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

The JFTC deemed the domination of Japan’s domestic beer industry by four major companies an oligopoly and saw the extensive licensing system of production, distribution, and sales in the interest of liquor-tax collection as an impediment to full and open competition and a breach of the Antitrust Act, and had always been looking for the right opportunity to strike. Now, Limelight tried to put the screws to the JFTC to form a joint venture with Hinode under their original terms, but upon receiving this proposal, the JFTC’s leadership proved to be more obstinate than ever before. According to the JFTC, the dissolution of the domestic oligopoly and the opening of proper free-market competition were not the only prospects if Hinode were to establish a new joint corporation in accordance with Limelight’s plan. The JFTC even made the veiled threat that if a domestic manufacturer did not agree to such a joint venture, then beer, along with automotive parts, flat glass, and telecommunications, could all potentially become the target of Japan-US trade negotiations.

The JFTC took such a strong stance because, to put it simply, if one of Japan’s manufacturers did not take on Limelight’s aggressive demands, they would find themselves in a situation where they were unable to respond to requests from home or abroad and that Hinode was the only manufacturer with enough basic and fundamental strength to do so. Meanwhile, the National Tax Agency, who ordinarily should have protected the domestic manufacturer in order to secure the liquor tax, proved itself to be consistently weak-kneed, in part due to the chaotic political situation, and failed to demonstrate any leadership. However, considering the current trends, this problem would have occurred sooner or later, so ultimately one could say that Limelight had shrewdly taken the pulse of the times and come out victorious, while Hinode had gone on the defensive and lost.

In any case, fearing the remote chance that Limelight would join forces with a convenience store that sold seventy billion yen worth of beer annually, Hinode had, since January this year, returned to the negotiating table and, hoping to extract even a small concession from Limelight, Shirai had been hard at work right up to the day before yesterday. Even if they were to accept their conditions as they were, it might not have a significant impact on the basis of Hinode’s management itself, but in the future it would wreak incalculable havoc on the entire beer industry, Hinode included. Once they set a precedent, other huge foreign manufacturers might launch similar successive offensives. If that were to happen, as of now the domestic industry had no countermeasures.

Over the last three months, many of those on the board of directors could not help but express resistance to an industry giant like Hinode willingly choosing a path that would ultimately lead to their network of distributors being devoured by a foreign manufacturer. And yet, no one would come out and say that there was any way they could refuse the joint venture. Shirai himself, from the start, had been of the opinion that if this road was indeed inevitable, it was in their best interest to prepare for it now, and Shiroyama too, after thinking it over countless times himself, was verging on the decision to accept their demands.

As for Hinode, they would be able to add Limelight’s share to their overall sales for the duration of their ten-year joint venture, but if by that time, when Limelight had been set up independently and the era of full-scale free competition would begin, they still did not have a structure in place at least to cover their loss in shares of the beer market, there would be no future for Hinode anyway. What was more, if Limelight’s raid into the market were to bestir the wholesalers and liquor stores themselves to finally accelerate the streamlining process that had languished for so long, then in the long run that could even be seen as a benefit.

The rest depended on how they would accede to Limelight’s demands. If they were to swallow them whole, they would lose face in front of their competitors and every one of their distributors. Late last night, Shiroyama had instructed Shirai to present one final condition to Limelight. Namely that, during the first three years of the joint venture, Limelight must maintain the same suggested retail price as domestic manufacturers. For now, they would push for this one concession, and wait to see what would be their move. On Monday—tomorrow—Shirai was expected to return to the negotiating table with Limelight.

Presumably, this would bring the four-year-long joint-venture issue with Limelight to a conclusion. On Wednesday the 27th, they would summon the board of directors to present their final decision, and on the 28th they would convey the terms of their resolution to the JFTC and Limelight, and once the various procedures had been squared away, they would announce the joint venture by mid-May. However, as far as their business was concerned, before that could happen, they needed to explain the situation and build a consensus first among their designated shareholders, as well as their major distributors and competitors. The joint venture with a behemoth like Limelight—a corporation that held a 10-percent share in the global beer market and whose scale of production was one-and-a-half times that of all four major Japanese companies put together—no matter what form it took, it was sure to send shock waves in all directions.

The consensus-building was scheduled for the week beginning Monday, May 9th, after the Golden Week holiday ended. As Shiroyama made these calculations in his head, the queue in front of him to tee off grew shorter by the minute, while a new line had formed behind him.

A bird’s call above his head reached his ears, and when he looked up the slightly overcast sky showed faint streaks of sunlight. Shiroyama breathed in the air, thick with the scent of new buds on