Yokohama Electron (3)
Before getting into the main topic, I slipped in a casual question. “May I ask you about a Japanese company?”
“Hmm? Why wouldn’t that be all right?”
“You do have some bad memories of Japan.”
At that, Chairman Samara burst out laughing.
“Haha! It’s fine. It’s all in the past, after all. I still have the occasional nightmare about those days, but I’ve been calming my mind with meditation and yoga.”
“Does it help?”
“Of course. It’s done wonders for my temper, and I’ve become much more relaxed. It’s been so effective that I recommend it to everyone I meet. You should learn it sometime if you get the chance. A CEO’s physical health is important, but mental health matters just as much.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
People in high-stress jobs really did need to take care of their mental health in advance. That was why meditation, therapy, and counseling were everywhere on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley.
Apps promising to cure stress and burnout were also springing up like weeds.
Then who was going to cure the stress of the developers making those stress-cure apps?
Still, if he had managed to pull himself together, that was a relief.
“What company is it?”
“Yokohama Electron.”
I laid out the situation for him, and Chairman Samara looked genuinely surprised.
“You mean you’re trying to acquire Yokohama Electron?”
“Yes.”
“Acquiring an equipment maker won’t be easy.”
“I’ve always liked difficult things.”
That was a lie.
There was probably no one in the world who liked making easy money more than I did.
“As far as I know, Yokohama Electron doesn’t have any serious problems. Its technology is excellent, its finances are solid, and above all, its CEO is outstanding.”
“Sounds like you know him well.”
“Of course. I’ve met Chairman Nakazato a few times.”
“What kind of man is he?”
“If I had to describe him in one word, I’d say he’s like a samurai.”
That was an unexpectedly dramatic comparison.
“A samurai?”
“He values tradition, and he’s the type who won’t compromise or back down lightly. He’s inflexible, yes, but he never cuts corners and always gives his best.”
I wondered if that was the image foreigners had of samurai.
Still, Chairman Nakazato Yoshiharu really was known for being flawless. He had an exceptional sense of responsibility, and he was tireless.
On top of that, he embodied the Japanese ideals of craftsmanship and monozukuri.
He didn’t tolerate even a tiny defect, and if a problem arose, he couldn’t rest until it was fixed. He would rather scrap a product than let a flawed one reach a customer and cause damage. That was the kind of conviction he held.
Japanese craftsmanship had been showing up in all the wrong places lately, but in a high-tech industry like this, the ability to go deep instead of wide in one field was no small advantage.
One nanometer was one-billionth of a meter.
Semiconductor equipment was machinery that dealt with processes on that scale.
Yokohama Electron couldn’t make an irreplaceable machine like ESML’s EUV equipment, but even with similar products, it was still the best at what it made, and its reliability was second to none.
When performance was high and breakdowns were rare, orders naturally piled up.
“But I’d still advise against an acquisition.”
“Why?”
“Semiconductor companies are heavily regulated by governments. If it were another Japanese company, that would be one thing, but if a foreign company tries to buy one, you’ll run into all kinds of regulatory hurdles. The same thing happened when SPME invested in Kionos.”
That was valuable advice, and it could only come from someone who had actually done business in Japan.
Unfortunately, no matter what I heard, my answer had already been decided.
“I’m planning to go to Japan first.”
My words made him stare even harder than before.
“What? You’re going to Japan?”
“Yes. Is something wrong with that?”
“Of course something’s wrong. You could be arrested the moment you get there.”
“Surely not.”
Then Chairman Samara said in a voice thick with outrage, “Surely not? I went to attend a chamber of commerce event, and the instant I stepped off my private jet I was arrested at the airport by the Special Investigation Unit of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, which had been waiting there for me. If that isn’t a setup crime, what is? Do you know what I went through after that? I was locked up in a detention center for months, cut off from the outside world, and denied visits. They barely fed me, and I lost ten kilograms. I still haven’t gotten back to my old weight!”
