In late September 1988, the economic development of Japanese society reached its highest peak in history, and the prosperity of society was unprecedented.
This is not only reflected in the stock market and real estate market setting new record highs. People in it are full of luxury, pursuing the ultimate luxury in material carnival, striving to make money and spending money desperately.
It is also reflected in the opening of the Tokyo Dome and the successful hosting of Tyson's boxing competition.
There are also two infrastructure projects, including the Aohan Tunnel and the Nagase Bridge, which have invested heavily and took several years, have finally been completed and opened.
It can be said that now, both people’s confidence and purses in Japan are full of bulging people, and they are all immersed in laughter and joy.
So although Ning Weimin has been away from Tokyo, Japan for less than three months, when he comes back, he is still surprised and fresh about many new changes in all aspects of Japanese society.
First of all, it is the consumption environment.
Yes, the consensus reached by Japanese society in this era is - momentism.
To put it bluntly, it means enjoying timely.
In order to make money, merchants in various industries in Japan are also crazy and constantly encourage this hedonism.
No matter any festival at home and abroad, we are desperately pursuing Valentine's Day. In addition, various member days, anniversary and other activities have been launched to attract young people to consume.
Under the slander of merchants, couples have to give each other gifts on every festival or anniversary, and in order to compare, luxury accessories such as Rolex and LV are also common.
Usually the first sentence when meeting between unmarried Japanese friends is "What gift did your male (female) friend give you?"
As a result, not only the young people who entered society were brainwashed successfully and unswervingly became enthusiasts of "consumption fanatics". Now even the boys and girls who are still in school are deeply influenced by this social atmosphere and have become preys of merchants who are addicted to material desires.
Today, in Tokyo, Japan, company employees have begun to use Nissan Sima as a transportation tool.
This car quickly won the favor of Japanese consumers for its luxury configuration and strong performance comparable to Mercedes-Benz and BMW, and became a popular model in the Japanese market at that time.
The teenage men and women in the school have become a common phenomenon, whether through pocket money they get from their parents or through their own work and assistance and communication.
But this is still not the whole of the consumption potential of Japanese society.
Because even at this period, even the middle-aged and elderly Japanese who have always pursued thrift have become the main force in foreign consumption.
When Ning Weimin returned to Japan, a new word became a word that is often seen in Japanese newspapers - Opasan Brigade.
This word refers to the fact that when the holiday comes, a bunch of aunts with curly hair and flip-flops are flying abroad and grabbing famous bags of perfume everywhere.
They will ignorantly touch the museum's collections as if no one was away from the country, ignore the smoking signs, and randomly touch the museum's collections.
To this end, the Vatican has issued a special order to target the Japanese.
Cultural scenic spots in Belgium and Italy have begun to restrict Japanese entry.
Times Square in the United States began to have Japanese signs, prohibiting Japanese people from making loud noises and littering.
The Daily Mail even posted a special article to ridicule this phenomenon, with the title "Japanese tourists with low quality"
As the reputation of "Opasan Brigade" quickly became famous overseas, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Japanese media could no longer sit still.
In order to save Japan's national reputation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs not only asked the media to post articles to appeal, but also specifically for the aunts who travel abroad to remind them of civilized behavior on the plane.
But unfortunately, the effect is not great.
The information feedback Ning Weimin received from Yamato Tourism was that travel agencies were both eager and headaches for these Opasan.
This group is really willing to buy something when they go abroad, and has a strong consumption power.
But they are causing a lot of trouble. Tourist groups are almost always blunt, and they need to spend a lot of effort to wipe their butts in various ways.
After learning about these situations, Ning Weimin was a little confused considering that the sales of his trolley suitcases have surged due to the surge in purchases of these Obasan.
He didn't know if the three brands of travel trolley boxes he represented would have a negative impact on goodwill due to these Opasan's purchases.
Secondly, the stronger purchasing power not only makes Japanese people fall in love with consumption, but Japanese companies are even more expensive than spending.
Therefore, the global buying boom they have already set off has further aggravated the explosive buying behavior.
It can be said that the investment targets of Japanese companies are no longer limited to tourism real estate in Guam and Hawaii.
Major Japanese consortiums began to truly go out of Asia and purchased large quantities of real estate and enterprises abroad.
Moreover, it was not too far from the end of World War II. Many senior officials of the Japanese political and business circles experienced World War II. Understanding the tragic situation of Japan at that time, they all had a sense of revenge for the United States, and the rapid development of Japan's economy also gave them some courage.
Like the then Japanese Prime Minister Tori Takeshita, proudly claimed in public that Japan had achieved freedom of beef and oranges.
At the same time, he also mocked the US military stationed in Japan, saying that Japan's prices were too high and that the US military stationed in Japan could not take to the streets and could only spread AIDS to each other on the ship.
This is clearly a mocking US military for not being able to afford to pay for military pay.
