1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 344: Re-employment of Prop Master
I was busy in Japan for more than two months, working on both filming and business development.

Toshiba's three semiconductor production lines have finally made new progress.

Once the Norwegian trading company turned against Toshiba, which had previously denied exporting large-scale processing equipment to the Soviet Union, it was put on pins and needles.

"Toshiba now admits to smuggling, but still denies that the smuggling is related to the Soviet Union."

Zhai Yuan met Shota Tanaka in a quiet tea room.

Tanaka Shota cursed the Americans for using their power to bully others, while explaining the current situation: "In order to resolve this crisis, the group has urgently mobilized all its connections to lobby more than 90 companies in the United States, including HP, General Electric and Motorola, and is conducting off-campus activities for the Toshiba Group."

"At the same time, an emergency response committee was set up to win over important politicians from the House of Representatives and Congress, from the president to the members of Congress."

Tanaka Shota looked at Zhai Yuan and continued, "It's not easy to feed these white guys. The government even agreed to give our country's wing integral shape and automatic phased array radar technology to the United States for free to jointly develop new fighter jets. The money will eventually be borne by Toshiba. Once sanctions are imposed in the future, the group's subsequent compensation and losses will be even greater."

"So Zhai Sang." Tanaka Shota said meaningfully: "Our Toshiba Group is in great need of cash flow right now."

Not to mention the Japanese government giving the United States fighter aircraft technology as an apology.

Just talking about Toshiba during this period, the expenses of lobbying more than 90 partner companies in the United States and bribes from the president to congressmen are all huge expenses.

In comparison, spending more than 1 billion yen to publish a full-page clarification statement in more than 100 newspapers and periodicals in the United States and Japan was actually Toshiba's most insignificant expense.

"Tell Toyo that I am only too happy to provide cash flow to Toshiba."

Zhai Yuan hugged Nishixie Michiko and said with a smile: "But business is about supply and demand. I mentioned before that a production line would cost 80 million US dollars. That was when Toshiba had not encountered difficulties. The brand alone was worth this price. But now the brand is shaky. Even if I get the production line, I may have to bear the risk of being sanctioned. So can we renegotiate the price?"

Shota Tanaka frowned after listening to Wan Chieko's translation, thinking that this was clearly taking advantage of someone's misfortune.

Zhai Yuan then continued, "Brother Tanaka, if you are willing to help me negotiate the price, how much discount can you get on 10 million US dollars? I will take % of the discount as a reward for my hard work."

The smile soon returned to Shota Tanaka's face.

Tanaka Shota thought about it and suggested, "To be on the safe side, how about 30%? Just like Toshiba lobbied members of Congress, I can help you lobby more people to participate."

Zhai Yuan raised his eyebrows. Double the amount is even more ruthless than himself?

"What level of powerful people are involved this time?"

"Since I have been working with Zhai Sang for such a long time, I won't hide anything."

Tanaka Shota showed a sincere expression and said slowly: "Taking advantage of Toshiba's crisis, my father also plans to visit a distant relative of the Tanaka family, Mr. Kakuei Tanaka."

Zhai Yuan was slightly stunned when he heard this.

Damn, why didn’t you tell me earlier that you had such powerful connections?
…………

The former "commoner prime minister" Kakuei Tanaka had long since resigned from all important positions due to scandals such as factional strife and bribery.

But the monkeys did not scatter when the tree fell. Although the commoner prime minister was physically away from politics, the Liberal Democratic Party was full of his followers. He was sentenced to four years in prison for bribery, and then he announced in a high-profile manner that he would run for the House of Representatives election as an independent, and was directly elected with the highest number of votes in the country.

"If everything goes well, the three production lines will be finalized by the end of the year...hundreds of millions of dollars!"

After bidding farewell to Shota Tanaka, Zhai Yuan learned more about current affairs in the Japanese political arena from Michiko Nishiwaki, and felt that the production line should be a sure thing this time.

The largest investment in Toyo is about to be completed.

Prepare in advance.

Zhai Yuan first contacted Shen Wei in Hong Kong, and asked Shen to take the guys from the legal department to the bank to complete the proof procedures such as the source of funds in advance.

When it comes to such a large-scale cross-border transaction, it is inevitable to deal with the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

Fortunately, Zhai Yuan had a clean background and he only had to wait for accurate information from Tanaka Shota, then sign a commercial contract with Toshiba's semiconductor subsidiary and provide it to various departments in Hong Kong, so that he could exchange money for goods.