“……”
According to the Japanese Ministry of Justice’s explanation, they hadn’t actually fed him less than the standard amount; they had given him the proper ration. The problem was that the standard was based on Japanese bodies.
“And all of that was unimaginable right up until the moment I landed in Japan! It was the worst time of my life! I still grind my teeth thinking about it!”
What was shocking was that he wasn’t inventing any of it just to slander a country.
Chairman Samara roared on, indignant. “Do you know what’s even more absurd?”
“What is it?”
“I was arrested and detained on suspicion alone, but the board members—led by Masaki Saito, the very people who’d actually committed the corruption—were all allowed to stand trial without being held. And even then, one by one, they’re being cleared or given suspended sentences. Does that sound right to you?”
“No, it doesn’t.”
Korea might be said to be lenient toward financial crimes, but Japan was no slouch either.
Plenty of accounting fraud, embezzlement, and breach-of-trust cases had surfaced over the years, yet the number of people who were actually locked up could be counted on one hand.
“The Japanese prosecutors are the kind of people who go easy on their own but treat foreigners like garbage! And you still want to go to Japan?”
“I haven’t done business in Japan, so shouldn’t I be fine?”
He had been running a business there for years, so if someone wanted to make trouble, they could probably find something to pin on him. I was different. I hadn’t done anything there, so there was nothing to dig up.
Chairman Samara snorted. “Hmph! Japan is a country where anything is possible. Japan can do anything!”
“……”
It was strange that it didn’t even sound like a joke.
So much for meditation and yoga. Apparently they weren’t doing much for his peace of mind.
* * *
Busy people were busy people. No matter how much you wanted to meet someone, you couldn’t just turn up unannounced and expect them to be available.
While we coordinated schedules, I kept going over Yokohama Electron’s sales data.
As expected, China’s contribution was still marching ahead. At this rate, wouldn’t it account for more than 60 percent of sales by next year?
Chairman Song Gazuki had acquired Yokohama Electron after the financial crisis.
Back then, semiconductor companies were collapsing one after another under the twin pressures of the semiconductor chicken game and the demand crash caused by the financial crisis.
The Japanese government had decided there was no point in propping up semiconductor firms and cut off support. As a result, Eldafi went bankrupt, while Kionos survived only by the skin of its teeth thanks to SPME’s investment.
Yokohama Electron had also been driven to the brink of bankruptcy.
The government had washed its hands of the matter, but Chairman Song Gazuki saw things very differently.
Because semiconductors moved in cycles of boom and bust, he judged that once the shadow of the downturn passed, the next boom would inevitably begin.
He was also paying close attention to China.
Even while the entire world was posting negative growth because of the financial crisis, China alone refused to stop growing.
As you could tell from his investments in GenieBaba and DadaChuxing, Chairman Song Gazuki placed enormous value on the growth potential of Chinese IT companies.
And for IT companies to grow, they needed semiconductors behind them. That was why Chairman Song Gazuki pushed for factory expansion and, at the same time, for entry into China.
In fact, Chairman Nakazato had apparently been far from enthusiastic about building a factory in China. But if he wanted Softbox Group’s investment, he had no choice but to agree.
Chairman Song Gazuki met directly with China’s top leadership, persuaded them, and secured investment from both the central government and local authorities. That was how Yokohama Electron built a factory in Shanghai.
His prediction proved correct.
China later declared its semiconductor rise and went on a campaign to attract chip fabs, and Yokohama Electron’s sales exploded as it supplied the equipment those fabs needed.
When you looked at it that way, Chairman Song Gazuki’s eye for opportunity really was exceptional.
It was easy to think that this outcome had been obvious in hindsight, but at the time, even existing factories were sitting idle. In that climate, pushing for overseas expansion and adding new capacity had been a real gamble.
Overcapacity is a disaster in manufacturing.
If the forecast had been wrong, Yokohama Electron would have been saddled with massive losses and gone under.
I was still flipping through the materials when Sena called me.
