Tokyo Reborn: Dark Superstar

Chapter 34 Foundry in Yokohama
  Keihin Industrial Zone is located along the coast of Tokyo Bay. It is a large area with Tokyo and Yokohama as its core and the Kanto Plain as its hinterland.

Among them, 7120 hectares of industrial land are used, accounting for 55%.

The manufacturing output value is 80.07 trillion yen, with 9 factories, accounting for 5611% of the total number of factories in the country. It is one of the largest industrial areas in Asia.

In the past month, Takakura Bunta has not only chatted with Kanda Keiko, but also consolidated this important human resource in the Japanese music scene.

Just walking through the industrial area of ​​Yokohama City...

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In this era, the abstract consumer market for RB is basically dominated by Bandai, Tomei and Happinet.

However, as RB loses ground in the US-Japan trade war, this pattern is about to break.

According to the agreement signed by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and the Office of the United States Trade Representative, all protective tariffs in the Tokyo consumer market will be abolished this year.

The U.S. market is the largest consumer market in the world, and super industry giants such as Hasbro, Mattel, and R Us were born here.

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Mattel's Barbie series is now the best-selling and most popular doll in the world in this dark star world.

There was an astonishing record of two Barbie dolls being sold every second.

To date, more than 10 billion Barbie dolls have been sold in 150 countries around the world.

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R Us, choose to cooperate with Disney.

One Disney animation every year, "Snow White", "Daughter of the Sea", "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin" and so on.

Among them, the most classic ones are the dolls of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Tony Ermu bought a complete set of imported original versions.

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Hasbro, this year launched the "My Little Pony Princess" doll, which focuses on loli style and is very popular among the upper class in the United States.

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The three giants in North America have long been eyeing the consumer market of the world's second largest economy.

This year the two countries reached the "U.S.-Japan Structural Trade Barriers Agreement" and the RB consumer market was fully opened.

Hasbro, Mattel, and R Us have begun to open branches in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya and establish offline sales channels.

For a time, domestic consumer companies were in turmoil.

Major domestic manufacturers have begun to imitate the three giants in North America and carry out co-branded products with super IP and cosmetics, models and dolls to create hit products.

"Ultraman Tiga", the first work of "Ultraman Tiga" (Ultraman Heisei for Adults) of Tsuburaya Co., Ltd., the initial funding for filming was sponsored by Bandai Co., Ltd.

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Compared with the excitement of cosmetics companies, the situation of domestic cosmetics OEMs is very bad, with victims everywhere...

On the one hand, the United States signed a trade agreement with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, opening up the RB market;

On the other side, it is reshaping the industrial chain through its influence in the world's largest cosmetics consumer market;

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In November last year, the U.S. Department of Trade’s Office of Environmental Protection and Labor Rights released the “RB Cosmetics OEM Investigation White Paper.”

It was disclosed that RB's 1139 cosmetics OEMs had problems with environmental protection and labor rights, and these companies were included in the market blacklist.

Cosmetics produced by these OEM companies are prohibited from being sold in the United States.

At the same time, the U.S. Department of Trade Tariff Commission announced special preferential tariff treatment for cosmetics products from South Korea, Singapore, and Southeast Asia.

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This combination of tactics and strategies is exactly the same as the trade war situation in steel, automobiles, semiconductors, and telecommunications.

The United States takes advantage of the world's largest consumer market to lead the transfer of the entire industrial chain to South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Southeast Asia.

For RB, this is an "unsolvable conspiracy."

The World Trade Online server has been updated, ushering in the "Four Little Dragons" and "Four Little Tigers" versions.

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In 1996, more than % of the cosmetics OEM factories in Yokohama City had closed down, and there were more than scattered ones left.

Mainly distributed in the industrial park near Yokohama National University in Hodogaya District.

Putting aside some leather bag companies that engage in tax avoidance in Southeast Asia, South Korea, and Hong Kong, there are about seventy companies that actually have production lines. ˆ ˆ ˆ And then deduct the five or six major manufacturers that provide OEM services to major cosmetics manufacturers such as Bandai, Tomei, and Happinet.

The rest are small workshop-style factories with dozens or more than a hundred people, focusing on generation management and craftsman spirit.

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The large factory that Takakura Bunta found at the beginning was completely different from the situation when he inquired from the representative of Bandai Co., Ltd. when he was on the set of Ultraman Tiga.

It was originally expected to start with an order of 5000 units, and the general cost was 2500 yen to 3000 yen.

When negotiating on the spot, the situation is completely different.

Start-up companies like Takakura Bunta have no say at all when negotiating with large factories.

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These major manufacturers require an initial contract of at least 10 pieces. They are not allowed to bring in their own materials. They require unified factory procurement and 30% of the material fee is paid in advance.

The price of a single piece cannot be reduced, with each lipstick quoted at 8500 yen.

If the order volume is not enough, it is not possible to arrange a separate production line. The production line can only be mixed with orders from large manufacturers.

If you use mixed production lines, you can only use the general parameters of the factory and cannot conduct special debugging.

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Gao Cangbuntai's core competitiveness is to provide users with a perfect first-time use experience through high-precision debugging.

Therefore, Takakura Bunta had no choice but to give up his plan of finding a large OEM and instead look for a small workshop-style OEM.

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After negotiations with several major manufacturers went unfavorable, Takakura Bunta spent two weeks searching in Yokohama.

Through the ability of super perception, collect intelligence in major bars, nightclubs, and bubble shops.

Finally, a suitable foundry - Mizuno Electronics was tentatively selected.

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This foundry is very small, with only a few dozen people.

Before the U.S.-Japan trade war, cosmetics were exported to the United States.

After the trade war, the reason why Mizuno Electronics was able to survive was that it used illegal work and quoted prices that were 30% cheaper.

Now, we mainly rely on odd jobs subcontracted by some large OEMs to maintain the factory's survival.

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Takakura Bunta listened to the female bar volunteer.

Mizuno Electronics can use illegal workers, and it is rumored that it has close ties with Zhao Chunshu, a senior member of the Inakawa Society.

A small flag of the Inagawa Society is placed at the door of the Mizuno Electronics factory.

Zhao Chunshu

This name was once mentioned by Takakura Bunta to Emiri Aramaki, the fourth generation general manager of the Kari Fishery House, at the Night Tokyo Charity Welfare Institute.

Born as a Chinese laborer, he became the leader of the Foolish Company in the Inagawa Huimujima area with the Browning pistol he got from nowhere and his daring style.

Because he is a foreigner and works calmly, he has won the trust of President Inagawa Holy City.

Currently, he serves as the executive director and is responsible for coordinating the relationship between various groups within the association.

With the protection of such a big boss, the small matter of Mizuno Electronics using illegal work can naturally be easily solved.

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In the afternoon of that day, Gao Cangwen came to the factory of Mizuno Electronics.

There are only a few workers moving things in the factory.

Takakura Bunta was about to ask for directions in Chinese.

One of the workers put down the portable electric drill in his hand and took the initiative to use messy Japanese and exaggerated gestures to loudly ask Bunta Takakura to go to the president's office on the second floor.

Takakura Bunta came to the second floor and looked at the president's nameplate on the office door.

"Shuiye Tangyue..."

(End of this chapter)