Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 408 A Thirst for Talent
When men get together, they either talk about history or politics.

Before they knew it, Masato Takeshita and Rogers started talking about the recent Japanese general election.

"What measures do you think our new prime minister will take to develop the economy?"

"It's unlikely that there will be an effective economic development strategy in the first year. He should focus on building a healthcare and elderly care system, college graduate employment, Japan-US relations, and post-disaster reconstruction."

Rogers doesn't think Ryutaro Hashimoto can achieve anything significant economically; he'll probably just patch things up first.

For example, given the shortfall in Japan's health insurance and pension systems, he would devise strategies to promote generic drugs and restrict hospital medical care.

For example, if the probability of college students getting pre-selected positions in the fall recruitment season continues to decrease, then the original centralized recruitment policy might as well be abandoned.

Another key aspect is diplomacy with the United States, which is Hashimoto Ryutaro's greatest asset in his rise to power. Naturally, he would attach great importance to it in order to influence the public's vote for him.

Or they could visit the United States to try and obtain more preferential tariff policies through the US.

In short, Ryutaro Hashimoto was too busy with both domestic and foreign affairs to pay attention to the development of the domestic economy.

He happened to feel that the domestic economy was overheating, so he took the opportunity to cool it down.

"That makes sense, that's probably it. But this is tough on doctors, patients, and university students as well."

In 1996, a series of bills in Japan targeting domestic politics and economics caused great harm to the Japanese people.

Firstly, regarding healthcare and elderly care, the government will formulate a more stringent drug procurement plan this year.

This forces doctors to use substandard drugs in order to make up for the deficit in health insurance.

Cheap goods are often of poor quality, and the large-scale emergence of substandard generic drugs will lead to a surge in medical accidents in public hospitals.

Even without medical malpractice, patients may recover more slowly than before, or not at all, or even continue to deteriorate.

As for university students, the Japanese government has introduced two systems that seem good at first glance, but are actually full of pitfalls.

One is to liberalize the dispatch system, which is the temporary worker system that we are very familiar with.

Ultimately, for the same job, temporary workers earn only half the salary of regular employees, or even less.

The second is to abolish the centralized recruitment system on university campuses.

In the future, companies will no longer be limited to recruiting between August and October; they can conduct campus recruitment at any time.

The same applies to college students; they can send their resumes to companies they are interested in at any time.

This policy is good in the short term, as it can promote college student employment, but it is very detrimental in the long term.

From then on, Japanese university students had to work incredibly hard to find jobs by securing internships, with some even starting to plan their internships as early as their freshman year.

The worst situation is that of resident trainees, who are said to be slaves to hospitals and regular doctors.

Because standardized residency training is a necessary step to obtaining a medical license, the vast majority of hospital residents work beyond their capacity.

Even the more relaxed ones have a workload of 80 hours per week, easily exceeding the 996 overtime system that is deeply hated by Chinese people.

Some people work more than 100 hours a week and have no time to rest at all.

Therefore, the rate of death from overwork among Japanese resident trainees far exceeds that of university interns in other countries.

Furthermore, the contracts signed by resident trainees are not considered labor contracts, and they are not entitled to compensation for death from overwork.

Those crazy hospitals naturally intensified their persecution of resident trainees.

Since there's no compensation for dying anyway, they'll use it to its fullest extent.

The key issue is that despite paying such a huge price, resident trainees don't learn much.

In Japan, some researchers have calculated that resident trainees spend only about 50% of their time studying. The rest of the time is spent running errands for their supervisors, doing housework, and performing simple chores at the hospital.

Free labor that doesn't cost money is naturally ignored.

Other disciplines are a bit better; the most extreme case is the first-year internship, and the working hours are far less grueling than those in hospitals.

Listening to his chairman's long sighs, Rogers couldn't help but pray for these people.

He then chimed in, "That's right, I reckon doctors will become national outcasts just like students."

Rogers enjoys reading the news and knows that the Japanese government has been working to reduce treatment costs.

First, we'll establish a stringent pharmaceutical procurement system; then, we'll implement a generic drug substitution strategy; and this year, we'll also be implementing a medical insurance quota system…

In short, the government is willing to accept a significant drop in the quality of treatment, as long as it can reduce Japan's medical insurance expenditures.

Japanese doctors naturally opposed the government's strategy, but they couldn't fight against the government's policies.

