(TAPE 10) Nicola Interview Nov 2, 1989
(Includes: Trade/Mitsubishi-Rockefeller, Yae, On Doing Business With The Japanese-boxing & bowling, On the Japanese, The Restaurant Business, U.S.-Japan Trade Problem: Solutions, Discrimination Rant)
SIDE A
(Counter 000)
(TRADE/MITSUBISHI-ROCKEFELLER))
Q: What do you think about Sony buying Columbia? Mitsubishi just buying into Rockefeller? Any particular thoughts on that?
A: I tell you, to me, it’s a very difficult subject because the thing is that if it was a 2-way street, I can understand it. If Sony wants to buy into CBS, I don’t think they should, but it’s the same thing when you got an ugly girl, who marries her, you know, right? So you don’t want to marry an ugly girl. You want a beautiful, rich girl. But somebody’s got to marry that ugly girl. And that’s the same thing that happened with Sansui. American company bought Sansui because they’re on the verge of bankruptcy. Columbia. I don’t think Columbia should have sold to Sony. I don’t think that’s fair. I don’t think that’s right. I think the stockholders should have a right to say, but there’s something funny about stockholders. Don’t they have anything to say about this matter? Did you read carefully the Rockefeller deal? Did you meet the guy on tv, the Rockefeller man?
He says hat 71% of that company is private stockholders. Or public stockholders, I guess you’d call them. And they only own 29%, And of which they sold 51% of the 29% tMitsubishi Real Estate..See? So, they only bought a 15% stake in the thing. So where do they get off with their, big mouth that they can, you know, that Mitsubishi bought it. Mitsubishi didn’t buy it. They bought 15% of Rockefeller Center. Or what ever..how many companies..they got 14 buildings in there. It just doesn’t make sense to me.
Q: They own those buildings, right?
A: Or they’re managing those buildings.I don’t know if they own them. That’s a tremendous asset if they own 14 buldings in that complex. Shit, they’re talking…that’s tremendous.
Q: What’d he say they bought? They bought 51% of the 29% that the Rockefeller management owns. The other 71% is owned by the public. These are shares in the company. So why can’t the public 71% vote against ….or what don’t the 71%, the public, say if you gonna buy another 15%, we buy it. What the hell does it come to them. Nothing. It’s only an 800 million dollar deal.
Q: So they just get a controlling interest, that’s all.
A: They don’t. They get a 15%.
Q: It’s the biggest single chunk, isn’t it?
A: Well, the other people will wind up with…
Q: The other 70% is diversified.
A: The other people wind up with 14% & Mitsubishi owns 15%. But the other people own 71%. The individual shareholders or whatever they are that own the shares..
Q: Yeah, but there’s no one chunk that’s owned by one single person or group.
A: I understand what you’re saying, but that’s still…what can they put on the board?
They could put one million on the board? The public could put 7. The other guy could put one? But we’re getting into an area that I know a little bit about. We’re talking now preferred shares, common stock, which is…what controls a company? The preferred shares or the common stock?….But if you look at it from an economic point of view, 70%, all they have to do is buy 10% each. Or 20% each. There’s only 29% left. So if they want to buy half of it, they’d have to increase their shares from 71% to 86%. That ain’t much. That’s a little over 10% a person. So is 10% of the 71% of the shareholders, or 12% buy, they don’t need Mitsubishi. Why can’t the shareholders themselves have the right to say, to purchase. Isn’t that a compulsory…Isn’t that a normal…I know Denny’s…or before when my friends used to run Denny’s , Denny’s would go into a deal with a 25% for their money and 75% for the franchiser. And then they have a rule that they can buy another 25% at their option. So I would think that if Rockefeller Center advertised among its own shareholders that they were entertaining the idea of selling 51% of their 29% to a Japanese buyer, that fucking 71% would blow their fucking lid.
