America: My Time

Chapter 512 Iron Ore

Chapter 512 Iron Ore
Someone's elimination meant that someone was plotting against Akina Nakamori, which weighed heavily on Hitomi Kuroki's mind. Did Naoko Kawai know about this? Had she noticed anything? Had Akina Nakamori discovered the trouble and danger her group had brought? Akina Nakamori was backed by Sumitomo; hadn't Sumitomo discovered all of this? Hitomi Kuroki felt a mix of doubt and unease.

From the beginning, Hitomi Kuroki knew that she was labeled as part of Sanwa, but she never dared to trust Sanwa. The reason was simple: she was just a beautiful public relations woman used by Sanwa to cooperate with John. Although she had gained recognition, it was not voluntary but forced. Therefore, if she did not trust Sanwa, Sanwa would not trust her either. If Sanwa wanted to cultivate someone else to replace her, it was not impossible.

Kuroki Hitomi never considered herself indispensable or important to Sanwa. In fact, she had no ability to influence John's cooperation with Sanwa. Kuroki Hitomi was very clear about this and always reminded herself not to be arrogant or do anything foolish that would bring unnecessary trouble upon herself.

He just didn't want to cause trouble, but trouble doesn't hide from him. Now trouble has appeared. Someone wants to kick Nakamori Akina out of the game, and even drag him into it. After all, he knows about the stupid things Nakamori Akina's family did. This is the most dangerous thing. This also makes Kuroki Hitomi realize her shortcomings once again.

He realized he had been too careless, always thinking it was Akina's own business and outsiders shouldn't interfere. He forgot that if someone used this as a pretext to attack Akina and kick her out, he would also be implicated and affected. At this moment, Hitomi couldn't help but envy Naoko Kawai, because among the three, Naoko was John's favorite.

Women have great faith in their own intuition, a fact that not only Kuroki Hitomi understands but Nakamori Akina also senses. Now, after hearing Daichi Mao's words, Kuroki Hitomi couldn't help but turn her gaze towards John's direction, then observed the entire party. The beauties were all intentionally or unintentionally looking towards that corner, and beyond that corner, a net had been vaguely laid by some beauties, it seemed that these beauties all wanted to create an 'accident'.

Time flew by, and John's conversation with Akio Morita and the others soon came to an end. Just as the beauties were getting restless, Naoko and Riko got up and walked towards John and Akio Morita. This was not Kuroki Hitomi's idea, but Riko's initiative to help. Even Kuroki Hitomi could sense the situation, so Riko naturally understood it even better. Moreover, she knew that these beauties all had backgrounds with agencies, record companies, or even conglomerates.

When John and Akio Morita got up and walked out from the corner, they saw Naoko and Riko walking towards them. John was taken aback at first, then nodded thoughtfully. John was aware of the schemes of those Japanese guys, but he ignored them. He could only smile indifferently at their schemes.

Soon, John and Akio Morita, accompanied by Naoko and Riko, headed back to where Naoko and Riko had been sitting. This caused many people to sigh. Although they had prepared for failure, they were all unwilling to accept it when faced with the reality. This was the best opportunity, an opportunity created for them by the Japanese authorities. Unfortunately, Naoko ruined it, causing them to miss the chance.

After sitting down, John shook his head slightly, a hint of weariness flashing in his eyes. The conversation with those guys made him very uncomfortable. They kept thanking him as if he had given them a great deal of help, and then they would ask him questions and try to get closer to him, which made John very uncomfortable.

Seeing John's reaction, Akio Morita smiled calmly and said, "John, it's tiring to ignore, but you won't feel anything once you get used to it. That's just how these guys are. They always try their best to build relationships and ask for favors. In short, they'll do anything they can to get more support!"

Upon hearing this, John shook his head and said, "I wouldn't adapt, and I won't be dealing with these guys all the time. We're not on the same wavelength, and I don't have much time to stay in Japan. If it weren't for the music festival, I wouldn't have left the US. There are still many things to take care of there. You know I haven't made any investments in over a year. The White House and other people have some ideas about me!"