This is a sign of rebellion for Japan, which has always been servile to the American father.
As a result, the United States became the number one target for Japan to spend money.
The most representative news at this time was that Toyota directly invested $22 billion to open a factory in the United States.
Sony has also begun secret contact with Columbia, the United States, and is preparing to enter the film production.
In addition, the Japanese also purchased considerable collections of antiques and paintings in bulk overseas.
Among the large number of items purchased by the Japanese, the most famous and most eye-catching thing is of course the masterpiece Van Gogh "Vase and Fifteen Sunflowers" that we have mentioned repeatedly before.
This painting was actually sold at a London auction in 1987 at a sky-high price of 5.9 billion yen.
The price is 22.5 million pounds, or 39.7 million US dollars.
It is said that when Goto Taino raised his sign to take the painting on the spot, he sold the price from the base price of one billion to 5.9 billion in just four minutes, and it was passed down to the highest price of oil paintings in the world.
This shows the financial resources and courage of Yasuda Company.
But this happened last year after all, why did we talk about this painting again and again in 1988?
Because after this painting was taken, it had a huge impact on Japan. It was this painting that caused the "sunflower fever" across Japan.
You should know that after Yasuda Insurance Company purchased this painting and sent it back to Japan, it did not hide it, but was exhibited in various parts of Japan for viewing by people across the country.
In this way, this guy not only successfully inspires the Japanese national confidence and pride through this method, but also builds his Yasuda Insurance into a model of wealth and prosperity, which makes the Japanese people have a great sense of favor and trust in Yasuda Insurance.
It also directly promoted the growth of Yasuda's insurance business, which was the original purpose of Goto Taino.
Needless to say, seeing buying famous paintings can bring such a huge reputation.
Even graduates from major Japanese universities have begun to regard Yasuda Insurance as a priority employment company. Where can other Japanese companies still sit?
So major consortiums dispatched one after another and began to follow this practice.
Therefore, this year, the shadow of Japanese can be seen in major art auction houses around the world, and the prices of famous Western European paintings have soared.
Soon, Japanese retail giant Mitsukoshi Department Store bought Monet’s famous work “Acrobats and Young Harlequin” at Sotheby’s London, and Nishiura Department Store bought Monet’s famous work “Water Lily” for 1.3 billion yen.
In addition, financial tycoon Masaki Takahashi also spent more than ten million US dollars to purchase eleven works by German modern art master Kiefer, and real estate tycoon Tsuru spent more than five million US dollars to purchase Cezanne's "Reflection in the Water"...
Even major national art galleries in Japan were not willing to fall behind, and then launched an unprecedented "big blood change" and went to Europe and the United States to purchase a large number of Western artworks.
Among them, it cost 600 million yen to buy "The Girl of Hairband" by American Pop Artist Lichtenstein alone.
It can be said that all of this is due to the painting of Van Gogh purchased by Yasuda Insurance.
Needless to say, under this market, the domestic art market in Japan has also risen madly.
For example, the more than 80 paintings that Ning Weimin bought from Masayoshi Mihara at a high price of over 100 million yen have increased by more than four times.
Originally, he used bribes, and invested 100 million yen higher than the market price, which had already become nearly 300 million yen.
If it were the paintings he lost to Kyoto and Osaka Tangong Restaurant Branches, which he used to cheat insurance, would definitely exceed 300 million yen.
It can be said that it was the most cost-effective transaction for him to win the prize.
So much so that Sanyuan Zhengheng now wants to buy it back, so he took the initiative to find Ning Weimin to ask if he wants to take action?
So just in time, Ning Weimin packed it and sold it back for 250 million yen.
The benefits of this transaction were that doubled the funds, and the key was to sell Sanhara Masahiro a favor.
Although Teresa Teng no longer cares about the Japanese Record Awards, Matsumoto Keiko still regards being a shortlist as a dream.
Moreover, Ning Weimin planned a music album for Matsumoto Keiko had been on sale in Japan in the first half of the year.
At present, the Japanese version of "Venus in a caravan" they bought from France, "The Scenery of Venus" has sold quite strongly, and they are almost catching up with the results of "Flowers in the Water of Love", which was the best-scoring Keiko Matsumoto, which was beyond suspense.
In addition to this song in the same album, there are also the classic French song "Rose Life" covered, and the "Applause" bought by Ning Weimin through Teresa Teng and the songwriter on Baodao. The cover response was good.
Therefore, with the help of Sanyuan Zhengheng, Ning Weimin felt that at least one gold prize at this year's Record Awards would not be lost.
Why not make money and make up for your wife's regrets?
As for the end, we have to talk about the Japanese politics.
Because under the current economic trend of bubbles, even Japanese politicians cannot avoid the common sense. At this stage, all major political trends are centered on the economy.
At present, the most impact on Japanese national lives is the introduction of consumption tax.