It is strange that most of the money originally earned from the Japanese stock market has now been returned to Japanese companies.

Late November.

The non-special effects scenes of "Hiroshima Monster" have finally been completed.

All the staff on the set breathed a sigh of relief when they heard Zhai Yuan shout the last word 'CUT'.

After taking the director's chair, this big boss became more demanding than most directors he had served in the past.

The good thing is that he doesn't have as bad a temper as other directors. No matter how much film is wasted or other mistakes are made during the shooting, Boss Zhai always has a smile on his face and is very kind to these workers.

"The big boss is directing for fun, he doesn't care about the time and cost, of course he is a good guy."

What the staff members said privately was not without reason.

As the last scene ended, Zhai Yuan raised the microphone on the set, looked at everyone and said with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work! I'll treat everyone to the celebration banquet tonight~"

There was a burst of applause and cheers.

…………

The filming of the movie was completed, and Zhai Yuan finally had some free time.

If there is something else that needs to be dealt with, one of them is the silicone daily necessities that Tokyo Hot has put on the agenda.

But it didn't take up too much of his time.

It's just a plan. It doesn't have to be like filming a movie where I have to make it myself and then try it out, right?
Daily necessities first became popular in civilian stores in West Germany, which is also the market with the most styles.

The penetration rate in Hong Kong and even in the entire East Asia region is still very low, and there are very few stores that have officially opened storefronts.

“Although there are no shops in Hong Kong, the old ladies in Temple Street all have stalls.”

Liang Zhichao knows all the entertainment places in Hong Kong. He recalls that when Mr. Zhai went to the cinema to watch Category III movies, it was Brother Chao who enlightened him and broadened his horizons.

After learning that Zhai Yuan wanted to include daily necessities in the Tokyo Hot plan.

Brother Chao introduced the stalls in detail, saying, "Temple Street is nicknamed Men's Street. Apart from prostitutes and fish ball stalls, the most famous stalls are those selling things like a piece of cloth or a straw mat. Those stalls are basically run by elderly grannies, selling condoms or magic oil, and the daily necessities that Brother Yuan mentioned!"

Zhai Yuan humbly asked, "What are they?"

Liang Zhichao said: "Then there are all kinds of things. Cups for men, bananas for women, underwear with very little fabric, pornographic books and tapes, whips and candles... My mother used to sell things on the street. I am very familiar with the grandmother in my class. She has seen big things~" Zhai Yuan nodded in understanding. While he admired Brother Chao so much, he realized that this vacancy was indeed a blue ocean.

It is well worth digging deeper.

In fact, it was not until the 1990s that two or three small daily necessities stores gradually opened in the city center of Hong Kong Peninsula.

It was not until 97 that a Hong Kong pornographic fiction writer named Feng Jia opened a famous "Happy Sex Shop". The toy craze began to emerge like mushrooms after a spring rain. During the two major holidays of Valentine's Day and Christmas, the store was crowded with people, and the employees were busy getting goods. After the millennium, when the Internet became popular, the development of the entire daily necessities industry gradually climbed to the peak and has remained strong.

Today, convenience stores that sell daily necessities are scarce in the 1980s.

One reason is that the assortment is not yet diverse enough to support dedicated stores.

Another reason is that citizens in East Asia generally lack relevant education and do not even know how to use it, let alone try it.

But this doesn't seem to be a problem for Mr. Zhai, who has experienced and seen it before.

Not diverse enough?
Pearls, stoppers, molds, jumping eggs, time-delay rings...

I can design more than a dozen models in minutes to benefit all mankind!
Don’t know how to use it?
Starting today, Tokyo Hot’s main disc will include prop plays, and a few minutes of special footage will be shown at the end, providing step-by-step instruction!

The most advantageous point is that daily necessities and Category IV film discs are highly compatible, and their customer groups overlap almost 100%. Fraudsters have to screen their customers, but Tokyo Hot directly skips this most difficult process. It would be a waste of such high-quality customer traffic if it does not move towards derivative brands.

After the filming of the movie of Jiuyi Entertainment is completed, it can sell Xiao Ma Ge’s windbreaker and Jiu Shu’s golden sword.

It is also reasonable for Tokyo Hot to make related products for all teachers.

"After spending the money on Toshiba, we have to earn it back from other places. Besides, this is doing practical things and doing good things. Although the next generation of Heisei losers in Japan are unwilling to get married and have children, they spend a lot of money on toys and action figures."

