Tokyo, Chiyoda Ward, Kasumigaseki.
A cold rain in early spring, laced with fine ice crystals, washed over the asphalt.
This was the heart of Japan's administrative power. The Ministry of Finance's gray, old-fashioned building stood like a silent monolith in the downpour.
At 2:00 PM, Masayoshi Tsuchida, Director-General of the Ministry of Finance's Banking Bureau, held an emergency press conference. He issued Administrative Notice No. 595, "Kuragin No. 595," to every financial institution in Japan.
The notice had a long, clunky official name—"Regulations on Suppressing Land-Related Financing." But history books would remember it by a far more terrifying shorthand: "Sōryō Kisei," the total volume regulation.
Its core was one cold rule: the growth rate of loans to the real estate sector could not exceed the growth rate of a bank's total loan balance.
In other words, the Ministry of Finance had personally shut off the blood supply to the real estate market.
Later generations would call this day the execution date of the "Japanese Land Myth."
...
At the same time.
Chiyoda Ward, Otemachi.
Sumitomo Bank, Executive Director's Office at Head Office.
Slap!
A faxed copy of the notice, rushed over from Kasumigaseki, slammed onto the large rosewood desk. It slid across the polished surface and knocked over a solid gold business card holder.
Sasaki, the Deputy Manager of the Risk Management Department, had gone deathly pale. Cold sweat snaked down his oily forehead and stung his eyes, but he didn't dare raise a hand to wipe it away.
Beside him, Kawakami, the Chiyoda Branch Manager, trembled so hard that his suit trousers rustled audibly at the knees.
"Is this the 'soft landing' the Ministry of Finance promised us?!"
The Executive Director of Sumitomo Bank braced both hands against the desk. His roar filled the spacious office, nearly rattling the bulletproof floor-to-ceiling windows.
"An absolute limit on growth rate! Do you understand what that means?! It means we can't extend even a single bridge loan to those developers. We'll have to call in old loans just to balance the damn books!"
He snatched the fax off the desk and hurled it at Sasaki's chest. Papers scattered across the floor.
"Do you have any idea how much real estate collateral we're holding?! Kanto, Kansai—everywhere, there are rotten plots of land pledged at wildly inflated valuations!"
"E-Executive Director..." Sasaki stammered, his Adam's apple bobbing. "In name, this is only 'administrative guidance' from the Ministry of Finance... Maybe... maybe there's still some flexibility in how it's enforced..."
"To hell with flexibility!"
The Executive Director grabbed a heavy crystal ashtray from the corner of the desk and smashed it against the marble floor.
Bang! Crash!
The thick crystal shattered instantly. Sharp shards flew everywhere, slicing through Branch Manager Kawakami's trouser leg.
"That madman Yasushi Mieno has already planted inspection teams in the Ministry of Finance and the Financial Services Agency! Anyone who defies them and lends to developers right now will have their business license revoked tomorrow!"
The Executive Director was panting, his chest heaving, his eyes bloodshot and ghoulish.
"Now! Right now! Immediately! Go collect those debts for me!"
He jabbed a thick finger toward the office door.
"Get Itoman, Keihin Real Estate, and every other developer in here! Tell them to either fill their accounts with cash by noon tomorrow or declare bankruptcy! The bank is not a charity!"
Sasaki and Kawakami bowed repeatedly and backed out in total disarray.
The heavy soundproof door shut behind them.
In the hallway, the pale wall lamps cast a sickly glow on their faces. They looked at each other and saw the same bottomless despair in the other's dilated pupils.
"It's all over," Kawakami whispered, sliding down the cold wall. "A major Kanto landowner like Gonda Gengoro has nothing but illiquid land and half-finished construction projects. He can't pull any cash. If we don't extend his loans, his company defaults tomorrow."
Kawakami swallowed hard, his voice shaking.
"Once they start defaulting on a large scale... all that collateral we're holding..."
"The collateral will devalue instantly," Sasaki said through gritted teeth. A flash of malice showed behind his glasses. "Once the Ministry of Finance shuts the valve, no new buyers can get loans to take that land. With no one to buy it, land valued at tens of billions is just a pile of mud."
Sasaki grabbed Kawakami's collar and hauled him up.
