Takashi, what is your ultimate goal?
To be the Prime Minister of the Cabinet.
However, if you believe that you could really marry him,
I am of the opinion that you are being foolish.
It would be impossible for the Arikawa family to accept you.
That was a calligraphic work my husband's mother gave him.
Shirai Shinichirou was...YOU!
This marriage cannot be allowed to proceed!
Because Takashi...
What made you come so early?
I'm about to leave for work.
I know that.
But it's best to have this discussion as early as possible.
What's up?
The marriage between you and Shirai's daughter.
Call it off.
What?
I was initially for it,
since it was the Policy Chief's daughter...
But on further thought, it is to our disadvantage.
About Shirai's financial backing, Shirai National Construction
is in a worse financial state than I had originally thought.
You came so early in the morning just to tell me this?
You knew about Shirai National's financial state right from the beginning, didn't you?
Yes, of course, but...
From this point on, I don't think we have the resources to continue supporting him financially.
I already told you, didn't I?
Accepting this marriage proposal means
that you have already considered taking on the financial risk.
Why are you suddenly having regrets about this?
Come on, Mom.
Hey, Takashi...
You'll still have plenty of chances in the future to realise your political ambitions.
You don't have to rely on Mr. Shirai -
It's impossible.
At this stage, it's too late to stop.
I have to get going.
This isn't a discussion, Takashi!
This is an order from a mother to her son.
Did something happen?
Nothing in particular.
Just that Shirai National Construction...
In that case, this discussion ends here.
Father, the car is here.
Ah, I'll be right there.
What?
Ah, nothing...
Ah, they're here!
Prime Minister! Prime Minister!
Are the forcible political measures meeting resistance within the party?
What adjustments will there be?
Prime Minister of the Cabinet: Takizawa Muneharu
The Prime Minister is going to be your go-between?
Your future will be assured then.
I don't believe that my future will be determined by this marriage.
Well, you've already made it this far.
I understand that you eventually plan to enter politics.
But, the Nagata-Chou* is filled with nothing but scum.
NOTE: The Nagata-chou is Japan's political centre, equivalent to the White House or Downing Street.
Can a young upright man like you take it?
Prime Minister.
That young man over there is who I have requested you to act as a go-between for.
Hey.
When the time nears, I will properly introduce you to the PM.
Thank you very much.
Already, the political game for power has begun.
But human will is no match for the forces of the times.
No matter whether it was my mother's generation or my generation.
Destiny 1969-2010 Once upon a time in Tokyo
HaroRangers http://harorangers.com/
Translation: yuch Translation check: Kazetrigger Timing & typesetting: Drazic Encoding: Cry5tal
Anyway, we should arrange a date for the introduction.
It's best to do it as soon as possible.
We can't hurry it. Even if we get the PM to be the go-between,
we have to wait for the Budget deliberations to be over before we can proceed with the marriage proper.
If we wait till then, it'll be March or April!
Why are you so worried? After all, it doesnt matter.
Yes, this is the Policy Research office.
Sayou speaking.
Just one moment, please.
Sir, it's Mrs. Arikawa.
Ah, how do you do?
Sorry for not being present when you visited us the other day.
Oh, don't worry about it. After all I dropped in unannounced.
Are you busy now, Mr. Shirai?
Well... Why do you ask?
I have something to discuss with you in private.
I'll leave the time to you. Please, I really need to see you.
Ah I'm afraid I won't be available until after nine o'clock tonight.
Is something wrong?
Ah, it's best not discussed over the phone.
I've made a reservation at Matsufusa in Tsukiji.
I will be waiting there for you.
What's the matter?
Hmm... she said she wanted to discuss something privately.
Privately? About what?
It's dropped to 6.5 percent!
How is it?
It's worse than expected!
Mr. Oono, can I get a quote on fifty units of the dollar-yen ?
It's down to 5.75!
Mr. Oono, it's down seventy units!
Oono, do you see what's happening?
Is it alright...?
Hold on...
Stop the front!
Yes sir!
I'll leave the food here...
You've been eating lunch here everyday?
You should eat in the canteen.
I don't want to be seen by the rest of the girls.
Dealers are too busy to leave their stations, even during lunch.
You're too proud to admit defeat, huh?
How long has it been since you left the front line?
Two weeks.
Do you want to give it a try next week?
In return, you cannot afford to fail again!
Yes sir!
I'll start preparing for your comeback.
Thank you!
A question about this issue, for the Finance Minister...
Could you please explain?
