The Tyrant Billionaire

Prime Minister Yoshida's mind was racing.

In the past, they had debated whether Japan should officially recognize its mistakes. The United States had imposed both ideological and media controls, pressing Japan to acknowledge the errors of launching its aggressive war.

But on this issue, Japan had always remained ambiguous.

Why? The reason lay in the complexities of Japan's national character.

Respecting the Emperor as a deity, influenced by the spirit of Bushido, and adhering to the principle of "survival of the fittest" in a pragmatic way, along with ideas of racial superiority, these concepts were deeply embedded in Japan's identity.

Now, however, Emperor Hirohito had been reformed by General MacArthur to the point where he acknowledged himself as an ordinary human being, not a god.

But if they were also to admit that the war was a mistake...

Losing the spirit of Bushido along with it, they feared that the Japanese people might lose their backbone, never to rise again.

So, though twisted, they clung to maintaining some semblance of dignity.

Now, Hardy's question placed Prime Minister Yoshida in an incredibly uncomfortable position. Hardy had just stated that Japan must abandon imperialism and Nazis ideologies in order to re-enter the international community.

If Yoshida didn't admit to Japan's wartime mistakes, tomorrow's newspapers would surely sensationalize the story, likely portraying Japan as clinging to imperialism and Nazis ideologies.

If that happened, any hope of Japan regaining independence would be utterly crushed.

It would also offend the United States—both the government and MacArthur. The U.S. had been intensely reforming Japan over the past few years, with the goal of ensuring, as they put it, that "Japan would no longer be a threat to world peace and security."

If the U.S. discovered that imperialist and Nazis ideologies still lingered beneath the surface, it was likely that both the American government and MacArthur would initiate another round of purges.

"Yes," Yoshida responded solemnly, "we must sincerely admit that launching that war was a mistake. On behalf of Japan, I express our remorse for the war." Yoshida bowed deeply to Hardy, his tone filled with sincerity.

Click, click, click.

The journalists frantically snapped photos, capturing this pivotal moment.

The print journalists were busy jotting down Yoshida's exact words, knowing that tomorrow's headlines would certainly highlight Hardy's speech and Yoshida's apology for the wartime mistakes.

Hardy smiled inwardly. There was no way around it—the Japanese samurai mentality, or what they called the spirit of bushido, was just too strong for the local zaibatsu and too cutthroat for outsiders like them. Yes, Hardy admired the work ethic, discipline, and perseverance in that code, but there was also the unwavering loyalty the Japanese people had to their daimyo and shoguns.

This loyalty would be a significant stumbling block for American capital to establish itself in Japan. As such, the spirit of bushido had to be utterly destroyed.

Hardy was in no hurry, he planned to slowly break them down through public pressure, piece by piece.

This was just the beginning.

Hardy continued his speech.

"The Japanese government's social surveys show that Japan currently has 13 million unemployed people. And that number doesn't even include women and children. This is an alarming figure, making up more than 30% of Japan's total workforce."

"Inflation is severe, and prices are skyrocketing. Today, Japan's prices are 20 times higher than they were before the war. This is an incredibly frightening statistic. Economic experts have predicted that if the situation cannot be effectively reversed, it could take Japan 100 years to recover."

Both Prime Minister Yoshida on the stage and the members of the Cabinet, along with the Japanese businesspeople in the audience, all wore grim expressions.

Hardy was right; they were also deeply pessimistic about Japan's future.

Hardy paused for a moment, intentionally giving them time to process their emotions.

"My visit this time will involve a comprehensive plan for Japan's economic recovery, focusing on several key areas. First, we will abolish outdated feudal economic regulations. Second, we will carry out complete demilitarization reforms, with Japan's future efforts focusing entirely on the development of the civilian economy. Third, we will formulate an economic strategy.

Japan is an island nation, lacking natural resources. Since local resources cannot meet its needs, we have analyzed that Japan is more suited to pursue an outward-oriented economic strategy."

"For example, we could establish television factories to provide more affordable televisions to the U.S. and Europe. We could also develop the light textile industry, importing cotton and wool from the U.S. and Australia to manufacture fabric and garments for export."

"Additionally, Japan can produce clothing, shoes, furniture, home appliances, toys, musical instruments, auto parts, rubber products, processed gemstones, ceramics, audio equipment, and so on."

"I have already secured the President's approval to open access to advanced American technology for Japan. This will allow you to introduce cutting-edge production equipment and techniques."

"This May, I was appointed as the Special Envoy for Economic Guidance in Japan. The reason I didn't come immediately was that I knew Japan's problems couldn't be solved merely by visiting. Since internal issues were difficult to address, I decided to bring in external support."

With that, Hardy gestured toward the team from the seven major financial groups and said with a smile, "I've invited the California Group, the Rockefeller Group, the Morgan Group, the Cleveland Group, the Texas Group, the DuPont Group, and the Mellon Group to join me in coming to Japan to invest. With their involvement, the construction funding and sales channels will become more accessible."

Applause erupted.

Prime Minister Yoshida, the Cabinet members, and the several dozen business leaders in attendance all began to clap. They knew that any one of these financial groups could pull their companies out of the quagmire with just a little effort.

"In addition, to get things running, we'll need a source of start-up capital. I thought about the seized military-industrial enterprises. According to orders from the United Nations and the Allied Command, those companies have been fully confiscated. I've given much thought to how we could make use of them and turn waste into something valuable.

In the end, I decided to sell them off to raise start-up funds."