The Devil's Playground

by Michael Reagan

Thomas even considered Rob a friend now, but he never forgot nor doubted for one moment that if the Fixer were ordered to turn into an enemy by his Masters at Langley, he would do so without a second's thought.

  "Today I am a friend, tomorrow I am the enemy!" Thomas thought quoting the line Rob had used when they shared a moment together about their journey through life and how they found themselves together on the same path.

  "You and the boys fancy a drink?" Rob asked, referring to the bodyguards of Mikhail, Barak, Benny and Yossi, and Saul, today their friend.

  "I have a bottle of fifty-year-old Macallan that needs to be opened and a box of JLO's that need to be smoked," he continued referring to the famous malt and Juan Lopez Cigars of Cuba.

  "Sounds good to me," answered Thomas who by default had just become one of the most important independent gas suppliers in the Devil's Playground of Asia.

  15

  Tokyo

  Unlike the American or British political systems that have existed in their current form for hundreds of years, Japan's democratic process has its roots in recent history.

  Drawn up in a matter of days after the Second World War, the constitution includes the renunciation of the right to rage war and prohibits the maintenance of armed forces other than purposes of self-defense. It also states that any amendment requires a two-thirds majority of both houses in the Diet (parliament) plus the consent of the majority of those that have voted in the referendum. Yet unlike its sister democracies of Europe and the U.S. for the past fifty years there has only been one party who has held power unbroken except for a short-lived coalition government formed from opposition parties for eleven months in 1993 and then for the for a three year period between 2009 and 2012-the Liberal Democratic Party, also known as the LDP.

  The reasons for this success come down to the Sanban (three "bans") of Japan: Jiban (a strong, well-organized constituency), Kaban (a briefcase full of money), and finally the Kanban (prestigious appointment, particularly on the cabinet level) that together are collectively known as the "Iron Triangle" rather than any historic appeal by the masses.

  Because of this dominance the veteran members of the LDP, many of them former or aspirant Prime Ministers often blame the conflicts in Japanese politics on individuals as much as on the policies of LDP with the three voices coming from the current Prime Minister Takashi Kawashima on the right, from the center, the Keynesian economist Shinji Hasebe the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, and finally the dashing good looking forty-five year old Hotaru Okazaki from Nationalist arm of the party who held the Foreign Secretary position.

  Amongst these three it was Okazaki who the Japanese public, its civil servants and the country's industrialists saw as trustworthy but more importantly, also the man who was prepared to stand up to the foreign powers that surrounded Japan.

  It was because of those reasons, the man now found himself sitting somewhat nervously in front of Yorijo Katayama, recently released from prison and the head of Katayama-Gumi, in the meeting room of his private residence within one of the most exclusive residential areas of Tokyo. A place that was both loved and sought after for its houses, tree-lined streets, public parks and gardens, and its ability over the years to survive earthquakes with limited damage known as Den-en-ch?fu 3-ch?me.

  "Welcome, Foreign Minister," Yorijo Katayama said to Hotaru as the young minister continued to nervously finger the Hermes tie attached to the neck of his English Jermyn Street tailored shirt.

  "Greetings, Katayama-San," replied the politician respectfully, desperately trying hard not to give away his thoughts. Not that it mattered because Yorijo already knew them in great detail anyway and as such he knew full well that the young man despised him.

  Yet despite him being considered an outcast in society and even the U.S. government placing him on the U.S. Sanctions list, it was because Hotaru Okazaki's father had owed his position to Yorijo's father he knew that the Kozaru (meaning "Little Monkey" because of his preoccuption with sex) had no choice but to be respectful towards him.

  "I know you're very nervous about meeting with me, Okazaki-San," Yorijo continued as he noticed the man's eyes covertly move towards the young woman who had entered into the lounge with tea for them both. "But I feel the time is right for you to step up to your rightful place as our country's Prime Minister," as though the decision had already been made.

  Immediately the Foreign Minister sat up straight, forgetting his lustful thoughts for a moment or so it appeared to Yorijo, as he pushed his tie up again.