Then they said something else that made it a little more complicated. The reason why we sold, we need a fresh source of money,..how do they gain money. How does the organization gain money? When one part of it sells their shares. Or if Bob Whiting owns 10% of the shares. He sells his shares. How does he get more money for the company? You sold your shares. How does that work? Or is the information…the guy said it on satellite television. I’m listening to him. He says Mitsubishi only bought 51% of our 29%. So ok, ok they sold 51% of their 29%, so let’s say it’s 15%, And then they said we need this money to remodel and upgrade. That’s
That’s not true, because that’s their private money. That has nothing to do with company money. If they wanted an increase of 800,000,000 yen, they assess then shareholders. Or they make a stock split or something like that to increase sales of shares to get more money, right? So I don’t know..How it worked that way. Or why it worked that way. Or how should it work that way. I think that if I was a shareholder and I don’t like Japanese because maybe my brother was killed in the fucking islands or shit like that. Or maybe Pearl Harbor. I’d be annoyed that I got a Japanese…or a big partner as a Japanese. How many Americans appreciate that? It’s very hard for me to say but I think they should not allow the sale. If Americans can’t stand on their own two feet, let the company go bankrupt. That’s what happens to Nicolas Enterprise Company. If we can’t stand on our own two feet, we go bankrupt. We got out of business.
Rockefeller Center is an institution. It’s the showplace of New York. It’s the showplace of the world, for Christ sake. Everybody goes to Rockefeller Center. Every tourist goes there. Right. Jesus. But I still say that one of these days, some instigator like me gets involved, the Japanese will go bankrupt. Every fucking building they own, I’d put 50 fucking Dai Nippon, you know, you know these guys with the trucks outside, you ever see them?
Q: Yeah.
A: Put a truck outside one of these buildings and say: “Do not enter this building, this is a Japanese owned place. We do not want the Japanese in America.” What happens? They have the right to make all that noise in the street. They don’t let them go near the Russian Embassy, because they’re not afraid of what they might say. They’re afraid of what they might do. They’ll throw bombs in the fucking embassy compound.
Q: The Japanese, they would back off. They wouldn’t like that kind of confrontation, would they.
A: Ooohh. They would get out of that building so quick…This friend of mine, just went to California, I mean he went to Portland, Oregon, for the Rose Festival or something like that. And he went there because he’s been hired by the Japanese to put up a fireworks display. And he went there and he stayed at the Riverside Hotel, which is a beautiful place. You know how people talk. Omigod, this, this that and the other thing. And now he’s so happy that he went there. And now, a few questions that I asked him, it doesn’t make sense to me why you should stay at that place, and why this…it’s a Japanese owned operation. The whole Riverside of Oregon is Japanese owned. They own all the hotels and the condominiums, And everything over there…..There’s a Marina out there and everything. This whole area is Japanese owned. So they purchased a lot. But the Japanese are going to use their dominating attitude….when the time is proper, their dominating attitude will come through. And they will see it. And by that time, the American is already a slave. And he ain’t about to get out of it. Then the Japanese show their true colors, they do that all the time.
Did you see what Jimmy Carter said the other day. He said “The reason I never got no one million dollars or 2 million dollars is that nobody ever offered it to me.” Hoping to god that somebody will offer him that kind of money. He was talking about Reagan and his two million dollars.
Q: I don’t think he’d take it.
A: No, he wouldn’t. No way. But then the newspaper said the trip that Reagan took to Japan cost 8 million dollars. But then again, for a Japanese, 8 million dollars is nothing. But you know you talk about, Sony bought CBS or whatever you want to call it. Columbia Movies? Studios whatever it is. 8 billion dollars? If you took all the shares of Sony or looked at the Sony balance sheet that they put in the newspaper…where did they get 8 billion dollars from? If a company has got 8 billion dollars, what is the average payment per share per share holder? My god, it’s gotta be a fantastic amount of money. Don’t they pay their shareholders any money? That they can afford to buy a property for 8 billion dollars. Of course, the answer is not that Nick, I’m saying the wrong thing. What really is happening is the Japanese government gave them 8 billion dollars.
Q: You think so?
A: Of course. I don’t think the Bank of America is valued at 8 million dollars. Look how many S&L’s went under. And how much are they talking about? How many companies and how many banks and how many locations involved? What is the net worth of First National City Bank. CitiCorps. Are they in the 8 billion dollar category? Where the fuck does Sony get of with an $8 billion acquisition? And I think the acquisition last year was what, $16 billion dollars? …$8 billion dollars is one deal? That’s a lot of money…for a company that doesn’t have that kind of paid in capital or value in its shares. And in Japan, if you can borrow 30% of your mortgage you’re doing good. Is a share mortagable? I don’t think so…..You can go to a bank and borrow 30% on your mortgage. And they appraise the value of the land according to the current market. Or…and if he can get 30% you’re doing very, very., very good.
