Chapter 405: Only You Don’t Know
“Who said I didn’t tell you?
It’s just that you didn’t know.”
His voice echoed in the Japanese-style room, then he waved his hand, picked up the teacup, signaling that today’s dialogue was over.
Late that night, in the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry’s office, Ono Yukio’s special car did not return to ZMD headquarters, but drove directly into the center of Kasumigaseki, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry building.
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Saito Katsuya was waiting for him in the office.
The office had no superfluous decorations, only a world map and a screen with real-time updates on global bulk commodity trading data.
Saito Katsuya, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, 58 years old, from the top financial magnate Sumitomo system, was a senior executive director at Sumitomo Corporation before entering politics.
He is the most direct spokesperson for Japan’s financial magnates in the cabinet.
“Mr. Ono,” Saito Katsuya personally poured him a glass of whiskey, “it seems you’ve already talked with Mr. Ishiba.”
“Is he crazy?” Ono Yukio didn’t touch the wine glass, his voice filled with anger, “Using one Aegis destroyer and the lives of nearly two hundred Self-Defense Force members to gamble on a national fortune that can’t possibly be won, Saito, tell me, who else did he tell about this plan?”
Ono Yukio’s anger was more like unwillingness that he had been kept in the dark for so long, rather than the former Prime Minister’s behavior itself.
Saito Katsuya’s expression was very calm, looking at Ono Yukio as if looking at an outsider who had just learned the game rules.
“He told everyone who needed to be told, or rather, this plan, from the beginning, was not just his alone.”
“What do you mean?”
Saito Katsuya slowly spoke.
“Mr. Ono, you are a politician, you consider elections, factions, and the Japan-U.S. security alliance.
But we, and the helmsmen of those corporations behind us, that is, the financial magnates in the public’s mouth, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, Keidanren, we consider balance sheets, industrial chains, markets for the next twenty years.”
“We see it very clearly,” he continued, “China’s technology development speed is already unstoppable.
Dare you imagine the Moon Base has been on the Moon for two years, yet America has done nothing? They even have to rely on China’s technology for a single trip to the Moon.
What a bizarre world this is.
The object we rely on, America, has not only lost productivity, but in high-end productivity, only semiconductors can barely hold up.
The gap between their advantageous industries and China’s is getting smaller and smaller. Once China’s industries surpass, the advantage will grow even larger.
The field of Aerospace shows it most clearly.
Back in 2020, Lin Jun still had to rely on NASA’s Apollo technical data, but today in 2025, they have built an electromagnetic rail on the Moon, and through the electromagnetic rail, sent a spaceship back to Earth lightly without relying on fossil fuel at all.
Mr. Ono, don’t you think this is too terrifying?
In my past understanding, something that would take fifty years to achieve, Chinese people accomplished in just five years, turning it into reality.
What’s on the Moon? They can now utilize Moon soil. In the future, is it possible to utilize other things? Like uranium-235 existing in KREEP rock?
I used to think this was impossible, but now, the possibility exists.
On the Moon, there are only Chinese people, only Chinese bases. We don’t know what they transport from Earth to the Moon. Directly manufacturing nuclear weapons on the Moon is temporarily unlikely, but transporting from Earth is no difficulty for them.
This is too terrifying, this is true space nuclear deterrence.
And America’s reaction is getting more and more hysterical.
They are clearly trying to turn our surroundings into a powder keg that can explode at any time, binding us completely to their war chariot.”
Saito Katsuya pointed to the seas around Japan on the map with his finger.
“We are assets, America’s most important and valuable asset in the entire Asia-Pacific region, but you haven’t seen that our little brother next door, also an important asset, is now being tormented to death, repeatedly squeezed.
Mr. Ono, once war breaks out, our factories, ports, our investments, will all turn to ashes in an instant.”
“So.” Ono Yukio didn’t finish.
“So, we cannot let it happen.” Saito Katsuya said, “The core interest of us financial magnates is stability. We need to do business with China, we also need America’s market and technology, and we certainly do not want Japan to become a battlefield.
