanese university students.

Not only are the government and schools grateful, but the university graduates who successfully joined Xinghai Group, along with their families and friends, also speak of Xinghai Group in an exaggerated way.

Of course, Xinghai Group's consistently good welfare benefits and salaries and bonuses that exceed social expectations are also important factors that contribute to the praise people have for Xinghai Group.

Especially regarding working hours, Xinghai Group employees work a maximum of 10 hours per day unless there are special circumstances.

Not only are they far behind small and medium-sized enterprises in Japan, but they are also inferior to large companies such as Sony and Panasonic.

Masato Takeshita was quite pleased to see his company lagging far behind in this area. He certainly didn't want his employees to be so exhausted from working overtime every day that they didn't want to do anything when they got home.

At the same time, this policy applies to all companies under the Xinghai Group.

Even in manufacturing companies in China, employees work a maximum of 10 hours a day, and only work two extra days a month on Saturdays.

The company has a long supply chain and can profit at every stage, so it doesn't need to rely on drastically exploiting its employees to make money.

At worst, they can stop manufacturing products for other companies and produce all their own clothes, phones, and computers...

Therefore, in terms of public opinion, Xinghai Group is considered a breath of fresh air among Japanese companies, and can withstand the test of everyone.

However, every advantage has its disadvantages. The Starsea Group's employee service strategy made many large Japanese companies appear extremely greedy.

This can lead to some targeting in how things are done.

However, Xinghai Group's rapid development and financial advantages meant that those with ill intentions only dared to engage in petty, clandestine actions, which were completely insignificant compared to Xinghai Group's overall growth.

It's worth noting that Xinghai Group's excellent benefits and compensation packages attract a large number of top talents to the company every year.

After all, nobody's stupid. Given the same level of salary and benefits, people will naturally choose the company with an easier workload.

In Japanese society, the Xinghai Group is currently synonymous with high wages, good benefits, and easy work. Naturally, everyone is scrambling to get in.

Due to the special nature of the media, the Daily News Corporation may lack rest benefits, but its monetary compensation is greatly improved.

On one hand, there's the bonus policy from Xinghai Group, and on the other hand, there's the increase in sales of the Daily News.

Leveraging its status as a Fortune Global 500 company and the numerous exclusive news stories from the Xinghai Group, the Daily News increased its circulation from over 300 million copies to nearly 600 million copies in less than a year.

Although it is still less than the Yomiuri Shimbun's more than 1000 million copies and the Asahi Shimbun's nearly 900 million copies, it is almost double the original amount.

With increased newspaper sales, advertising revenue naturally followed suit. Employee bonuses also increased accordingly.

In fact, not only the newspapers under the Mainichi News Corporation, but also the TBS television station, which it controls, made a small fortune.

Putting aside everything else, the annual advertising revenue from Xinghai Group alone significantly increases TBS Television's income.

This is also the advantage of news media groups being backed by large companies; they can achieve growth in both appearance and substance.

As a result, the employees of Daily News Group naturally have a very good impression of Xinghai Group.

While the Mainichi Shimbun was in a flurry of activity, TBS television was faring no better at the same time.

They also received a call from Xinghai Group, requesting an interview. After all, both are family.

In the TBS television station's official vehicle, the group began chatting to ease the tension.

"Director Sato, I wonder if the chairman will be very serious."

"No, the president is a very gentle and kind young man who never loses his temper for no reason. And even if he does lose his temper, he will only do so to the station director and the others."

Shingo Sato, the deputy director of the current affairs department at TBS, has great respect for his chairman.

This respect stems not only from the authority of the company's development, but also from recognition of the moral character of young people.

To determine whether someone is a good person, you only need to observe their attitude towards vulnerable groups such as sanitation workers, waiters, and scavengers.

As far as he knew, his own chairman would never make things difficult for people in this regard.

Even the company's own cleaning staff can share in the benefits of the company's growth.

Although the bonus is slightly less than that of regular employees, it is still worlds apart from that of other companies.

Soon, the two groups arrived at the Xinghai Group headquarters and entered the pre-arranged office to set up the interview site.

