"Sorry, Takeshita-san, for keeping you waiting."
The private dining room door opened, revealing a tall, thin young man.
He wore gold-rimmed glasses, a perfectly tailored black suit without a single wrinkle, and his hair was slicked back smoothly. He looked every bit the refined, successful social elite, albeit with a hint of villainy.
Society truly is a big dyeing vat!
In less than a year, my senior has become so full of confidence.
Looking at the imposing young man before him, Takeshita Masato found it hard to equate him with the decadent senior from his university days, who often didn't wash his hair or wear socks.
"I should be the one apologizing. I'm troubling you so late, Haneda-senpai."
While the future of an Industrial Bank of Japan employee was certainly bright, they were also incredibly busy. Not just on weekdays, but even on Saturdays and Sundays, they were swamped.
Of course, you could choose to coast.
But the price of coasting was being transferred to an affiliated company, completely losing your personal future.
That's right, before the Japanese bubble economy burst, the worst punishment a company could inflict on an employee was just that.
Because Japan at this time practiced a system of lifetime employment. Once an ordinary person joined a company, it basically meant they would work there for their entire life.
Many times, even if an employee made a very serious mistake, the most they would face was being exiled to an affiliated company or transferred from major cities like Tokyo to rural areas like Okinawa or Hokkaido.
Although their future might be gone and their salary might decrease, supporting a family was still not a problem.
It had a strong flavor of Chinese civil servants.
Speaking of which, before the Japanese bubble economy burst, the main policies were actually quite similar to China's, both following a big government, state interventionist route.
The government controlled the development of major companies by controlling state-owned banks and certain basic monopoly industries, such as telecommunications, postal services, and railways.
If it weren't for strong American intervention forcing Japan to undertake financial liberalization reforms, Japan would never have relaxed its vigilance towards private enterprises, nor would it have privatized state-owned enterprises one after another.
But even so, Japan still followed a big government path in later years. The government held shares in many companies, thereby influencing the direction of corporate development.
"It's nothing. We're all members of the Tōmonkai. It's only right for a senior to look after a junior."
Japan is a country filled with various factional powers.
In politics, there are the famous Tanaka-Ōhira-Suzuki-Nakason-Miyazawa (Triangle Dafuzhong) factions; in economics, there are the six major zaibatsu; and in academia, there are the Akamonkai (Tokyo University Faction), Tōmonkai (Waseda Faction), Mitakai (Keio University Faction), Josuikai (Hitotsubashi University Faction), and so on.
Waseda University's Tōmonkai is not as influential in politics as Tokyo University's Akamonkai, nor as influential in economics as Keio University's Mitakai. It only holds an advantage in the publishing and media fields, which is why the Tōmonkai members are exceptionally united.
Relying on the power of unity, the Tōmonkai is now developing very rapidly, both politically and economically.
Politically, the Tōmonkai successfully sent a large number of Waseda graduates to high government positions by investing in Kakuei Tanaka, known as the Dark Shogun of the Showa Era.
For example, the current Japanese Minister of Finance, Noboru Takeshita, and young talents within the Liberal Democratic Party like Keizo Obuchi.
However, Kakuei Tanaka did not graduate from Waseda University; his connection to Waseda was entirely through his daughter, Makiko Tanaka. So, as he gradually aged, members of the Tanaka faction led by Noboru Takeshita delivered a backstab in 1985, ending Kakuei Tanaka's reign as the Dark Shogun.
If Kakuei Tanaka was the most important founder of the Tōmonkai's rise in politics, then Noboru Takeshita was the main force behind the Tōmonkai becoming Japan's second-largest political force.
The reason Waseda University was able to catch up and become the school that produced the most prime ministers after the war.
Noboru Takeshita's contribution was immense.
Under his promotion, more Waseda University students ascended to the prime minister's seat.
Toshiki Kaifu, Keizo Obuchi, and Yoshiro Mori were all put into power by him.
However, overall, Waseda University is still far behind Tokyo University politically.
The most typical example is the Japanese National Civil Service Examination.
Tokyo University has about 400 successful candidates, while Kyoto University and Waseda University, ranked second and third, have less than 200.
The first thing Takeshita Masato did after transmigrating was to join the Tōmonkai and then take the opportunity to get acquainted with the younger seniors there.
For example, the Haneda Ichiro senior before him, he knew of him before but wasn't familiar; he only became acquainted after joining the Tōmonkai. Also, the Japanese prime minister before his transmigration was another benefit he gained after joining the Tōmonkai.
However, that senior at the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan was in charge of foreign exchange, while Takeshita Masato needed financing loans, which is why he sought out this Haneda Ichiro senior who was in charge of financial loans.
Haneda Ichiro then continued quite generously, "Order whatever you want to eat today, I'll pay later."
Japan has strong senior-junior relationships. When seniors and juniors eat together, the senior usually pays.
"Let me pay instead. I was the one who invited you this time."
Although it was traditional for the senior to pay, Takeshita Masato was asking for a favor now, so he naturally wouldn't foolishly accept.
"No need to be polite, the company can reimburse it."
With the Japanese government's consecutive interest rate cuts in March and April, the cost of financing for Japanese companies decreased, and companies increasingly didn't treat money as money.
They were willing to spend lavishly on university students who came for interviews, so they naturally wouldn't be stingy with their own company members.
Taking the Industrial Bank of Japan as an example, employees had exaggerated business expense accounts each month. And even if they exceeded the limit, there was no need to worry; it was easy to convince the dedicated auditors.
In a word,
It was entertainment expenses for doing business.
"Alright then, I won't be polite."
Since it was milking the company dry, Takeshita Masato naturally wouldn't refuse further. Saving a little now would quickly earn him several times that amount in the stock market.
After three rounds of drinks and five courses of food.
The two became more familiar, and their conversation started to flow more freely.
At this point, a slightly tipsy Haneda Ichiro slapped his thigh and said, "Takeshita-kun, tell me, how much money do you want to borrow? With the reputation of Waseda's Politics and Economics, I can authorize you 100 million yen."
Although during the Japanese bubble era, Japanese banks were begging ordinary people to take out loans, and were even willing to lend money to someone who had nothing.
But that wouldn't be until after 1987.
At that time, companies increasingly chose to raise funds through market channels, and banks couldn't lend out their deposits. But they had annual business targets, which is why banks lent recklessly regardless of risk.
Currently, Japan's financial liberalization reforms had just begun, and companies were just starting to try seeking financing directly in the market without going through banks, so the pressure on banks to lend wasn't that great yet.
For Takeshita Masato to be able to borrow 100 million yen just by being a Waseda University student was definitely a special favor from Haneda Ichiro.
"Thank you, Haneda-senpai, but... it might not be enough."
"Not enough?"
"Yes, not enough."
Takeshita Masato's answer was very firm.