The Prime Minister’s plan, at the beginning, had our tacit approval.”
“Tacit approval?”
“Yes.
Using a controllable military friction to make the entire nation realize the terror of war and the fragility of the security treaty, thereby gaining sufficient political motivation to forcibly push for normalization of relations with China, striving for a relatively neutral, hedging living space for Japan.
This is a very special period, very cold-blooded, but indeed feasible proposal.”
“Then why later?” Ono Yukio continued to ask.
“Because he crossed the line.” Displeasure appeared in Saito Katsuya’s tone for the first time: “What we agreed to was a painful strategic shift based on realism.
But what he wants is not just normalization of relations, he wants atonement, a complete reckoning with World War II history like West Germany’s Brandt kneeling in Warsaw.
“This is absolutely unacceptable to us!” Saito Katsuya said coldly, “This is not just a matter of national dignity. Such thorough self-denial will fundamentally shake the conservatives’ ruling foundation and excessively stimulate America, making America think we not only want neutrality, but betrayal.
He turned our precise calculations into a gamble.
He is too idealistic, too naive.”
“So, we went back on our word.” Saito Katsuya continued: “After learning he was going to deliver that atonement speech draft, we supporters unanimously decided we must stop him, so we leaked his complete plan to two people.”
Saito Katsuya looked at Ono Yukio.
Ono Yukio thought he finally understood everything.
Saito Katsuya said slowly, “He realized that his true supporters, us financial magnates, betrayed him.
He knew his gamble had failed.
But he was unwilling to exit just like that.
So, he didn’t read that shocking atonement draft, but also didn’t read the whitewashed lie draft you prepared.”
“And precisely because of that,” Saito Katsuya concluded, “we feel we should give him a little opportunity. Though opening the window is impossible, making some slight effort, since he is willing to stake his political life on the attempt, we will take this as an opportunity to attempt pushing for normalization of relations.”
“Not enough.”
Facing the proposal from Zhang Zhiyuan and Lin Xiuwen couple, willing to lower the price a bit in hopes of selling their house in Baolai Garden, sales consultant Huang Peihan wore a professional smile and interrupted Zhang Zhiyuan:
“Mr. Zhang, last month is already the last era.”
Outside the floor-to-ceiling window was the familiar outline of Taipei 101 building rising section by section.
Outside the window was the typical overcast weather of early October typhoon season, with thick clouds pressing low, as if heavy rain could pour down at any moment.
Mrs. Zhang couldn’t help but speak: “Vicky, we sincerely want to sell, price is negotiable, the most important is to be fast.”
Vicky is the sales consultant’s English name, clients are more used to calling this name.
Vicky sighed, pulled out the latest market analysis report from the thick stack of documents behind her, and pushed it in front of them.
It was covered in dense curve charts, all curves without exception showing cliff-like drops.
“Mrs. Zhang,” Vicky’s tone was gentle, but the content cruel, “Look here, from Tuesday to now, in less than a week, our company alone in Xinyi District has added over two hundred entrusted listings for sale, and buyers?” She flipped a page, “Buyers’ bidding intentions are generally half of our system evaluation price.”
“Half?” Zhang Zhiyuan’s face turned very ugly, “This is robbery!”
“No, Mr. Zhang,” Vicky shook her head, “This is not robbery, this is the market. Suddenly, everyone wants to squeeze out the door, only to find there’s only one buyer at the door.”
Lin Xiuwen could no longer maintain surface calm, her eyes reddened: “We just want to give our child a safer environment.
Last week, my son called from New York, crying asking when we would go over.
He said he doesn’t dare watch the news, doesn’t dare talk to classmates, especially those from China. I even suspect my son was bullied by them.
I want to go accompany him as soon as possible.”
Zhang Zhiyuan silently patted his wife’s hand, then he looked up at Vicky:
“Miss Vicky, I won’t hide it from you.
