Reborn in Tokyo: From Heiress to Global Tycoon

Late September, 1991.

New York, John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The engine sound had dropped from a high frequency to a muffled growl. Subtle vibrations from the engine body traveled into the seat back and then to the back of Satsuki's head.

The plane was slowing down and taxiing on the runway, and the runway markings outside the window swept past the view one by one, with the intervals getting slower and slower.

Amy sat across from me by the window, holding a copy of the Wall Street Journal that she had picked up during a gas stop in Honolulu.

The newspaper had clearly been turned over several times; one corner was even creased from being crumpled.

"Satsuki-chan, this way of writing is so exaggerated."

Amy didn't look up; her eyes remained fixed on the contents of the screen.

"Which one?"

"This section." Amy handed the newspaper forward, pointing with her thumb to a column with a bold headline in the middle of the page.

Satsuki took it and glanced at it.

The headline reads, "Satsuki Saionji accepts Gutfred's invitation to travel to New York—is the Solomon Islands crisis seeing a turning point?"

The first paragraph describes her as "Solomon Brothers' most important external ally," followed by a nearly half-column review of Saionji's three-year history of cooperation with Solomon, including the trading volume of SAInvestment, the operation mechanism of Nikkei hedging positions, and the linkage between the two parties in the Asia-Pacific market.

The wording is very deliberate. Although it doesn't directly say "Saionji is preparing to pay to save Solomon," every sentence subtly implies this.

Satsuki turned another page.

There are two more related reports following.

A source citing "people familiar with the negotiation process" said that Saionji has confirmed with Solomon that the three-year cooperation agreement will not be adjusted for the time being.

Another article takes an even bolder stance, reportedly from an unnamed investment bank analyst, who directly speculates that Satsuki may have provided Salomon Brothers with "billions of dollars in capital support or standby credit arrangements."

"Look at what this analyst said," Amy leaned closer, tracing the passage with her finger. "'Billions of dollars,' how did he know that? Did Solomon let it slip?"

"It might not be Solomon." Satsuki folded the newspaper back. "These numbers are just estimates anyway."

"It's possible to find out how many investments Saionji has made in the United States over the years, and how many acquisitions it has recently negotiated in Japan."

"In addition, we have never reduced our business on Wall Street. Anyone who knows a little about the situation can see that we still have plenty of liquid funds on hand."

She placed the newspaper on the handrail.

"As for exactly how many, of course they don't know."

"But it's not hard to guess whether Saionji can come up with several billion dollars in a short period of time."

After listening, Amy frowned and thought for a long time.

If you asked her to find the problem with the decoding model from dozens of channels of neural discharge data, or to disassemble and readjust a program that can no longer run, she would probably find out where to start very quickly.

But things are different in the capital market.

Even though no one knew exactly how much money Saionji had, they could estimate a figure that everyone thought was "about right" based on a few investments, a few acquisitions, and a bunch of rumors that came from who-knows-where.

Then, if enough people believe in this number, it actually starts to influence the market.

Amy thought about it for a while, but still felt it was a bit convoluted.

"So they don't actually know, they're just guessing?"

"right."

"And then everyone makes a decision based on what others have guessed?"

Satsuki smiled.

"almost."

Amy's brow furrowed even deeper.

"This is not rigorous at all. Can you really determine the flow of billions of dollars based on guesswork data? ...You financial people are so complicated."

"Forget it, so is this news good or bad for us?"

It depends on who it is.

Satsuki leaned back in her chair, shifting her gaze from the newspaper to the porthole.

The grass on both sides of the runway has already taken on the colors of early autumn, and the outline of the control tower in the distance is visible from under the thin clouds.

"For Gutfred, these reports are certainly a good thing. He'd love for the whole world to know that Saionji is coming."

"Solomon is not short of money in the books at all."

Amy looked up.

"Market trust is what they need."

"But now clients are leaving, counterparties are tightening margin requirements, the rate of commercial paper renewals is decreasing week by week, and banks are cutting credit lines."

"Everyone knows Solomon still has money, but nobody wants to believe in him anymore."

"So Gutfred needs someone to step forward and speak for him through their actions—'This company is still worth doing business with.'"

Amy thought for a moment.

He chose you.

"He doesn't actually have many people to choose from."

Satsuki's lips twitched slightly.

"Those peers on Wall Street are actually quite happy to take advantage of this time to grab clients and poach traders, and ideally, seize some market share as well. But if Salomon were to suddenly collapse tomorrow, they might not be so happy."

"With such a large trading book and so many repurchase and government bond transactions, if things were to come to a disorderly halt, it wouldn't just be Solomon himself who would have to clean up the mess."

"The banks are the same. They want Solomon to stay alive and pay back the money he owes, but it's unrealistic for them to publicly guarantee Gutfred's debt at this time."

"As for Washington—"

Satsuki paused for a moment.

"What they probably want most right now is a Solomon that is still functioning normally, is willing to cooperate with the investigation, and won't suddenly blow up a hole in the Treasury bond market."

"But that doesn't mean they're willing to speak up for the current management."

Amy nodded slowly.

"So nobody wants it to actually collapse, but nobody's willing to step forward first?"

"almost."

Satsuki smiled.

"Someone who can sit across from Gutfred at this time, someone with enough influence who won't be dragged down by domestic American politics—"

She paused for a moment.

"There really aren't many."

Amy flipped the newspaper to the back.

Below the financial section, there is a short message that is less than half a column long, with a tone completely different from the previous articles.

The headline reads: "Japanese Capital Knocks on the Door Again—Will Saionji Become the Next Mitsubishi Estate?"

The content is short, but it quotes public statements from two members of Congress, the gist of which is that "when the U.S. financial system encounters difficulties, it should prioritize relying on its own strength to rebuild trust, rather than opening the door to foreign capital."