Honest public hospital doctors will soon find it hard to stay afloat when faced with cost-saving treatment rules that are tied to their job bonuses.

Because if doctors want to get promoted, it's not about who has the best treatment skills, but who can save money on treatment.

Those who are good at saving money will receive awards from the government.

Also, if your treatment plan doesn't save money, you'll offend your colleagues.

Unfortunately, Japanese public hospitals have become self-sufficient after reforms.

Your treatment costs too much money, which will eat into the bonuses and salaries of the company's employees.

With your interests harmed, your reputation within the hospital will naturally deteriorate quickly.

If this trend continues, the treatment effectiveness of public hospitals in Japan will also decline.

After all, in a highly competitive environment, inferior generic drugs are the most cost-effective and more likely to win the favor of doctors.

The government is pleased that the treatment effectiveness in public hospitals has declined because it saves a huge amount of medical insurance expenditure, but the public, including patients, is certainly not satisfied.

This has led to another very serious consequence: strained doctor-patient relationships.

Takeshita Masato also thought of this and said with some melancholy.

"Yes, the widespread use of substandard generic drugs in public hospitals will cause the public to lose trust in domestic doctors."

"If a doctor fails to treat a patient, he may be bullied by the media and the public, or even imprisoned or severely harmed by the patient's family."

The tense doctor-patient relationship is highly conducive to Xinghai Hospital's establishment and development in Japan.

This is because in Japan, not only do resident trainees need to work long hours, but doctors do as well.

The biggest belief that supports their intense overtime work is the recognition from the public.

When this recognition disappears, doctors will reflect on the meaning of their hard work and overtime in public hospitals to save lives.

As a result, doctors found that they worked longer hours than doctors in private hospitals, but earned far less, and were also collectively criticized by the public.

As a result, the public doctors who lost their prestigious status naturally chose to resign and join private hospitals after weighing the pros and cons.

Surgeons, especially those on the front lines of treatment, are among the hardest hit to leave the clinic.

From then on, patients not only had to deal with substandard drugs, but also with doctors lacking experience.

Medical accidents are on the rise, and recovery rates are plummeting.

This is great news for Xinghai Hospital, as it can attract many of the best employees.

But Masato Takeshita couldn't be happy, because he ended up with an even number of patients and doctors.

"Tell me, should I have the Daily News direct the blame towards the real killer?"

"No, this is the will of the nation, and we cannot resist it."

Rogers quickly stopped him, saying that taking action against the Japanese government also required timing, and that it needed to wait for the public's will to awaken.

If Xinghai Group blindly charges forward now, it will be targeted in various ways later.

"Alright, then let's wait a little longer." Takeshita Masato felt a little uncomfortable, but there was nothing he could do to change anything.

He simply skipped this heavy topic and asked about Xinghai Entertainment.

Did you contact Kalinsky last month?

"Yes, he's going through the formalities and should be able to come over by the middle of this month."

"That's right. With Kalinsky joining, Xinghai Entertainment can reach a new level."

Kalinsky, the marketing genius, is finally joining Starsea Entertainment.

From now on, Starsea Entertainment will be able to become a world-class giant even faster.

The young man then asked with a smile, "Do you think we should acquire a toy company?"

Kalinsky's achievements in the toy industry far surpass those in the game industry.

Barbie, an IP that had fallen on hard times worldwide, was given a new lease on life in his hands.

Its annual revenue skyrocketed from $4000 million to $5 million.

But revenue is secondary; the key is his series of planning schemes, which ensured that Barbie would never fall out of favor and would always occupy the throne of the world's number one IP in the toy market.

Next, during his time at Mattel, he also created the He-Man IP.

He referenced numerous American comics and, at the chairman's suggestion, created He-Man-related animations, which were then broadcast on television for free.

From then on, the Heyman IP became a great success.

Seaman's total product line revenue exceeded $10 billion, with self-operated revenue exceeding $7 million.

This strategy was imitated by other toy companies, including the famous Transformers.

Mattel alone is not enough to prove Kalinsky's keen insight into the toy market.

The key point is that after he left Mattel to join Match Box, he quickly resolved the company's losses and made hundreds of millions of dollars.

Moreover, in his previous life, he left Sega to start his own business and was able to achieve great success in the toy market for the third time.

It's fair to say that no one was better suited to enter the toy industry than Kalinsky.