That day, at the company, with all the engineers, through internal channels, we watched the complete live broadcast.”
“They showed their current muscles. It’s scary, but we’re used to it.
What truly chilled me was that command module returned from the Moon.”
He continued: “We are in technology.
We all understand what that means.
That’s not science fiction movie, that’s an engineering problem they have already solved.
When your neighbor already has the ability to play Earth-Moon delivery with an electromagnetic cannon on the Moon, what meaning is there in discussing TSMC’s few nanometers here?
More deadly is Japan’s Haguro, an Aegis destroyer more advanced than our navy’s best warship, just disappeared like that.
Americans? They sent a P-8A, watching from the sky.
As if the matter had nothing to do with them.
Even with the security treaty it’s like this, what about us?”
He leaned back on the sofa, as if all strength had been drained from him.
“On one side, your enemy, masters forces you cannot comprehend.
On the other side, your protector, with actions tells you he is just an audience.
Miss Vicky, tell me, in Taipei, what assets are still safe?” Zhang Zhiyuan’s voice trembled at the end.
Vicky fell silent.
Such words, these days she had heard no less than twenty times.
Every glamorous social elite who walks into this VIP room, after shedding the shell of rationality, is just such an ordinary person filled with fear and helplessness.
“Mr. Zhang, Mrs. Zhang,” she finally spoke, “Now on the market, there are only two kinds of buyers.
One kind, like you, eager to sell houses for US dollars, to apply for EB-5 (a type of American investment immigration).
The other kind, those holding overseas hot money, ready to loot while the fire burns.
They know you’re anxious, so they are not.”
She looked at the desperate couple and gave the final conclusion: “180 million is already history. If you want fast, I suggest listing at 80 million.
If a buyer is willing to pay in US dollars all at once, I suggest you, don’t hesitate.”
80 million.
100 million New Taiwan Dollars of wealth evaporated along with that thing called sense of security.
The evaporation of wealth is dangerous, but also means opportunity.
Tanaka Kaito is an executive director at UBS Group, extremely busy.
Calls, meeting invitations, asset disposal requests from clients everywhere have blurred the line between his work and life.
Only work, no life.
In the office located in Tokyo Marunouchi, it was quiet enough to only hear the operating sound of the air purifier.
Outside the window was the serene, boundless greenery of Japan’s Imperial Palace.
He had just ended a call with the Zurich headquarters, calmly analyzing the short-term trend of the Japanese Yen exchange rate in fluent German.
And on the huge curved screen in front of him, in the video call window, Director Liu’s face was distorted with anxiety, background his top-floor ultra-luxury apartment in Taipei’s Xinyi District.
Director Liu is the chairman of a Taiwan Stock listed chip design company in Hsinchu Science Park.
“Kaito-san! Sell! Sell everything!” Director Liu’s voice was hoarse from agitation, completely lacking his usual steadiness, “Xinyi District’s Tsukishiro and Tao Zhu Yin Yuan, Kaohsiung Guoyan sea-view penthouse king, I don’t care the price, list them for me now! All my non-current assets in 4v under my name, liquidate them all! Convert to US dollars and Swiss francs, transfer to that trust account in Lion City! Immediately! Right now!”
Tanaka Kaito adjusted the rimless glasses on his nose bridge, soothing: “Director Liu, please calm down.
Panic is the most expensive consumer product in our industry. Your instructions, we are already executing.
But you must be mentally prepared, the current prices…”
“I said, I don’t care about prices!” Director Liu interrupted him, “I only care if my family and I can get Maple Leaf Country passports by year-end!”
“I understand.” Kaito nodded, noting something in his notebook.
After the call ended, he closed the video window, the office returning to quiet.
Bottom-level Taipei people seek real estate sales, top-level Celestial Dragons seek financial industry elites like him.
He picked up a cup of hand-brewed Blue Mountain coffee, walked to the window, overlooking Tokyo below that had regained order.
His assistant, a young capable girl, walked in quietly.
