Tokyo Barrister: Start the law firm bankruptcy

Chapter 389 Conversation Before The Storm
"Probably when I entered Kyoto University for 4 or 5 months..." Morimoto said, "My impression is very clear. At that time, the research group just published an article about the rotation error of the axis inclination angle of the minimum area circle method That night, Professor Ogawara was very happy and took our whole group to the izakaya to celebrate in the evening."

"Around 10 o'clock, a man in a suit and leather shoes, about fifty years old, walked in. I am not surprised by this kind of scene. Because, in the research group, every time I met with Professor Okawara Going out to eat. There are people coming from nowhere, rushing to pay for him."

"However, the people who came this time seemed to be different. Professor Ogawara greeted him warmly to sit down. After the introduction, I knew that his name was Masahiro Yoshimoto, and he was the president of a machinery and equipment manufacturing company. It turns out that there are many of us at ordinary times. The materials and equipment of the research group were provided by President Yoshida. This president is very active, and after he arrived, everyone chatted more happily."

"At that time, I felt that the atmosphere of Ogawara's research group was really good. I even thought that if I could stay in Ogawara's research group, it would be worthwhile to be a researcher and not a professor for the rest of my life."

There seemed to be a ray of light in Morimoto's eyes, but it soon dimmed again.He continued to mutter to himself, as if immersed in memories.

Kitahara and Miyagawa sat opposite the thick glass.Morimoto's deep voice penetrated through the holes in the glass.Under the whispering voice, this small meeting room seemed to really become a corner of the Kyoto izakaya that night, filled with noisy chatting, laughing and clinking glasses.

"I smoke." Morimoto said suddenly, "My wife Xianghui has always hated me smoking. Before that, she has been persuading me to quit smoking.

"If...if..." Morimoto's tone became agitated, "I really listen to Xianghui and quit smoking. Then...then these things will not happen."

"Don't get excited, Dr. Morimoto." Beiyuan calmed down, "Speak slowly, think slowly. We have enough time for today's meeting. If you really feel very uncomfortable, then let's take it easy. Wait a minute, and then talk. The purpose of our meeting today is to know what you personally experienced. "

Morimoto raised his head and looked at the two lawyers in front of him with a feeling of desolation, "Sometimes, fate is so tricky, and often it is just a moment that determines your future. During the meal, Yoshida Society The chief suddenly took out a pack of cigarettes and passed one to Professor Ogawara. After that, he also passed one to me. Originally, I wanted to avoid it, but I don’t know why, so I just took this cigarette by accident.”

"The rest of the research group don't smoke. So Professor Okawara, President Yoshida, and I, the three left the table temporarily and went outside the izakaya."

"It all started with this conversation outside the izakaya."

"At that time, I was smoking a cigarette. Although I was next to Ogawara and Yoshida, I couldn't get in their words at all. The issues they talked about were very profound. They talked about the depression of the industry, the budget mechanism, etc. They smoked a cigarette and One cigarette, for the first ten minutes, I couldn't even understand what they said. I only knew that their tone was anxious and worried.

"I feel very strange about this. The current Dongyang is a prosperous moment. The stock market is constantly rising, people everywhere are getting rich, and the whole society is booming. How come I still hear such words as the industry is depressed. I doubt my There was something wrong with their ears. But at that time, their demeanor was that the country of Toyo seemed—as if an unprecedented crisis was about to happen.”

Morimoto's eyes widened unconsciously, and he leaned forward slightly.

Seeing Morimoto's expression, Miyagawa shivered inexplicably, felt scared unconsciously, and quietly moved closer to Beiyuan.

"President Yoshida told Professor Ogawara that he has observed a very strange phenomenon in the recent industry. That is, the sales of private cars are increasing, but the shipments of auto parts have not kept up, forming a Very weird rift."

"President Yoshida said that after conducting field visits, he found out that a considerable part of car sales are 'sales in name only.' Pursuing to have a car, if you want to marry a girl, you must be able to afford a car. However, it is impossible for everyone to afford a car.”

"However, there are private financial companies in Toyo doing this now. They specialize in lending to consumers who want to buy cars. We also know that once a car is auctioned as a second-hand car, its value will be greatly depreciated. Therefore, The interest charged by these private financial companies is unusually high.”

"Therefore, these front-line car sellers know very well that once the income of these consumers drops even temporarily, an unprecedented wave of car supply cuts will come. And a large number of used cars being auctioned, and It will in turn impact the prices of first-hand car dealers. Therefore, this is the reason for the gap, and many manufacturers are unwilling to follow the increase in sales and expand production."

"However, to the horror of President Yoshida, he found that the recent gap in Toyo is constantly narrowing. In other words, the current shipments of auto parts are also increasing. Obviously everyone knows the sales data of the terminal In fact, it is 'fake'. However, no one can resist the temptation of money. After all, private financial companies are buying cars with a lot of money, and no one can refuse this kind of money that falls from the sky."

"The problem is that once car production goes up with the fake sales figures, that leads to real factory waste. Sooner or later there will be a lot of unsalable cars."

"The above words are said by President Yoshida. Although I don't understand economics, I feel that President Yoshida is a very smart person."

"After President Yoshida finished speaking, Professor Ogawara also sighed. He said that the university has now introduced a new budget mechanism, that is, the expenditure determination system. In the past, university budgets were often allocated by quota, or according to the scientific research declaration project. Funding needs to be released. Now that the new expenditure determination system is implemented, the budget is not only linked to funding needs, but also to expenditures.”

"To put it simply, how much budget a university can get depends on how much it can spend. For example, if a university receives a budget of 20 billion yen for scientific research this year, but its expenditure this year is only 15 billion yen. Then, it The scientific research funding budget for the coming year will be cut down to only 12 billion yen.”

"In this way, the use of scientific research funds has become a competition game of expenditure. Whoever fails to spend all the money will be brutally eliminated in this scientific research competition. During the period, Professor Ogawara even talked about The current use of university funds is absurd. It is said that there are twelve months in a year, but all national universities in Toyo, without exception, have the highest scientific research expenditure in December. There is a tailing curve in university expenditure.”

"Everyone knows that everyone just wants to spend money in December to avoid cuts in the university budget. After hearing this, President Yoshida sighed and said that he felt that the situation was not good. He has two A factory of precision machine tools, the capital has recently started to be unable to turn over, and the bank does not know why they are unwilling to lend him money. Then, Professor Ogawara and President Yoshida chatted more and more intensely, and they even had Forget about the research team members in the izakaya."

"I was even more at a loss when I was next to them. I didn't know whether to continue listening next to them or go back. Just when I didn't know what to do, they suddenly looked back at me and asked me:—"

"Morimoto-kun, are you interested in the joint strategy of industry and research?"

As if recalling the scene where Professor Okawara and President Yoshida asked questions at that time, Morimoto's body trembled visibly, as if he had touched the horrible memory of that night.

(End of this chapter)