"What if his relationship to that ministry is something totally different from what it seems?"
"Well, if MITI's not behind the buy-ups, then who're they for?"
I sat a minute, again trying to think like Noda. "What if this scenario is actually aimed at . . . what if it's a global power play?"
She looked at me skeptically. "I don't get it."
"Okay, granted it sounds crazy, but let's chase that for a minute. I think we agree this whole scenario is not what he wants it to seem. So what are some of the other things in all this that aren't what they appear to be? Does anything dovetail?" I sat musing a second, searching for an opening. "What are some of the twists about Japan that're obviously misleading?"
"Well, acceptance of gaijin, for one. It goes only so far, then stops like a brick wall." She was obviously speaking from personal experience.
"Maybe that's because they've always been isolated. Some things never change," I pondered aloud. "Which is probably the secret of their success. Take the ruling clique. Sure, Japan is a democracy, but is it really? Not the way we understand the word. What they actually have, after you get past all the slogans, is just a retread of the old system. The truth is it's still run as it was a thousand years ago. By the old families, the old money. Elections never decide issues. They're handled by the power structure. Half the seats in the Diet are practically hereditary, going back generations in the same family. There's only one real political party. The ministries are fiefdoms. I mean, the goddam country is still feudal. They don't even have a word for democracy. They had to borrow it. Demokurasu."
"Well, Japan's a pragmatic place. The old ways work. Remember the zaibatsu, those industrial conglomerates that ran the war machine? MacArthur dismantled them, but they reappeared almost as soon as he left."
"Right, the power structure restored those right away. The zaibatsu are back and chewing up world commerce. But the demokurasu eyewash is still around. The job's not finished."
She stared around the room. "Matt, I don't like where I think you're headed."