Lady Joker, Volume 1 by Kaoru Takamura (lightest ebook reader .txt) 📕

Ms. Nozaki showed him another sheet of paper with an itemized list of questions, but she knew they would never stick in Shiroyama’s mind at such a short notice. “I’ll look over them myself beforehand,” she added diligently.

“There won’t be your usual rounds within the company at 3 today. The task force for the construction of the new Nagoya factory will give a briefing at the business development division, so please attend that instead. The board members who will also be in attendance are listed. Then at 4:15, the honorable Sakata-san from the Liberal Democratic Party will be calling, so please don’t forget.”

On the schedule, prepared with a word processor, were the words, “Thank-you call from S.” The call was in regard to a fundraising ticket.

“Yes. I understand,” Shiroyama responded.

“Then, at five there’s the ceremony for the Hinode Cultural Awards.”

With that, she placed a slim pamphlet in front of him. The award was a project of the Hinode Cultural Foundation, established ten years ago, with both art and music categories. Feeling embarrassed that he had forgotten all about it, Shiroyama replied simply, “Yes.”

“The list of recipients and their work is in the pamphlet.”

“I’ll take a look at it in the car.”

“I’ll have the car ready for you at the entrance by 4:30. Then, you will be returning at 7 . . .”

And that was that—the confirmation of his schedule first thing in the morning took three minutes. Another three minutes to go over publicity events and advertising, as well as crucial matters regarding business at the different branches and factories.

Last came the reports from the beer, pharmaceutical, and business development divisions, which arrived every Monday; the stack of October’s monthly interim financial statements; and clippings from trade publications such as food industry newspapers, all compiled into a folder. After placing them on his desk, Ms. Nozaki then delivered a carafe of water and a glass and promptly disappeared by eight-thirty.

Shiroyama looked at his watch. He had less than half an hour until nine, the official start of business. The accumulation of these half hours every morning was a small point of pride for Shiroyama. He laid out all four sets of documents on his desk, including the reports and the interim financial statements, and began scanning through all of them at once. When it came to numbers, his instincts were useless unless he looked at them everyday. He had no intention of criticizing the details of the accounting; he never said anything about numbers during management meetings, but taking a broad view of the numbers aided him with various decisions, including whether the company was proceeding properly day-to-day, and whether there were any unusual changes in its progress.

But first, last week’s results for Hinode Supreme: 520,000 cases. The report noted that, looking ahead to increased demand forecast over Christmas, there was the potential to restore the weekly sales pace of 700,000 cases. Based on the rate of orders to the end of the term, the cumulative forecast was set at upwards of thirty-five million cases. This would ensure them their next-term goal of seventy million cases. However, if the lager—which dominated with 80 percent of their product range—were to fall short of the previous term’s cumulative total, this term’s year-over-year sales could be on the brink of a deficit.

Next, he quickly skimmed the results of each branch, as well as the production rates and inventory numbers for each factory.

Then it was on to product trends of rival companies. The business development division had done an analysis on the strength of “Winter Dry,” which Mainichi Beer—the number two company in the industry—had launched that month as part of their winter strategy. “In terms of product development, what merits special mention is the shift in perspective. As for sales, note their targeted promotion to bars and restaurants, their focused campaign in the greater Kantō region, an increase of rebates, and so on.” There were no comments on Winter Dry’s reduced alcohol content. Shiroyama made a mental note of this, and his eyes flew to the reports from their product development division. Come to think of it, what happened to their next-term plan to stay ahead of the health craze by making a lower alcohol content the focus of their development concept?

Just as he started to turn the page, he suddenly heard Ms. Nozaki’s voice through the intercom on his desk.

“Vice President Shirai and Human Resources Manager Tsukamoto are here to see you.”

Shiroyama looked at his watch. Eight thirty-five.

“Send them in,” he answered into the intercom, wondering what they could possibly want now since they were about to see him at the breakfast meeting. The door opened just as he had stacked the documents he had spread on his desk and closed the folder.

“Sorry to bother you so early.” The man who said this as he entered was Vice President Sei’ichi Shirai, whose tone was as bland and curt as always. Following behind him was the human resources manager who, in marked contrast, spoke with shoulders hunched somberly and bowed deeply as he said, “I’m afraid we have a situation that might cause you some concern.”

Internal strife? Shiroyama wondered how long this would take as he offered them a seat. After all they only had twenty-five minutes to spare.

“So, what is it?” Shiroyama had cut to the chase, just as Shirai replied bluntly, “We received an anonymous, well, tape, instead of a letter.”

According to Tsukamoto, who explained the situation, during the selection process for new employees in October, there had been a University of Tokyo graduate who left in the middle of his second interview, saying he felt unwell. He was rejected after apparently going home and failing to return, and subsequently on two separate occasions the human resources department received a letter from the student’s father who raised doubts about their selection process. The father was a dentist with a private practice in Setagaya, and he was from a segregated buraku community in Hyogo prefecture. The father was convinced that there