“Mr. Tanaka,” she reported, “Just now we received emergency authorizations from three more Taipei clients, requesting us to liquidate all their real estate in entire 4v at any cost.
Our traders say, now Taipei’s luxury housing market has no market price, only escape price.”
“As expected.” Tanaka Kaito took a sip of coffee, said faintly.
“But sir, I don’t understand,” the assistant mustered courage to ask, “The Haguro incident should have a bigger impact on us Japan.
But why have inquiries for Tokyo housing prices, especially several top apartments in Minato Ward, surged in the past two days? Even with slight increases?”
Tanaka Kaito turned around, looking at his assistant, deciding to give her a realism lesson on risk pricing.
“Misaki,” he said, “Remember, capital markets trade not facts, but expectations.
The reason Taipei and Kaohsiung housing prices collapsed is not because Haguro sank, but because Haguro’s sinking proved the invalidation of an insurance contract.”
“Insurance contract?”
“Yes.
Over the past decades, all assets with Taipei at the forefront, no matter how high the price, their valuation models all included a hidden but most important insurance clause:
Expectation of America’s military intervention.
People believed that when the worst happens, America would come.
This insurance is the true foundation supporting Xinyi District housing prices.”
“But that day,” Kaito’s tone turned icy, “The whole world saw, when that most advanced Japanese Aegis destroyer was sunk, the insurance company’s representative, that P-8A reconnaissance plane, just circled in the sky, recorded, then left.
The insurance company refused to pay.
“So, Taipei or Kaohsiung, all assets in these places, overnight, were re-priced for risk.
That hidden insurance was torn up, all risks exposed, foundation gone, housing prices naturally collapse.
For people like Director Liu, leaving assets in Taipei is no longer investment, but gambling.”
“What about Tokyo?” Misaki pressed.
“Good question.” A faint smile tugged at Kaito’s mouth. “Haguro’s disappearance is a national disgrace for Japan, a huge blow.
But the subsequent response of the Sugawara new cabinet, covering up the truth, avoiding direct confrontation with China, and immediately reaffirming absolute loyalty to America.
In capital’s eyes, it sends a completely different signal.”
“What signal?”
“Signal of predictability and stop-loss.” Kaito explained, “The Sugawara cabinet’s reaction proves to global capital: first, Japan’s bureaucrat system has extremely strong internal control, able to quickly stabilize the situation, not letting the country fall into chaos.
Second, Japan will absolutely not be the side to initiate war, it will maintain itself on the chessboard rather than the battlefield at any cost.
Third, although our alliance with America exposed its fragility, Japan will double efforts to maintain it.
More importantly, China’s resentment has been eased. As long as at that time point we don’t meddle, Tokyo can still have at least twenty years of peace!”
He walked back to the desk, brought up a new interface.
On the screen was Taipei Taoyuan Airport flights to America and Lion City for the next week, first class and business class seats all marked red across the board.
“So, Misaki, do you understand?”
“The capital panic-fleeing from Taipei needs a destination.
A place close enough, big enough, with sound rule of law, and just proved it absolutely won’t choose mutual destruction as a safe harbor.
Looking across all of Asia, where is the best choice?”
Misaki suddenly realized: “Tokyo.”
“Correct.” Kaito’s gaze turned again to the Imperial Palace outside the window.
“Haguro’s sinking turned them from a risky investment product into an imminent bomb.
While Tokyo, though also on the edge of explosion, Prime Minister Sugawara and our entire bureaucrat system, with actions proved to the world, we will build the thickest blast wall for ourselves at the fastest speed.”
He picked up the telephone, dialed his assistant.
“Misaki, reorganize the list of all for-sale properties we have in Minato Ward’s Akasaka and Azabu, attach the latest quotations. Then, send to all A+ level clients in Taipei.”
He paused, added: “Tell them, Tokyo’s value depression won’t last long.”
“Professor, what a perfect return, it was so beautiful, lighter than a feather falling to the ground, simply too magnificent!”