  "However, my friends and I think," Yorijo continued referring to the "Iron Triangle" before pausing for a few moments so as to nod towards the young woman his thanks before she left the room.

  "That it is time for the Hinomaru to take its place again in the world," he said, using the term that ultra-nationals used to refer to themselves, as it meant 'circle of the sun'.

  "Kawashima has allowed the Americans, the Chinese and Russians to step on us again by his failure to stand up to them in Geneva!" Yorijo continued this time with passion in his voice while drawing reference to the surrender of 1945. "All he has done is made us dependent on the whims of the gokiburi!" he spat with venom, using the word for 'cockroach,' the term often used by the right-wing groups of Japan when referring to Koreans.

  The second he used that terrible word Yorijo knew Okazaki would bite. A nationalist in the truest sense of the word, who despite his clever use of language and being careful not to destroy his carefully cultivated image in the media of not being a racist, hated the Chinese and Koreans passionately. He viewed them no better than sex slaves.

  "I agree, Katayama-San," came the answer Yorijo had been seeking thus sealing the man's fate.

  "I welcome your thoughts on how we should do this," Hotaru said in measured tones and thus sealing the role of the Japanese people for the rest of the twenty-first century.

  "Good. But first let us relax," Yorijo replied with a false smile as if almost on cue three stunningly beautiful Japanese prostitutes dressed in traditional Oiran gowns arrived to indulge the whims of the little monkey.

  16

  Austin

  The first thing that hit David Young as he stepped out of black Cadillac Escalade was the searing heat. He hated Texas at the best of times and Texans even more with their faux manners ranging from the tipping of hats, to you never being able discuss anything, especially business, without first asking about the family or how they've been feeling and what they think about the weather. Yet being an ambitious man, he always towed the line when it came to politics and they don't come any more political than the man he was about to meet to enable him to further his personal ambitions.

  "Welcome to my humble home, Sir," greeted the sixty-eight-year-old chief executive of CORETEXAS, Henry "Hank" Dowling looking every inch the atypical Texan, dressed in a light blue shirt, dark jeans, and timberland boots that ranchers of the State saw as a personal uniform.

  Tall at 6'3" and possessed a linebacker's physique with flecks of grey through his short, dark brown hair and moustache. Whenever people met Hank Dowling, the first thing that struck them was his presence and followed then by his bone-crushing handshake. It was the latter that Young felt the most as he shook and introduced himself.

  "Thank you for inviting me," replied Young before both men headed into the ranch for a one-on-one meeting.

 

  With the Texan pleasantries out of the way while both men waited for the staff to cook them their steaks on the barbecue, Young got down to business with the man.

  "Hank, as much as I have enjoyed our walk and the view," said Young in reference to the tour he had been given of the eighteen-acre ranch on the shores of beautiful Lake Austin with its 1,800 feet of waterfront as he picked up the ice-cool flannel to wipe his face, "You didn't ask me here for lunch."

  The Texan who controlled more resources than any other American, with over 190 million barrels of oil and natural gas equivalent's courtesy of his sevent
y-three percent ownership of CORETEXAS, laughed.

  "No I didn't," Hank answered as he took a sip of his iced tea. "Tell me what you think of Daniel Parker's foreign policy?"

  Young looked at Hank for a moment. He knew this was a loaded question. The Republican candidate for Presidential elections in November was a U.S. senator and a former State House Speaker from Texas who held broad appeal among Latino voters because of his Mexican mother and although he was considered extremely good looking he had zero experience in world affairs.

  "Apart than the obvious?" Young queried, referring to his views on illegal immigration, which were designed to appeal to the independents through the suggestion that a solution needed to be found for those living in the country illegally.

  Hank nodded.

  "It's na?ve," answered Young with a voice of assurance, before continuing. "He needs to focus his attention on China and Russia by rebuilding our country's self-confidence and avoid us being self-deterred."

  Young, setting up his objective in the process, continued. "Japan is still our most important ally in Asia, particularly in terms of security priorities, as she is our second-largest export market while in contrast she is also the second-largest source of imports. Japanese firms are America's second-largest source of foreign direct investment, and our second-largest foreign holders of U.S. treasuries!"