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deemed would benefit Japan the most, using rebates, discounts, and tax incentives to make it beneficial for the large keiretsu— conglomerates—to switch into these industries. With new scandals unfolding almost every week—the latest being the agonizing reformation of political power lines—the political, business, and financial infrastructure of Japan was coming apart at the seams.
    The world had changed considerably in the thirty-nine years since the Liberal Democratic Party was formed. Then, it had stood for the future of Japan; the only alternatives were the Communists and Socialists. A succession of LDP prime ministers had joined with the Daijins of MITI to build Japan into the economic colossus of the present. But the LDP had grown fat and corrupt beneath the burden of almost four decades of unchallenged power, and now, in the most recent elections, they had been brought to their knees. Perhaps, Ushiba thought, it was time.
    Now the inevitable had happened: it was MITI’s turn to be racked with extreme pressure and public scrutiny. Two of its senior ministers had been indicted in a computer-software kickback scheme that involved several manufacturers who had been granted an excess of dispensations from the ministry.
    Ushiba, who was determined to hold the moral center in the firestorm of scandal and controversy, had dismissed the offending ministers with alacrity. Even the predatory press had been impressed with the speed and thoroughness of his internal investigation. However, damage had been done, and a cloud still hung over MITI, as evidenced by frequent newspaper editorials and magazine pieces.
    As a result, every question today seemed to be excruciatingly difficult. “How can you explain away MITI’s involvement in the artificial real estate boom of the 1980s that has now turned into a disaster for our economy and our banks in particular?” asked one reporter.
    “The idea behind the upward prices of Japanese real estate was sound and was researched thoroughly before being put forward,” Ushiba said smoothly. “In the eighties, the yen was so strong that our economy was being crippled by spending overseas. Raising real estate prices at home was an excellent way to regain investment in Japan.”
    “Daijin, what can you tell us of the stories we’ve heard lately of Yakuza involvement in our economic politics?” another reporter asked. “Specifically, what about Akira Chosa, who seems to be moving into the power vacuum left by the disappearance of Mikio Okami.”
    Ushiba cleared his throat. His lean, muscular body was surmounted by a head whose beautiful features might be termed effeminate. Unlike Western cultures, the Japanese had a history of such men being heroes. Bishonen, they were called, exquisite young men who existed under the aegis of an older individual.
    “As you gentlemen of the press know, Akira Chosa is oyabun of the Kokorogurushii. This clan name is ironic and quite typical of the pathetic mentality of Yakuza. Kokorogurushii means ‘painful.’ The word Yakuza is made up of the numbers in a losing hand at gambling; there is, always, within the Yakuza an undercurrent of a kind of self-flagellation, a sense of having to pay a penalty for living a life outside the law.”
    Ushiba looked around the room, his dark eyes liquid in the TV lights. “Having said that, let me also state that the Yakuza have been more active of late. In fact, we have uncovered a systematic pattern of ethically questionable business relationships between individuals within the Yakuza and certain major equity and financial firms. Chosa is, indeed, exerting some muscle, but I can assure you that MITI and the Tokyo prosecutor’s office are working together to see that these extralegal connections are ended once and for all.” Ushiba leaned forward a fraction to emphasize his next words. “Chosa is just one of the oyabun whose business is like a poison in the blood of Japan. It must be expunged as rapidly as