Zhai Yuan is very concerned about education related to human reproduction.

After considering the prospects, he felt that there was great potential, so he patted Liang Zhichao on the shoulder and said, "Brother Chao, this great and glorious job is now handed over to you. We will set up a subsidiary in two days, and you will be the boss as usual. You don't have to buy goods from West Germany. I will invite a prop master from Hong Kong to help design new samples. In short, within three years, I will make you the largest daily necessities merchant in East Asia!"

Produce drawings and plans.

The editing process of "Lost in Translation" is proceeding in an orderly manner.

Xu Qi, the special effects director of "Hiroshima Monster", continued to shoot special effects shots in the studio. Special effects supervisor Kawakita Hiroichi had already entered the Mitsubishi Research Institute and was leading Toho's special effects artists to carry out the first round of special effects production.

And Mr. Zhai also found some work for himself.

First, make a phone call back to Hong Kong and ask Shi Nansheng to find a few prop masters with good skills to meet in Japan. Priority will be given to prop masters who are willing to join the Film Association. Tokyo Hot will provide them with new jobs and top salary and benefits in the industry.

Zhai Yuan said to Shi Nansheng on the phone: "Sister Nan, the key is to give priority to hiring people from the Film Association. By the way, make this news, buy a few pages in the newspaper and publish it to let the outside world know that the association not only provides filming subsidies to its own people, but also provides new jobs."

"Understood, Mr. Zhai."

Before the props master from the Hong Kong film industry arrived.

Mr. Zhai continued to work hard, locking himself in the hotel room and designing daily necessities plans with pictures and texts.

"What is this belt for?"

When Zhai Yuan was writing at his desk, his two younger sisters, Michiko and Chikako, were by his side, adding to his beauty and the strong cultural atmosphere.

Seeing that Zhai Yuan seemed to have no creative bottleneck and designed a new pattern in minutes, which was similar to the belt, Michiko curiously asked about its purpose.

"It's just a belt~" Zhai Yuan said as a matter of course: "But in addition to being worn around the waist, it can also be hung around the neck. There is a buckle here that can be fastened with a chain..."

Michiko Nishiwaki imagined the scene and felt overwhelmed with shame.

"I'll take you guys out to play after it's done~"

"Dah!"

The two girls waved their hands and refused, pointing to another pattern and curiously asked: "Why is there a banana on this pair of pants... Oh! Souga!"

As expected, following Mr. Zhai, I can learn many postures that I have never imagined...

……

Entering December.

After Mr. Zhai's daily necessities patterns shocked a group of prop masters from Hong Kong, ToKyo Hot Agency specially set up a floor and established a studio for everyone to design real objects according to the patterns.

There is a plaque hanging at the door, the full name of which is "Good People Live a Peaceful Life Studio".

The feasibility of the design drawings is still very high. After all, it refers to popular products in later generations. What is valuable is the creativity. Except for some products that use batteries, the overall technical difficulty is not too high.

The first batch of simple props came out quickly, and each one was made to look pretty good.

"Not bad, not bad. You masters have great skills. You can consider where the difficulties in mass production are. If there is no problem, we will build a factory in a while and give you the title of department leader."

Zhai Yuan poked the exquisitely crafted and lifelike toys on the table and nodded in praise.

Then he turned around and called Liang Zhichao: "Brother Chao, apply for patents and trademarks as soon as possible. The Patent Office can't look down on us just because we make daily necessities!"

Zhai Yuan cares a lot about the results of his work. Since he is in Japan, he goes to the nearby Patent Office in Japan to apply.

"Received~"

Liang Zhichao packed up the products and walked out of the building in high spirits.

After half an hour.

Brother Chao called back.

"Brother Yuan, the people at the Patent Office are too ignorant. I would like to ask our manufacturer what patents you plan to apply for?"

When Liang Zhichao and his lawyer swaggered into the Oriental Patent Office and placed the drawings and actual objects in front of the staff, a group of frogs in the well sitting in the office all widened their eyes and held a meeting to discuss how to handle this case.

After listening to the situation on the scene on the phone, Zhai Yuan rolled his eyelids and said, "Okamoto, the godfather of Japanese condoms, can apply for more than 100 patents for a condom bag. Of course, we should apply for as many patents as possible. In short, everything such as grinding, carving, cutting, polishing, vibration, lubrication, appearance... We should report them all to them for research. They can't even handle such a small matter and still call themselves civil servants. They are useless!"

(End of this chapter)