Finance Minister Watanabe.
Yes.
Well, let's see how he'll answer without the material we prepared.
What? He brought it with him after all.
Thank you for your hard work.
As expected it was really tiring. There were many unexpected questions.
But you answered them perfectly. That was impressive of you indeed.
Oh no, not at all.
Oh, and I heard that you are marrying Shirai's daughter?
Ah, yes sir.
What a shame...
If only you'd accept, I'd have you marry my own daughter.
Oh dear, please don't joke.
No, I'm serious.
I really have a high opinion of you.
Well, if you need anything in the future, feel free to come discuss it with me.
Since you put in the effort to prepare the materials,
you should have done it more comprehensively, right?
Why did you give the Minister a half-complete report?
I removed all the parts that the Minister was capable of answering himself.
Of course, I consulted with the Minister's secretary beforehand.
I see.
Not only did it enable the debates to proceed smoothly,
you also made sure that the Minister could keep his pride.
What are you finance bureaucrats privately discussing?
Oh, just the usual scandalous gossip.
Could I borrow my future son-in-law for two or three minutes?
Oh, be my guest.
Well, Arikawa, I'll be taking my leave.
Well, well well.
How are you getting along with Naoko?
Any arguments, disagreements, or the like?
No...
Has your mother said anything to you about the wedding?
As her future mother-in-law, it would be great if she approved of Naoko.
Of course, she's very delighted.
I see, well that's cause for celebration.
Well, I'll leave Naoko in your hands, then.
I understand.
Well, sorry for taking up your time. I have to get back to work.
I'll be taking my leave.
Where were you?
The roof.
Really?
You still go there?
Yeah, I wanted to get some fresh air.
Toru called just now. He said he won't be coming home for dinner.
We might as well eat out ourselves, shall we? Let's get off work early today.
Unfortunately,I still have work to do.
Ah, I see...
Ah well, I got my hands on this just now.
1969 Tokyo University all-out struggle For the sake of "revolution", they... "Revolution"
It's already been reduced to a single page in history...
Indeed...
What was it all for? All that we did...
Some people said it was as though we had caught a feverish disease...
That's not true.
There were many people who sincerely fought for their beliefs.
Even a princess like you,
was infected by that urge to fight,
despite being from the hospital-owning Shizuoka family.
Although the Arikawa hospital was comparatively small in size,
we were the ones who discriminated against people based on their social class.
That made me feel ashamed.
Somehow, I felt more guilt because I was brought up in a well-to-do family.
That's probably why you fervently participated in the Marxist exercises.
Well, time to get back to work.
Well, I'll be going too, then.
Don't push yourself too hard.
Okay.
Here.
Thank you.
That's a pretty horse. Do you like horses?
I was always close to horses, even way back when I was a kid.
Horse-riding?
Yeah, well, horses were a substitute for friends.
Horses?
We moved to Tokyo when I was in the fourth grade of elementary school.
Mother moved the hospital's operations from Shizuoka to Tokyo.
I see.
But I couldn't make any friends at all.
The private school kids were all socialising within their elite classes. It was all very sophisticated.
I wasn't able to get close to them.
I was just a simple country kid.
Your father died when you were in kindergarten.
Of illness?
Although he was a doctor he neglected his own health.
Your mother must have been sad.
She must have moved to Tokyo to get over the pain.
My mother wasn't sad at all.
She only put up a show of mourning.
Well, he didn't exactly die in an appropriate place.
Where did he die?
At his mistress's place.
When I look at it this way, sometimes I think
it's trying desperately to soar up, by itself.
I wonder what it's thinking about.
Over here, please.
Sorry, I'm late.
I apologise for making you wait.
No, it's fine, you were busy, and yet I demanded this of you.
Oh, no, you must be a very busy woman yourself.
Please excuse me.
Shall I serve the food now?
No, could you wait till later?
Yes, ma'am. Please excuse me.
Has something serious happened?
My deepest apologies.
I respectfully request that this marriage be discontinued.
I beg of you.
In return, the Arikawa family will offer you the appropriate compensation.
So, please, I ask for your forgiveness.
What on earth do you mean?
You will have our full support for the upcoming elections.
No, that's not the problem.
I'm asking you; what is going on?!
The party and political centre all know about the marriage already.
On top of that I'd asked the Prime Minister to be the go-between.
After all this trouble, you want me to cancel it?
What do you mean by this?
I am fully aware of the selfishness of my request.
But something unavoidable has happened that makes this marriage an impossibility.