One of the representatives was even more blunt—he said he was not against international cooperation, but he could not accept a Japanese company "taking advantage of the situation to buy American assets" when Wall Street was at its most vulnerable.

Amy's expression turned somewhat unpleasant after reading it.

Now you don't want to solve the problem yourselves, you're begging Satsuki-chan to come and help, and you're still making these kinds of comments?

The Gulf of Mexico is quite large, isn't it? I just wonder if the US has that same "fine tradition" as Japan...

Satsuki didn't show any particular expression.

"This kind of voice has always been there."

"It's been less than two years since Mitsubishi bought Rockefeller Center, and Sony acquired Columbia Pictures even earlier. American public opinion is inherently sensitive to the entry of Japanese capital."

Amy still felt somewhat annoyed.

"But you didn't even say you wanted to buy anything, making it sound like Satsuki-chan is trying to take advantage of your misfortune..."

"They don't care whether you actually bought anything or not." Satsuki flipped over the page of the text message. "In the past few years, Japan has been flaunting its wealth all over the world, especially by buying a lot of things in the United States. Ordinary Americans already have a negative feeling about the fact that 'Japanese people are using their money to buy things in America.'"

"Now Wall Street itself is having problems, and a Japanese guy flies in wanting to discuss cooperation—what do you think they'll think?"

Amy didn't answer; she just pursed her lips into a thin line.

Satsuki glanced at her.

"However, this is also one of the reasons why our itinerary was arranged as a 'comprehensive inspection'."

Satsuki picked up another document from the side, which was a summary of the public statement regarding this trip to the United States.

"In the publicly disclosed schedule, besides Solomon Islands being the highest priority, Saionji's energy assets in Texas need to be confirmed on-site, and there are also several fund projects with Carlyle that need to be followed up."

She turned to the next page.

"Then there's the research team you lead. Their research collaborations with American universities and research institutions in the field of neural interfaces are all real projects, and public reporting will be arranged in the itinerary."

Amy nodded.

"With all these activities combined, the public image of the entire trip is no longer just 'Japanese zaibatsu taking advantage of the Wall Street crisis to come and negotiate acquisitions'."

Satsuki put the documents back on the table.

"Of course, everyone's biggest concern is Solomon."

"But if someone wants to portray my trip to New York as 'Japanese zaibatsu taking advantage of the Wall Street crisis to buy up assets at rock-bottom prices,' they should at least explain why there were also energy project inspections and university research collaborations on the same trip."

"These things can at least distract you a bit."

The plane made a turn.

The runway markings outside the porthole disappeared, replaced by a narrower guideway, with various passenger planes visible in the distance across the lawn on both sides.

Amy was silent for a moment, then placed her hands on her knees.

"Will Satsuki-chan save Solomon?"

Satsuki glanced at her.

"meeting."

The answer was very straightforward.

"Solomon still possesses a great deal of valuable material."

"Traders, client networks, fixed income business, clearing systems, institutional sales channels... these are things that have been accumulated over decades."

"If it were to suddenly collapse, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley would move all the valuable assets away overnight, leaving behind only a pile of worthless positions that no one would take over and legal disputes."

"A significant portion of our own holdings are managed by Salomon. Changing counterparties in the short term would incur high transaction costs."

After listening, Amy went over the question in her mind again.

She knew that Satsuki never answered "yes" for just one reason.

The agreement is valid: to help Solomon and to preserve Saionji's trading channels.

Based on her understanding of Satsuki, there must be something else involved.

However, since Satsuki didn't elaborate, she didn't press the matter.

Since Satsuki-chan didn't tell me, she must have her reasons!

"Satsuki-chan, what were you talking about before... what was it again?" Amy changed direction, "The financial world?"

"Um?"

"You told me this in Tokyo before. You said that if this is handled well, Saionji's position in the United States will be different."

Satsuki thought for a moment.

Two days before departure, she did give Amy a brief explanation.

"The term 'capital circle' isn't quite accurate." She thought for a moment, considering how best to phrase it. "You can understand it this way—"

"The United States sees a large number of large transactions every year, including mergers and acquisitions, financing, restructuring, crisis management, and joint investments."

"These transactions involve amounts of billions or even tens of billions of dollars, so the number of institutions and individuals who can participate in such transactions is actually limited to this group over time."

"Investment banks, large funds, insurance companies, pension funds, family capital. Through repeated cooperation and competition, they have formed a very stable network of relationships over time."

Amy understood some of it now; it should be similar to the zaibatsu and academic cliques in Japan.

"Hmm... So Satsuki-chan wants to go in?"

"I want to transform Saionji from a 'customer' into a 'participant'."

Amy tilted her head.

"Over the past few years, what Saionji has been doing in the United States has boiled down to one thing: take money, invest it, make a profit, and leave."

Seeing Amy's thirst for knowledge, Satsuki didn't mind sharing some basic facts with her.

"Whether it's Solomon, Carlyle, or other partners, in their eyes, Saionji is a very large buyer from Japan."

"They have money, act quickly, and aren't too demanding in terms of conditions."

"But the 'buyer' is ultimately just sitting on one side of the table. When it comes to actually dividing the cake, only those sitting on the other side have the right to take the knife first."

Amy took a few seconds to process it.

"So, regarding Solomon—"

"If Saionji could step forward to help a top American investment bank through its most dangerous time, and do so in a dignified and controllable manner—"

Satsuki did not continue speaking.

Amy, however, already understood.

The next time an American company needs billions of dollars and a reliable and wealthy partner, some people will naturally think of Saionji.

After all, those who actually get to sit at that table are never invited in by others.

Sometimes, all you need to do is pull out the chair yourself when no one else is willing to lend a hand.