The Japanese were already well aware of John's situation. They naturally understood John's rivalry with those people, and therefore naturally understood that John currently held the advantage. As for saying that John hadn't expanded, that wouldn't be accurate. He had made some minor expansions in sports, with his own teams in all four major American professional sports leagues. This investment alone was quite astonishing.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do. There's no escaping these annoying guys in Japan. I wonder how long you'll be able to stay in Tokyo this time?"

"It depends on the situation. If there are no problems in the US, we can stay a little longer and rest for a while. This Toshiba incident was really mentally taxing. Fortunately, everything ended smoothly, and the worst-case scenario didn't happen. However, if anything happens, we need to go back quickly!" Upon hearing John's answer, Akio Morita's eyes lit up, and he nodded, saying, "That's right. The Toshiba incident was a huge deal. Although the matter was resolved smoothly, Toshiba suffered a severe blow and may not recover for a long time. I don't know when the US market will recover. In just a short period of time, Sony has suffered heavy losses!"

"Sony is in a relatively good position. Compared to other Japanese companies, you can at least maintain your operations. Toshiba, on the other hand, is in a terrible situation. They won't be able to enter the US market for a long time, which is a devastating blow to them. Fortunately, the production of gaming products and ASUS is not in the US, otherwise I would be in big trouble."

Although John's relationship with Toshiba is not good, many of the chips used in game consoles are still supplied by Toshiba. As a member of Mitsui, Sony cannot abandon Toshiba's chips and choose other companies instead.

Thinking of memory chips, John suddenly had an idea and said, "Mr. Morita, Toshiba is currently facing restrictions, but Sony is not. You could discuss with Toshiba about taking over their manufacturing operations. This would avoid some of the losses and allow Sony to move forward!"

At this moment, Akio Morita shook his head and said, "That's impossible. Toshiba won't hand over this business to Sony. Although they are restricted in the US market, they have no problem in the European market, and there's also the Asian market. Toshiba isn't in as much trouble as you think, at least not in the short term!"

John didn't believe Akio Morita's words at all. How could Toshiba not be under pressure? The US market was their largest sales market. It was easy to imagine the pressure Toshiba would face if they lost the US market. Moreover, losing the US market would mean losing huge profits, and their research and development would also be affected.

"That's good. If Toshiba collapses, the chip market will change again. I don't want to see Game World's production affected right now. Because of the Toshiba incident, Game World was significantly impacted during the summer. I don't want to see problems during the Christmas season. This has already caused fluctuations in Game World's market value. If there are more problems, Game World will be even more affected. Moreover, if the market doesn't recover quickly, it won't just affect Game World, but also Dream World, Nvidia, and Global Online. To be honest, this whole thing happened too suddenly!"

Did the Toshiba incident only cause fluctuations in the market value of the gaming world? Not at all. The entire semiconductor industry was affected. Moreover, the Toshiba incident gave John an excuse to continue to stand by and watch. After all, as long as trade relations between the United States and Japan have not been restored, there are enough excuses to tighten monetary policy.

“John, you know how far Australia’s iron ore mining has progressed. With the development of the shipbuilding industry, the recovery of shipping, and the acceleration of construction in Japan, Japan has a huge demand for iron ore. Today, Japan is the world’s second largest steel producer, but Japan relies on imports for all its iron ore. We need more iron ore.”

Although the appreciation of the yen has affected Japan's exports, it has also reduced their imports of raw materials. With the same amount of money, they can make larger purchases. So now, the Japanese steel mills have set their sights on John's iron ore mine in Australia, and have even asked Morita Yoshio to inquire about it.

Previously, the New Prince Paper incident had strained John's relationship with Japan, preventing them from discussing iron ore imports. Now that they have the opportunity to communicate with John, these steel companies are pinning their hopes on Akio Morita, hoping that Morita can obtain sufficient benefits from John.

“Iron ore development is no easy task. Although we’ve been expanding production, as you know, Quantum Mining has contracts with Taiwan, South Korea, and China for its iron ore mines in Australia. Almost half of our iron ore needs to be met by them. To be honest, Quantum Mining really can’t provide much iron ore to supply Japan. Unless Quantum Mining can make further progress in its iron ore mining in Australia, nothing can be resolved quickly!” John sighed softly, a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)