Could you tell me what has happened?
Then, depending on what the reason is, I will make my decision.
Mr. Shirai, or should I say, Mr. Okauchi.
Do you remember a girl by the name of Ida Misato?
The first time I met you,
that was the name I went by.
It's been forty years since then.
Time is harsh, it waits for no man.
We didn't even recognise each other when the two families met.
Since we have aged so much...
Well, good night.
Me either, Takashi.
Hm?
I didn't have any friends either.
Since I was small, there were only adults coming in and out of our house.
That must be why.
There was a time when I was envious
of ordinary girls who had been able to grow up in a normal family.
But, nowadays, I think it was all for the best.
Because I managed to meet you.
Good night.
I have not forgotten the name Ida Misato.
But I never knew that was a false name...
15 January, 1969.
On the day of the Tokyo University emergency assembly, we broke up.
Four days later, with the surrender at the Yasuda auditorium, we were all arrested.
I kept silent during the twenty-three days of detention,
and was able to prevent my real name from coming to light...
We used fake names in case this sort of thing happened.
It was a calculated move by your female comrades, huh?
You picked your comrades over me.
Your parting words still ring in my ear.
"In pursuit of solidarity, we shall not fear isolation."
"Even if one is unable to accomplish one's objectives,
we will not allow ourselves to sit idly by and be broken."
But, even if you were Ida Misato,
why do you want to stop Takashi and Nao's marriage?
Don't you understand?
I had lived with you for two months, until that day.
I realised that I had become pregnant.
After I was released from prison I had nowhere to go, so I returned to my hometown in Shizuoka.
What awaited me back home was an arranged marriage with Arikawa.
Don't tell me...
He is your son.
Takashi is your son.
Because the gamma GTP is increasing, along with the AST and ALT level,
it's alcoholic-type hepatitis?
Yes, then what should a normal patient's ALP range be?
Ah, big bro.
Hey, I'm back.
It's rare for you to be back at this time.
Where's Mom?
She's still at the hospital.
She said she had some work to do.
Work, huh...
Well, I'll wait for her.
Don't you understand why I left you?
You said it yourself that day:
"I won't betray my parents."
That's why I couldn't involve you in our protests.
I had to break it up.
I had prepared to be arrested.
But the reality was...
I was so scared I couldn't do anything.
At that time I was trembling with fear.
Despite all the lofty ideals I had been chanting, I could only cry in shame.
Stand up!
But, even though you were gone,
I, at least, still had the child.
That was what kept me going.
When he found out I was pregnant, Arikawa thought the child was his and was delighted.
But, Takashi is...
Could you give me some time to think?
Think? What is there to think about?
I need to clear my head.
At any rate, give me some time.
Can't we call it a day?
No, at your current stage, you don't have the required competency.
My brain's at its limit! It was small to begin with, wasn't it?
You give up too easily, you know that?
Thank you for your hard work.
You're finally back?
Good evening.
It's all right. He's a journalist from the weekly magazine.
Have you been waiting all this while?
Tokyo News Weekly reporter: Tokito Yoshikazu
Well, I was about to give up.
Mother called just now
to say that she'll be staying over at our Aunt's place.
It seems that she was called over to discuss the matter of Shirai National Construction.
Father, I put your tea over there.
As the saying goes, "attack after dusk and before dawn"
A journalist's job is tough, isn't it?
So, what brings you here tonight?
This is a draft of our parent company's publication.
"Shirai National Requests Bail Out" "Five trillion Yen in the Red" "Abandoned Hope to Rescue Company Without Help"
Ah, this is...
Well, it doesn't concern me, does it?
Shirai National is my wife's brother-in-law's company.
It has nothing to do with me.
Sir, if Shirai National goes bankrupt,
your political career will be in peril. Everyone knows that.
So I take it that you are not aware of it?
Hm? About what?
The merger talks with Hyakujou Construction.
Merger?
In barely the span of half a month, the president of Isumi Bank and the president of Hyakujou Construction
have met with the Minister of Land and Infrastructure three times already.
I thought it sounded a bit fishy,
so using some official pretext as an excuse, I did some investigations of my own.
What I found out is...
that Shirai National is going to merge with Hyakujou Construction.
Is your source reliable?
Well, even they call it a "merger."
What it really means is that Hyakujou is acquiring Shirai National.
Once it acquires Shirai, Hyakujou will become Japan's largest general construction firm.
And if you are talking about Hyakujou, Takizawa is definitely involved...
The Prime Minister...
