1043, 1042, 1044...
Takeshita Masato looked at the constantly fluctuating stock index on the big screen and felt a sudden sense of strangeness.
The Nikkei had already surpassed 10,000 points in the 1980s, so why had it suddenly dropped to 1,000 points?
Could there be a problem with the equipment?
But that didn't seem right; if the equipment was faulty, people would have been complaining long ago.
However, Takeshita Masato quickly discovered the issue by looking at the text next to the stock index.
The stock index on the big screen was not the Nikkei 225, but the older Tokyo Stock Exchange Stock Price Index, commonly known as the TOPIX.
"Ah, I was being foolish."
Takeshita Masato suddenly remembered that although the Nikkei 225 was introduced by a Japanese newspaper, the first exchange to launch Nikkei index futures was the Singapore Exchange.
Crucially, Nikkei futures hadn't even launched in Singapore yet; they wouldn't until September of this year. Even if he wanted to trade index futures now, he couldn't.
Speaking of which, stock index futures, which are commonplace for financial professionals in the 21st century, were actually a new product, first appearing in the United States in 1982.
Japan wouldn't introduce its first stock index futures until 1987. As for the Nikkei 225, it wouldn't be launched domestically in Japan by the Osaka Exchange until 1988, two years later.
"Alright, I'll just stick to trading stocks honestly. That's safer anyway."
After painstakingly planning for over 10 days, it turned out to be a false alarm, and Takeshita Masato felt a little down at this moment.
One could only say that plans change faster than anticipated.
But soon, he recovered.
Stock prices soared during Japan's bubble era. Even if he couldn't trade index futures, he could still get rich by trading stocks; it would just be slightly slower and require more frequent transactions.
"Hello, please clear my Dai-Ichi Kangyo shares and use that money, along with the previous funds, to buy Nintendo with 5x leverage." Takeshita Masato, who had finally waited in line and squeezed to the service window, quickly stated his request to the business manager.
There hadn't been much positive news in the financial sector recently, but even so, the Dai-Ichi Kangyo bank shares Takeshita Masato bought had risen by 5%.
This showed how hot the financial industry in Japan was.
"Okay, buy Nintendo entirely with 5x leverage?"
"That's right."
Takeshita Masato didn't know much about most Japanese companies, but the gaming industry was an exception.
He enjoyed playing games and reading about the history of gaming companies.
Nintendo was the gaming company he had read about the most.
Nintendo was originally a playing card manufacturer, but the market for playing cards was limited. Yamauchi Hiroshi, with strong ambitions, was not content with this. After several ventures, he settled on the industry he would dedicate his life to—the gaming industry.
This decision was quite successful.
In 1980, Nintendo launched the Game & Watch handheld console, selling a staggering 32 million units.
The Famicom game console, launched in 1983, also known as the Red and White machine, sold over 61 million legitimate units and hundreds of millions of pirated units, directly influencing the history of gaming worldwide.
More importantly, compared to the Game & Watch handheld, the Famicom allowed for game cartridges to be sold separately. This meant that even if the Famicom console itself stopped selling, Nintendo could still make a steady stream of money from royalties on third-party games and from games developed by their own first-party studios.
Although buying Nintendo stock now wasn't the absolute best time, it wasn't too late either. This was because in 1985, Nintendo's Famicom would officially enter the United States, the world's largest single market.
He believed that as Famicom sales steadily climbed in the U.S., Nintendo's stock would also rise accordingly.
However, to prevent black swan events, Takeshita Masato didn't go all-in. He kept half of his funds reserved, still invested in bank blue-chip stocks.
Besides Nintendo, he also bought a little bit of stock in other gaming companies.
The massive sales of the Nintendo console in the U.S. were good news for Nintendo, and also good news for third-party developers for the console.
Without surprises, these gaming companies would see significant stock price increases.
Of course, Sega was an exception.
This was because Sega was also ambitious and wanted to become a console manufacturer controlling its own destiny, rather than following the trend of becoming a third-party game developer.
Since Takeshita Masato wasn't pursuing the day trading route, he suddenly found himself with nothing much to do. He thought about it carefully and finally decided to continue interviewing for jobs to make money.
"Indeed, 'smells good' is the first law of humanity."
Takeshita Masato smiled and shook his head, then muttered self-deprecatingly as he left the securities company.
...
Upon returning home, Takeshita Masato, feeling idle, thought of the Izumi-nee he met yesterday and immediately dialed the contact information the girl had left.
Of course, the girl he was referring to was Tanaka Eri.
However, Tanaka Eri was Sakai Izumi's best friend, so by approximation, it was as good as Izumi-nee herself giving him the contact.
"Hello, my name is Takeshita Masato. Is this the Kamachi Sachiko residence?"
"Yes, this is the Kamachi residence. I'm Kamachi Keiko. Are you looking for my sister? I'm sorry, please wait a moment, I'll go get her."
"Okay, thank you!"
The young girl on the other end couldn't wait for Takeshita Masato's reply and rushed into her sister's room.
"Onee-chan, someone's on the phone for you, and it's a boy with a nice voice."
"Someone's looking for me, and it's a boy?"
Sakai Izumi attended an all-girls school and had no familiar male peers except for her own younger brother. She was momentarily stunned, looking a little dazed, but quickly realized it must be the boy she had a pleasant chat with yesterday.
"Oh. Okay, I understand."
Izumi-nee acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary, naturally walking past her sister.
Although Sakai Izumi seemed no different than usual, as her younger sister, Kamachi Keiko still spotted some clues.
Her sister's cheeks were slightly flushed, and her gaze was a little unnatural.
The girl chuckled like a little fox and asked, "Onee-chan, could you be secretly seeing a boyfriend without telling the family?"
Hearing the word "boyfriend," Izumi-nee instinctively thought of the conversation about marriage she had with Eri yesterday, and her cheeks involuntarily flushed.
But realizing her sister was still nearby, she instantly calmed down, furrowed her beautiful brows, and slowly said, "I met him after the interview yesterday. Don't talk nonsense."
Then Izumi-nee quickened her pace, wanting to avoid her sister's continued teasing.
"Oh, is that so?"
Kamachi Keiko didn't believe her sister's explanation at all, a playful smile appearing on her face. But seeing that her sister had already reached the phone, she wisely said nothing more.
"Hello, I'm Kamachi Sachiko. How can I help you?"
Although teased by her sister's gaze, Izumi-nee didn't blame Takeshita Masato, the culprit, for it. Her voice remained as calm as water, soft and clear.