Previously, Japan had always implemented a tax system with direct tax as the main body, and indirect taxes were mainly selectively levied for specific goods and services, and the scope of collection was limited.
However, as Japan's economic growth slowed down after the oil crisis, the tax system with direct tax as the main body began to reveal its drawbacks. At the same time, due to factors such as the increase in social security expenditure, Japan's fiscal revenue and expenditure deteriorated.
Japan's fiscal deficit continues to expand, and the government has to start issuing large amounts of government bonds.
It is precisely in order to get rid of financial difficulties that some Japanese politicians have proposed the idea of ​​consumption tax, which is essentially value-added tax.
However, such excessive money is not pleasing. Since the 1970s, Japanese politicians who hold this proposition will be attacked from all sides and scolded to the point of being bloody.
Whether it was Japanese Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira in the 1970s or Yasuhiro Nakamuni in the mid-to-early 1980s, as long as the bill on consumption tax was proposed, it was completely boycotted by the public, opposition parties, and even the ruling party.
But the time was indeed different in the late 1980s.
As Japanese society is currently flooding with money and credit expansion has reached its peak, the stock market and real estate market have brought unlimited longing to Japan. Everyone began to believe that Japan's stock market and real estate market have no ceiling, and Japan will only have a better myth in the future.
Therefore, whether it is the private, political and business community, the disgust of the increase in tax burden has been greatly reduced, and no one has resisted the consumption tax.
After all, it is too easy to make money now. Most people have too much money and don’t know how to spend it. Even the owner of the vegetable shop is singing and dancing every night.
In addition, Takeshita Teng also made changes to the tax policy this time. He adopted a mixed strategy of combining consumption tax collection and income tax reduction. He did not blindly increase the burden on the people like in the past, but ultimately successfully promoted the legislation of consumption tax.
It has been basically finalized. From the following year, the Consumption Tax Law will officially enter the historical stage with a tax rate of 3%.
This may be the only positive driving force for Japan's bubble economy to Japan's fiscal policy.
Otherwise, the Japanese government would not be able to complete the consumption tax legislation. Just for this day, taking the prime minister will not be considered inaction.
But then again, even Takeshita, who promoted this, could not maintain integrity in this environment of money flooding in Japan. In 1988, two consecutive major economic bribery cases were involved.
The first thing is that in July 1988, Japanese media exposed the bribery method of giving bribes to political parties such as Coos unlisted stocks, and politicians sold at high prices. The Liberal Democratic Party members involved in this matter almost covered all Liberal Democratic Party members, and Prime Minister Takeshita Toshita was also listed.
The second thing is the more famous and similar Rikulut incident. In almost the same way, Likulut chairman Jang Hokage, the president of Liberal Democratic Party, used his company's low-priced stocks to bribe the major Liberal Democratic Party politicians and the president of Japan Telecom Telephone Company Hiroshi Mato. The most dramatic thing is that some politicians resigned because of the incident, and those who claimed to be innocent were also found to have accepted the bribes within a few days after taking office.
It is precisely such incidents that almost knocked the credibility of the Liberal Democratic Party to freezing point, and the Japanese people have begun to refuse to believe the ruling party anymore.
Even Ning Weimin was stunned by this political situation. Now he has to turn on the TV every day and buy a bunch of newspapers to be the one who eats melons every day.
To be honest, he knew that the Three Ministries in the old society were bad, and almost all important members embezzled and accepted bribes. He did not expect that the Japanese government in the 1980s could be so bad.
However, if you think about it carefully, it is actually reasonable. The most suitable soil for corruption is the economic prosperity. Otherwise, if you are poor, you will be greedy even if you want to.
Perhaps it is the unprecedented prosperity of Japan's economy that has created such a group of corrupt politicians.
Of course, to be honest, even if the Japanese government in this era is so bad, it still has some advantages.
Another thing happened during this period, which is enough to illustrate this point.
In October 1988, the Gifu District Court, a central Japanese city, sentenced the thugs who pulled the flag of the Republic and gave the Republic a relatively satisfactory explanation.
This incident happened on June 21, 1988. When the signing ceremony for the relationship between the prefecture and the Republic of JX province was held in the Gifu Prefecture Government, 15 local right-wingers drove propaganda vehicles to the front of the county government to make trouble, and several thugs actually pulled off the five-star red flag hanging on the 5-meter-high flagpole in public.
After this incident, at the request of China, the Japanese government and relevant authorities arrested it in a timely manner and punished the perpetrators in accordance with the law.
Several months later, the Gifu District Court finally sentenced the four defendants to 1 year, 3 months, 10 months, 8 months and 6 months in prison respectively.
From this incident, we can see that at least the sincerity of China-Japan friendship is still acceptable in this era
Japan in this era did not just talk about anti-war and respect for peace, but still had a clear understanding of it.
So in such an environment, Japanese right-wing elements do not have much room for survival and cannot cause any storm for the time being.
Chapter completed!