After everyone had finished setting up, Miho Uchida came over and said apologetically.

"Sorry, please wait a moment. The president will be back soon."

"It's okay, we're not in a hurry."

"Yes, company matters come first."

"It's not time yet, we're early and it has nothing to do with the president."

When faced with Miho Uchida's apology, everyone said it was nothing.

The interview isn't scheduled yet; it's their problem.

"Thank you all for your understanding. I need to go back to my secretary's office. Excuse me, I must take my leave now."

"It's alright, Secretary-General Uchida, you're busy."

Sato and Maehara, of course, continued to say that it was no problem and dared not complain for such a trivial matter.

Meanwhile, in the chairman's office, Masato Takeshita glanced at the time immediately after returning a phone call.

"Yes, it's almost 10 o'clock, the reporters should already be here."

After muttering something to himself, Masato Takeshita straightened his clothes and dialed the phone to his secretary's office.

"Have the reporters arrived?"

"They've arrived, led by the former chief writer of the Mainichi Shimbun and Sato, the vice president of TBS Television."

"Okay, I'll be there right away."

"Hi!"

Although I don't like giving interviews, it happens occasionally.

Therefore, accompanied by Miho Uchida, the young man quickly arrived at his usual office where he was interviewed by the media.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the two sides quickly got down to business.

"I wonder what Chairman Takeshita thinks about becoming the first Japanese person of the year in Time magazine?"

For such important events, the interview process is generally fixed.

All questions were prepared in advance, and Xinghai Group could only ask questions after they were deemed satisfactory.

Of course, there are also young people who voluntarily participate in television programs.

If the host has ulterior motives, they might ask malicious questions.

For example, when he went to the United States, he was interviewed and the host asked him this question.

"What are Chairman Takeshita's views on the American companies that were driven into bankruptcy by Japanese companies, and the unemployed workers?"

What could he possibly think? He simply laughed it off. He talked about Japan-US friendship, how we let Americans spend less money but enjoy better service.

As for the topic of unemployed workers, it was simply ignored.

He is not a god and cannot solve the historical problem of the hollowing out of American manufacturing.

As it's their own company, Daily News Corporation wouldn't be foolish enough to ask such a question; they would start with a complimentary inquiry.

"It is my honor, and I am very grateful to all the employees of Xinghai Group for their hard work in creating this opportunity for me to help others; I am also very grateful to..."

These types of questions all have fixed response templates and terminology, and Masato Takeshita was naturally not foolish enough to change them, so he honestly thanked them all.

Although it's rather tedious, there's no other way; these are all standard procedures.

He then continued with polite conversation.

"Although I am very happy to receive the award, there are actually many more people in this world who are worth learning from in terms of charity."

"For example, members of Doctors Without Borders, members of Friends of the Earth International, and those aid workers who travel to underdeveloped areas in Asia, Africa, and Latin America."

"Their act of enduring terrible conditions to help others is far more noble than my act of donating a little money."

Masato Takeshita not only said this, but he also wholeheartedly agreed with what he said.

First, let's talk about Doctors Without Borders, which was founded by the well-known French doctor, Kouchner.

While in Africa, Kushner witnessed the atrocities committed by the French government. Driven by a sense of conscience, he sought to expose and stop these acts through the French Red Cross.

As a result, the French Red Cross turned a blind eye to the atrocities and remained silent.

Kushner was furious and decided to report it in the newspapers himself.

The newspaper caused a sensation in the world as soon as it was published.

Naturally, he could no longer stay with the French Red Cross.

After thinking it over, Kushner decided to form a Doctors Without Borders organization with like-minded individuals.

They go to wherever there is a large-scale disaster to provide relief.

This group of people is far greater than Masato Takeshita.

The same principle applies to the environmental organization Friends of the Earth International.

Today's environmental organizations don't have as much of a business mindset as later generations; they truly take saving the planet as their mission and have done a great deal of practical work.

Unlike later generations, most of them have lost their original flavor.

They talk about principles, but all they care about is business.

(End of this chapter)