Now, of course, in my case, I got a good mortage loan from the bank…I can borrow money from the bank because I not only have property that’s worth it, but I have a daily income that I been having for 30 years in the same location, paying the same bank every year for 30 years. So my credit with the bank is very good. Sony can not tell me that they can borrow 30 million yen. Against what? You got to have 24 billion dollars worth of assets to borrow 8 billion dollars. What is the interest on 24. Or 8 billion dollars? In Japan, of course, they’ve got to get it free. If they are paying 5% or 6%, you know what kind of money they’re talking now? That’s a lot of fucking money.
Q: You have to have 24 billion dollars in assets.
A: To borrow 8 million (billion?) And shares in the company is not assets. And movable equipment is not asset. So they make automobiles or motorcycles or tv sets or whatever they make. Those are not considered assets. That’s stock in the warehouse…Stocks, shares not assets. Furniture not assets….Like in my restaurant, if you say to me that cheese is an assets, I will say no, because the cheese, first of all, can spoil. #1. And the cheese has no value unless I put it on the pizza and sell it. Other than that, the cheese is worth what I bought it. Less…who wants to buy it back? Did you ever buy a watch for $100 and try to sell it for $100? So in this case we’re talking about Sony? And Sony produces television sets? What the hell is a television set worth? Is it an asset? You say, yes this is an asset. It’s only an asset when you sell it. So I don’t see where Sony can get $8 billion dollars to buy CBS. Unless there’s financial maneuvering that means you don’t pay for it. Or it means you something….so as far as out of pocket is concerned…We talk about guy who went to Hawaii and buy this and buy that,..Marugen…All right. He owns 56 buildings in Tokyo. He doesn’t have to borrow against a mortage. He can borrow against the income. Because it’s a rented place. And the people have deposits. It’s a guaranteed income by rent. Now he can borrow against the rent income. So I can understand something…..
Q: What was his name?
A: Muramoto. Something like that. He’s the one who went to Hawaii and they gave him a bad time. He bought what they called the Kaiser Home, which is called a couple of Jews. Or was owned by a couple of Jews called Goldberg. They paid $42 million dollars for the private home of Kaizo. Then he had to tear it apart and fix it. Now that’s a cash acquisition. And all the properties he bought there–190 private homes–those are all cash operated. But he can get that kind of money. Because what’s his income per month? 56 office buildings? I’d say an office building, even this shitty building that we’re in now, grosses 8 million yen a month. I pay 2.5 million yen a month here rent. Now I pay 1.6 million yen a month. So I’m paying 20,000 yen a tsubo. This building has got 10 floors. So that means it’s got to be ten times. It’s got a 16 million yen a month income. Now that’s gross income. That doesn’t mean it’s profit. So if this guy has got 56 buildings. And if this makes say 20 million yen a month. 56 buildings is a lot of money. And they’re not small buildings. They’re bigger than this. So he’s got a cash income. He’s not trying to sell a tv set or something which is competitive in the market, which may be obsolete tomorrow. If HDTV comes out tomorrow, what happens to his sets? Of course, they have what they call administrative guidance in the Japanese government which means that nobody competes with anybody. Everything is controlled….I guess, the only thing I see is the government is doing it. What happened if the American government financed Chrysler to buy Toyota? How much can Toyota be worth? If Sony ca n get $8 billion and buy an American co., surely GM can go to the same source and borrow enough money to buy Toyota. Why do they fool around trying to buy Jaguar? So there must be something that we people, we laymen, is that the way you say it, we don’t know. There’s something involved. But they haven’t asked anybody to lend them money or there’s non information in Japan that they require money or that they need money to buy Colombia Studios.
And this bullshit hardware and software goes together. That’s crap.
Now, you see, Turner Broadcast, they should come here. They should put cable in. You ain’t gonna match Turner. Turner could buy Sony ten times over. He owns all of Atlanta, don’t he? So why can’t he come over here? Do cable television. And sell it. That’s what I’d do if I was him. After all, Japan is the largest economy in the world now? Everybody has got money.
Q: You know Japanese don’t even need a visa to go to the U.S. now?
A: No visa. No. 180 days.
Q: Extendable once.
A: You mean 90 plus 90.
Q: Right.,..You just go get on an airplane, fill out a form on the plane and there they are.
I’m don’t there in the Yokohama Immigration Office standing there with 500 Thais and Pakistanis.
A: You’re lucky you don’t have to go here (Tokyo).