"The assets in our hands turned into bad debts overnight... Go make the calls! Before the other banks do, grab every last bit of their liquid cash—even the money they set aside for payroll!"
(Trivia: In the real history of Japan's bubble economy, Sumitomo Bank was one of the most aggressive lenders to real estate. Readers familiar with Japanese finance will know that 'Itoman,' mentioned here, became the center of the largest illegal financing and bad-debt scandal after the bubble burst.)
...
2:30 PM.
Chiba Prefecture, headquarters of the Kanto Real Estate Alliance's core enterprise.
Inside the president's office, the air was thick with stale alcohol and heavy tobacco smoke.
The Kanto real estate backer who'd frantically called Osawa Ichiro half a month ago was now slumped in a deep red leather executive chair. His eyes were bloodshot. His French-cuffed shirt hadn't been changed in three days; dried coffee stains marked the collar, and his tie was missing.
The wall clock ticked monotonously.
He stared at the calendar on his desk.
March 27.
Only four days remained until the March 31 fiscal year-end. If Secretary-General Osawa kept his promise—if he took control of the Cabinet next month and forced the Ministry of Finance to open the floodgates—then the seized construction projects, stalled for lack of funds, could still come back to life.
Osawa-sensei always kept his word.
He could do it. He would be Prime Minister.
The backer repeated the mantra in his head, desperate to believe it.
Bang!
The heavy wooden door was kicked open from the outside.
It slammed into the wall stop with a heart-stopping crash. Cold air from the hallway rushed in, cutting through the smoke.
The real estate backer jolted upright. His knee hit the desk leg and he hissed in pain.
The Chiba Bank Credit Section Chief entered with four expressionless legal staff. They wore sharp, dark gray suits with metal badges marking the bank's authority. Their shoes made dull, oppressive thuds on the composite wood floor.
"What... what are you doing!" the backer's voice cracked with terror. "I already spoke to your president personally! Mr. Osawa is mediating for me! We just have to get through the end-of-month settlement..."
The Credit Section Chief ignored him.
He walked to the marble desk, sweat beading on his forehead despite his icy stare. He pulled a black folder from under his arm, opened it, and slapped a white notice stamped with the bank's bright red seal onto the desk.
"Official Notice of Refusal for Loan Extension."
"The Ministry of Finance issued the 'total volume regulation' directive nationwide thirty minutes ago," the Section Chief said, pushing his glasses up. His tone was flat. "Head office risk control and legal have jointly determined that your company is in substantive cross-default. We are now officially taking over all financial control of your company."
"No... you can't do this! Where's the court's seizure order? You don't have a seizure order!"
The backer braced his hands on the desk, spittle flying.
"I'm sorry, we are the first-priority creditor."
The Section Chief tilted his head and nodded to the legal staff behind him.
"Do it."
Two legal staffers went straight to the financial terminal against the wall. They pushed aside the trembling female clerk and grabbed the black coaxial data cable for the online banking system.
Click.
They yanked the network cable from the port.
The green online indicator on the terminal died instantly.
The other two staffers opened portable cases, took out yellow seals, and pasted them over the seams of the large safes in the corner. They pressed the edges flat with their fingers.
"You're committing robbery!!!"
The backer lunged for the seals but security grabbed his shoulders and shoved him back into his leather chair.
The legal staff tossed the disconnected cable onto the carpet. With a sharp click, they snapped their briefcases shut. The Credit Section Chief straightened his cuffs and walked out without a backward glance.
The company's accounts were now locked in the bank's backend. Tens of billions in book assets had become frozen, unmovable digits the second that cable was pulled.
The funding chain was severed.
"No... my buildings... the five billion in pure cash I invested..."
The backer wheezed. All strength left him and he slumped in the chair like a wet rag. Sweat and tears slid down his oily cheeks and dripped onto the expensive wool carpet.
"No... this is mine! Mine!! That's right... Osawa-sensei... Osawa-sensei can save me!"
He shuddered violently, as if struck by lightning. He tore free from security and clawed across the cluttered desk.
He grabbed the red special line that connected directly to Osawa Ichiro's office.
His fingers shook as he tried to punch in the number he should have known by heart.
Unfortunately, he would never hear that call connect.