Rogers didn't answer directly, but instead looked up and asked, "Toys? Who is the chairman planning to acquire?"

"Bandai, that's the most likely company in the short term."

After entering the 1980s, the Japanese toy market began to stagnate.

Therefore, Makoto Yamashina, the second president of Bandai who had little interest in toys, began to try to develop the company in the direction of video games and the like.

Yes, Bandai's second generation doesn't like the toy industry. His biggest dream is to become a writer, and to that end, he first becomes an editor upon graduation.

But his dream of becoming a writer was shattered in the late 1960s.

Because his family company was facing difficulties, he had to give up the life he loved and return home to help his father run the company.

After the company's situation improved, his father suddenly developed stomach cancer.

This second-generation manager, who intended to hand over Bandai to his own employees and pursue his dream of becoming a writer, could only reluctantly become the company president at the age of 35.

Because he disliked it, he did not pursue leadership of Bandai.

If Xinghai Entertainment has a good plan, Shankecheng will definitely be a major help in the acquisition.

It remains to be seen whether Starsea Entertainment will encounter the same problems that Sega faced in its previous life.

Makoto Yamashina's father, Naoharu Yamashina, the founder of Bandai, opposed it, as did the employees of Bandai.

They probably won't be that resistant.

Because Sega was in dire straits in 96, heavily in debt, it couldn't offer Bandai much help. Furthermore, the merger of Sega and Bandai would result in Sega being the dominant force in the new company.

Starry Sea Entertainment is different; Bandai continues to operate independently, but the relationship between the two companies will be closer.

Furthermore, the resources of Xinghai Group are far superior to those of Sega.

Even in the gaming industry, Starsea Games earns more money than Sega. Now all they need is a new console to replace them.

In this way, the opposition should be greatly reduced.

"Bandai is indeed very good, but its globalization is not good enough."

Bandai's market is mostly in Japan, and its global reach is indeed not as strong as that of companies like Mattel, Hasbro, and Lego.

“It’s alright, we have Kalinsky.”

Masato Takeshita believed that under Kalinsky's leadership, Bandai would realize its dream of unifying the world once it joined Seikai Entertainment.

At that time, Bandai will ascend to the throne of the world's number one in the toy industry.

"Yeah, indeed."

Rogers also acknowledged Kalinsky's talent in entertainment, which is why he was open to leaving Starsea Entertainment to take up the position of head of external affairs at Starsea Group headquarters.

This genius should bring new development to Xinghai Entertainment.

As the two were chatting, Masato Takeshita suddenly changed the subject.

"By the way, what's the current situation with Gunpei Yokoi of Nintendo?"

"It's unlikely in the short term; his feelings for Nintendo are too deep."

Although the VR project team led by Gunpei Yokoi is not valued by Hiroshi Yamauchi and is severely lacking in both funding and personnel, he still has no intention of leaving.

Nintendo is the company he has dedicated most of his life to, and he has no intention of leaving unless faced with a major disaster.

"It's alright, our opportunity will come soon, because VR is doomed to fail."

Not to mention the 20s, even in the mid-21s, VR didn't make much of a splash.

This is a project destined to fail; the best option is to cancel it and not release it.

"Will Yokoi-san leave because of this?"

Rogers was also not optimistic about VR projects, but he still couldn't trust his chairman's judgment.

Who is Gunpei Yokoi? He is Nintendo's nominal number two and has made the most contributions to Nintendo's rise.

"Absolutely! He is currently being collectively ostracized by the R&D team at Nintendo, and he will lose his R&D rights if the project fails."

"This, okay."

Rogers still couldn't believe it, but considering the current situation within Nintendo, he had no choice but to believe it, even if he didn't want to.

There's no way around it; anyone in his position would be the same.

Unless he abandons his beliefs and pursues higher-performance products, or stops participating in research and transitions to a management role, or even steps down to a less prominent position within the company.

In this way, without disputes over ideas and rights, it will naturally not be collectively rejected by the R&D management.

But this is not possible.

The "withered horizontal thinking" philosophy has been upheld for most of Nintendo's life, and facts have proven that this idea is indeed suitable for Nintendo's development, so there is no way they will back down in this regard.

As for stepping down to the second line, that would be even more unacceptable for a researcher.

Gunpei Yokoi has reached the point where he will inevitably leave if the project fails.

(End of this chapter)