Q: First time I went to Kanagawa in 1987, it was empty. Now it’s packed, before they even open the doors. Overflowing. People out in the hallways. All from SE Asia. & India & Pakistan….The place in Otemachi in Tokyo is worse. Horrible.
A: This is terrible. I went there the other day. A couple of weeks ago.To try to find out how to bring in my pastry man. They sent me from one counter to another and it was always in the wrong place. Finally one guy, cuz I brought my Japanese CIA interpreter with me,…he knows how to talk, you know. He doesn ‘t say who he is. And he looks like an ordinary stumblebum. So anyway, then guy says “come in the office.” We go in the office, he says, “You’re in the wrong place.” I had to go in the office. He could have told me over the counter, you’re in the wrong place. You got to go o the Ministry of Justice. This is the Immigration Section of the Ministry of Justice. You go to the Ministry of Justice. Homusho. Well, Immigration is a section of the Homu-sho. Then the son-of-a bitch had the nerve to me to say that you can not bring him in because he is unskilled labor. This guy is going to cost me over $5,000 a month and he’s unskilled labor. I’d like to know what the hell…the Japanese brings in unskilled labor. What do they have to pay?
….I’ll bring him in, if I have to knock on that asshole’s door.
But I tell you, I got a good customer here. Hashimoto. He’ll be the Prime Minister one of these days. The Liberal Democrats get knocked out of power, that’s another story. He’s the only one that can match the image of young…but he thought he fooled around. With…If I asked the question around here they’ll probably tell me he comes in with different girls all the time.
Q: You know this Mori Building group? That bought 6 buildings in Dallas? Today?
A: You see, they have the power. Because they’re dealing in cash income guaranteed every month. What I’m trying to say to you is that Sony does not have that. Sony may sell 5,000 tv sets this month. Next month they may sell one thousand sets. Their income is a “mizushobai.” (i.e.”water trade,”–night club & bar business) There is no such thing as a guaranteed income.So. And their cost of sales is not cheap. They have to pay people for cost of sales. But the building over here, all they need is a management group that handles the building, which means two janitors. You know. And they collect money every month by a bank deposit. They don’t have to go around giving them promissory notes and all the other shit which goes into the commercial sale of a commodity. Rent is a …..so Mori Building. They’re big. You know, Mori Building is trying to buy where I used to have my restaurant. They’re trying to buy that whole area there. Up to the school. Because the school is owned by the government. And they’re going to call it “Gazembo-gardens.” And they’re gonna make it connect to the Ark Hills.
Q: Let’s go back to what you said. You said, “In time the dominating Japanese attitude will come through, but Americans will be late…and it will be too late to do anything about it. In time the Japanese dominating attitude will come through. But Americans will be slaves. And it will be too late to do anything about it.”
(YAE)
A: Well, we have an expression here that came before me: “The Japanese make good servants but bad masters.” And, of course I see it every day in my own house. My wife is that way. I told you, most of my anti-Japanese attitude comes from the closeness between me and my wife. And that we’re in the same business, which I put her in. And now she almost owns 99% of it. Of course, they were voluntary transfers because they’ll get on your back until you give it to them. And the Japanese will win their point regardless of what it costs. They’ll pay, but they’re gonna get their point.
To show you like I said, boy they’re small examples, this is their character. I got a little cabinet in my house, that I bought from an ordinary furniture store which means nothing, you know. 5,000 yen, 15,000. And my wife doesn’t like it, because it’s mine and it doesn’t fit in the new house. You know, she’s got to have Italian furniture and Italian…you know, that’s style. This is a girl that comes from the country. Of course, she comes from a very rich family. She comes from a samurai family, which history shows…but anyway, she’s after this to get rid of the cabinet. And I sez “No, I like the cab inet. It’s got 7 drawers. And I got my socks in it, my underwear. I got one drawer for underwear, one drawer for socks, one drawer for summer socks. I got it nice. When I want something, I get it like that. 1-2-3. She sez “Let’s go to Odakyu Department Store in Shinjuku. I sez Ok. I say, “Okay.” I don’t want to go…I hate to go shopping in the department store with a woman. Jesus Christ Almighty. And she looked at everything once. And she looked at everything twice. And she finally seen this tremendous cabinet. You call them a “lowboy?” And she buys this lowboy.
And I sez “Yae-chan. Do you think it will fit in the house?” And the Japanese. You can not tell a Japanese that they’re wrong. Omigod. Don’t do that.