Seeing my younger sister contact me this often, I couldn’t help worrying that maybe we’d gotten too close for our own good.
“Everything okay at home?”
“Yeah. Nothing’s wrong, except that the neighborhood ladies keep showing up at Mom’s place at all hours, grilling her about you and shoving photos in her face.”
“Photos?”
“Yep. Daughters’ photos, nieces’ photos, daughters-in-law’s older sisters’ photos, sons-in-law’s younger sisters’ photos, a daughter’s friend’s photo, a friend’s daughter’s photo, and so on.”
“……”
Apparently, without realizing it, I had become the blue-chip stock of our neighborhood’s marriage-market circuit.
Tch. So this was my popularity.
But no chance.
I was a man who preferred natural meetings. What did arranged introductions have to do with me?
“Mom wants you to come over this weekend. She said we should have a family meal.”
“Out of nowhere?”
Something about this felt off.
Who in their right mind would walk right into a trap after hearing that?
“What’s the real reason?”
“She’ll probably show you photos and tell you to pick one.”
As expected.
“Tell her I can’t make it.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to Japan this weekend.”
At that, Sena brightened immediately.
“Really? Where in Japan?”
“Tokyo.”
Then she said at once, “Wow, Tokyo! I love Tokyo. Take me with you!”
“Don’t you have school?”
“You said it’s the weekend, right? I can just have fun for the weekend and come back. Tons of kids travel like that these days.”
Well, Japan was close enough.
“What are you going to do in Japan anyway if you can’t even speak Japanese?”
“Sojin speaks Japanese really well. She’s been on a lot of trips to Japan before.”
“Really?”
I hadn’t known she had that skill.
“Whoa! We were already thinking of going to Japan for fun, and this works out perfectly.”
“No, wait—”
Works out perfectly? For what, exactly?
I hadn’t even said I’d take her, and she was already drinking her own kimchi broth.
“No. Absolutely not. Go home. I’m not taking you.”
“What do you mean? You’re always going off somewhere to have fun, Oppa!”
“I’m going for work. Work.”
“What kind of work?”
I usually didn’t like talking about it, but it felt like I needed to explain what I actually did for a living.
“Corporate M&A. Merger and Acquisition. In plain English, it means buying and merging companies.”
Technically, if you wanted to be pedantic, the order should be “acquisition and merger,” but that was beside the point.
“So that means what?”
“It means paying money to buy a company.”
“Oh! Then you should’ve just said so in the first place. Why make it sound so hard?”
“……”
What exactly was hard about that?
“Anyway, take us too.”
“What would you even do in Japan?”
“Plenty. Shopping, eating good food, sightseeing. You’ll take us, right?”
As expected, the reasons were completely useless.
I answered firmly. “Nope. We’re not going. I’m not buying.”
“What are you talking about? You’re saying you’re going to Japan to buy a company!”
“……”
That was not the same thing.
* * *
Since she made such a racket about it, I had no choice but to bring them along.
Sena immediately started contacting her friends, but the only one whose schedule lined up on short notice was Sojin, so in the end it would just be the two of them.
Japan was safe, and Sojin really did speak Japanese well, but I still wasn’t comfortable letting the two of them wander around alone.
So I arranged for a guide and a bodyguard as well.
That kind of thing was easy enough to set up through JR Blackwood Hotel. If you had money, there was practically nothing you couldn’t make happen.
Sunwoo asked me, “You’re going to Japan?”
“Yeah.”
“Nice. Then I’m coming too.”
“Why?”
“I was already planning to meet with a few Japanese game companies. There are people I need to see anyway.”
For the record, he was pretty fluent in Japanese too.
When we were kids, Japanese games were still the mainstream.
Back then, a lot of games didn’t even have Korean localization, so plenty of people taught themselves Japanese just to be able to play them.
I learned English that way too.
I’d planned to go alone, but somehow the number of people coming with me kept growing.
At least it was a private jet, so I wouldn’t have to deal with airfare.
“Okay. Let’s go.”