Why are you giving me this information?
Once you had the information, you could have published it.
Of course, I'll be doing that, but before that...
I thought I'd let you know about it first.
Why?
I'm hoping that your political power will increase as soon as possible.
I believe that you have the ability... to be the Prime Minister.
You're back late.
What's your objective?
You can also call it the support of someone who came from the same town as you.
Naturally, it also benefits me, to have a close connection to you.
These are the various reasons.
I will remember this favour you are doing me.
Thank you.
Shirai said that to you?
It seemed that he might have been worried over something you said to him.
I didn't say anything.
But, Takashi,
please give up any notion of marrying his daughter.
But that...
I'm tired!
I don't want to argue with you now.
Sorry, Takashi...
But this marriage cannot happen.
This is Arikawa.
It's Shirai...
Mr. Shigeyama, 6873, 50 units!
I can't hear you!
6873, 50 units!
Endou-kun, check how much capital we have.
We're about to reach 60 points.
Close it.
Sasayama-san, the dollar-yen is at 30 points.
Naoko, begin.
80 - down. Sasayama-san?
I heard you!
A turnover of 6.7 million. Not bad on your first day back.
Thank you. I need to go to the post office for a while.
I need to send off a registered letter.
Come back as soon as possible.
Yes.
"I am returning your cheque" - Nobuko
Hello... Dad?
Is it convenient for you to talk now?
Yeah, what is it?
I didn't want to worry you...
But now, I don't know what I should do...
What happened?
Yousuke had a bike accident...
Yousuke only suffered minor injuries,
but his passenger was severely injured.
How serious is it?
That person hasn't regained consciousness yet...
To make things worse, Yousuke had just gotten his bike,
so he hadn't bought motor insurance yet...
How much are the medical and compensation fees?
It must run into the tens of millions of yen...
Anyway, I'll take leave and come back home.
Don't panic, Dad, and wait for me to get back, you hear?
No insurance...
Sorry to have kept you waiting.
I'm Arikawa Takashi from the budget bureau.
Sir, it cannot make me happier that
you agreed so readily to be my go-between.
Now, now, no need to be so formal.
I wanted to meet you as soon as possible after I agreed to be your go-between.
Prime Minister's Official Residence
I hope I didn't inconvenience you by calling you to my office at such short notice.
We have a lull period right now, so it's all right...
Ah, I see. When will the marriage ceremony take place?
Ah, we wanted to discuss that with you, PM.
Ah, I see
I originally thought the start of autumn would be a good time.
But then it would be inconvenient for Arikawa.
Since the Ministry of Finance gets really busy from autumn onwards,
it really wouldn't do to keep our young groom stuck in the office all the way till fall, right?
How does it feel to be here in the PM's residence for the first time?
I feel that my future career path has become more certain.
Ah, that's quite an ambitious thing to say.
I will convey what happened today to my mother.
Thank you very much.
Takashi...
Ah... never mind. Give my regards to your mother.
He's quite an upstanding young man, isn't he?
Yeah...
Prime Minister, some rumours have reached my ears...
Hm?
It seems Hyakujou is acquiring Shirai National.
Ah, is that so?.
Although it's my wife's family's business, it does worry me a bit.
Things don't seem to be going well for you, do they?
But thankfully, at this perfect time,
you managed to get a marriage proposal with the distinguished Arikawa son.
Isn't that wonderful?
As expected, your luck is really good, huh?
That's not true at all. My luck isn't as good as yours, Prime Minister.
Well, I'll be off, then.
I'll come back immediately after the academic conference.
Take care.
"I need to clear my head. At any rate, give me some time."
Hello?
It's me.
What's up?
I just met the Prime Minister.
We'll wait until after the National Diet session is over.
The engagement will take place in April, and the marriage in September.
Hold on, Takashi!
I can't break off the marriage at this point, Mom.
Was Mr. Shirai also present?
Yes, naturally.
I will marry Naoko.
Then, as you had wished,
I will aim for the top of the political world.
Hello, this is the Policy Chief's office.
Excuse me, this is Arikawa. Could I speak to Mr. Shirai please?
Mr. Shirai isn't in right now.
Then, could you please tell him to get back to me as soon as possible?
I don't have anything against him personally...
Oh my, don't joke.
The Prime Minister is different from you, Mr. Yoshida...
I'm sorry.
What on earth are you thinking? It's only been your first day back!
I need to take urgent leave, because of family troubles back home.
I desperately need to return to Fukuoka.
I beg of you!