She says, “Of course, they’ll fit in the house.”
I said, “Well, kind of big. You have to bend it around. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to bend around to get it into the house.”
Well, she paid 370,000 yen for it. Doesn’t hesitate. It’s not a lot of money. $3,000? $4,000. …So 140 yen to the dollar now. Almost $3,000. And, of course, it couldn’t fit in the house. So I told the man, the only way you going to bring this into the house is we remove the balcony, which is a wire, aluminum balcony that we have, and then just unscrew it and then just bring it into the house.
Well, that’s too much work for a Japanese. They can’t think how to unscrew a balcony that’s put together with screws. Imagine that? I told the guy I could do it myself for Christ Sakes, you know. I mean Christs Sakes, you’ve seen wire…it’s a balcony. It keeps you from falling out of the window.
So anyway, she had to take it back. And they brought her a different one. A little smaller. Now she puts it next to my green and white cabinet. And she says, you know that doesn’t look right. I sez, you still after me to get rid of it? No, no, no, she sez. It just doesn’t look right. I sez OK, I’ll paint it. I’ll change the color brown instead of green and white. Anway, so that day passed, but a Japanese doesn’t give up. They don’t give up. A week later, she’s reminding me, something’s out of place. I say, well, everything in here is brown, everything is from Italy, but that little cabinet that I bought. Green and White. From an ordinary furniture store. Oh, she says. Now, she came around, and took all the stuff that she can get and put it in this drawer and sez, “I moved your stuff to that drawer.” The chest of drawers she bought.
I sez, “I don’t care what you moved. Because I’m not gonna give up that green and white cabinet.” Get rid of it see forgettaboutit. But, you know what? She will keep at it and keep at it until finally I say, “Take it away.”
But can you imagine spending hours planning on how to take it away from me. What else is there in life. What the hell is the difference if we have nobody come to our home? We had one dinner party there. And now she’s saying to me, we should have a housewarming party. I say “That’s a good idea. Housewarming party.” But so far I don’t remember anybody’s Japanese house that I went to, so why should I let people come to my house.?”
She sez, “Well, you went to Takahashi’s house.”
Cuz, I went to Takahashi’s house, I got drunk, I was fooling around with a broad. And she went crazy because she heard some of the story, but she didn’t hear the whole of the story, and she is still trying to figure out what is the truth that happened. Son of a bitch, I tell you.
So that’s the Japanese attitude. They will go at you and at you from the left, from the right, from the side, from the middle. And they will never, never give up until they get their acquisition. They’re doing it in the United States. You’d be surprised. You remember that place. They sent people all over there to buy? Buy, buy and buy. And here is this friend of mine that went to Portland, Oregon. And at the end he has to admit that he stayed at a Japanese owned operation. They own everything.
(ON DOING BUSINESS WITH JAPANESE: [Boxing & Bowling])
Q: Tell me some other examples about doing business with the Japanese.
A: To show you again, like this guy Noguchi…we talked about how he called me up and came over here, I should say, he came over here and asked me to get him the heavyweight champ of Russia to bring him to Japan and make a contract with him for fighting Tyson in the Hilton Hotels, because he knows the people in the Hilton Hotels in Las Vegas. Now this guy always comes around. I made a millionaire out of him because I brought kick boxing to Japan. I told you I mortaged my house so he could have some money. But he’s never done anything for me. Never. Not even once.And I know him now 35 years, 36 years. And I called Russia. And he’s supposed to call me back. I mean Noguchi is supposed to call me and say the deal is going to work and how much it’s gonna work because, I says, I want a commission, which means money before I go and paid for what I’m gonna do. I’m not interested in the boxing business. You know he doesn’t have the decency to call me up and say “Gomen Nasai.” See. That’s the Japanese for you.
Q: “Gomen Nasai” (I’m sorry), for what?
A: For telling me to contact this guy in Russia. So to bring a fighter here to Japan and the United States. I did it. I made the contact. Did not even thank me. Doesn’t even call me up. The deal on his side failed somewhere, but at least he could tell me the deal fell on my side. On his side, you know. The Noguchi side. So I have to read the paper the other day, Mr. Honda is a fight owner like Noguchi.Gymnasium owner. And he brought in Tyson to fight Tubby Williams here? So I’m thinking, I’m reading the paper. Now why if Honda brought Tyson here to fight Tubby Williams, how come these Japanese don’t have the administrative guidance in boxing? Where one guy does it and the other people allow him to do it. Instead of Noguchi’s gonna compete with another Japanese? So, anyway, but the point is they are arrogant bastards. They’ll ask you for anything. They’ll push you. But they’ll never, never give you the sweat of their balls.
Mr. Wada, who you’ve met here. The pro bowler? He always was with me. I always gave him free food, free food. And now that I don’t bowl anymore and I don’t bring him her, he doesn’t even call up and say “How you doing?” Here’s a guy that was with me 2 & 3 times a week. He was getting something. But as soon as it came where he can’t get it, that’s the end. The relationship ends there.
Q: When did this end?
A: This ended about a year ago. A year and a half ago. More. Cuz I had a heart attack. He’s the one that came and looked at the bed and his eyes read, “When are you gonna die?”
Q: What were you doing for him?
A: I sponsored the bowling. I did so much for bowling. He was hanging on my shirttails, because the activity that he had done was very dishonest. He was keeping prize money and he was playing games with the cash money in the company, the bowling league. And nobody would challenge him because he was my buddy. And he used my shield to protect what he was doing. We had jackpots. And if one guy wins 5 jackpots, which I invented, by the way, 3 games, the first game is score plus handicap, the second is score plus handicap, the third one is scratch, and then total with handicap and total with scratch because it’s a pro-am league. And the pros have got a chance to win when there’s no handicap. But they have no chance to win when there’s a handicap. Very few of them win. Cuz handicap automatically makes…people can shoot over 300 with a handicap. But a pro-bowler can’t shoot over 300. The average is 240.
Q: You sponsored a bowling league?
A: A league. Not a team. The whole league. I used to do that all the time. One time I had 17 teams in the league. I gave them all gifts.
Q: What years were this?
A: Oh….1960 to 1983-82. The league. It’s called the Major League. The 5-Man Major League. 5-Man team. Major League. I used to give them, I’d buy watches for every ballplayer, I’d buy radios for every ballplayer. I gave everybody a gift. Every bowler. Regardless of whether or not they were…Every bowler in the league got a gift. I put prize money in it. I paid a lot of sponsor fees for them. I even allowed them to come in my restaurant and get a 20% discount. I put prize money in it. I paid a lot of sponsor fees for them. I even allowed them to come to my restaurant and get a 20% discount. I used to sponsor…I used to have my own Friday, Saturday, Sunday tournaments. And if anybody hit 300, I gave them tremendous money out of my own pocket.
I had a fight with the police one time, because. cash money is illegal in Japan. I stood up and fought them. The police backed down.
Q: Tell me about that.
A: OK. To be exact, we were bowling at the….
Q: What’s illegal? Cash prizes?
A: Cash prizes. They’re illegal. Even in pachinko cash prizes are illegal. You know that. Win cigarettes. You win this, that and the other thing. You can trade them in and get them back. I was in the Shinjuku Starlane Bowling Center. Either that or Yokoi’s Bowling Center. Yokoi, you know who he is…the Hotel New Japan guy (shot by Noboru Ando gang). Yeah. And one of those places. And the police came. And they asked me to cut it out. You can not do any bowling here with prize money and this, that and the other thing, and I told him well we can’t stop then league now because the league is going. But if we can meet again next week, before then league starts, I’ll gladly discuss the matter. And, the next week, I brought my lawyer, and, of course, when I brought my lawyer, now the attitude was very difficult. So the police decided that they better not argue with my lawyer. They might lose the argument. Because we’re not soliciting outside funds. It’s w/in ourself and the money goes for prize money. It goes for bowling. It goes for the secretary fees and everything. Very little money goes to prize money. Because in pachinko you can only win ten balls or 12 balls or something like that. With one ball you can win ten. I think then rule is you can go 15 times the amount, something like that, see. And anything over 15 is gambling. But in bowling, you can not put a thousand yen in and win a thousand yen back. But in a pachinko machine you can put one ball in and get 15 back. So the police gave up. And how did they retaliate? They told the owner of the police center. Mr. Yokoi. I’m sure it was Yokoi’s bowling center. That if he continues this league, they are going to step on him. They’re gonna stop young kids from going in there. They’re going to give him nothing but trouble and trouble and trouble. You know what happened? The bowling center owner through us out. So we don’t bowl in that place no more. We don’t bowl in no more starlanes or whatever they are, whatever they call them. Yokoi owned the biggest bowling center in the world, 7 floors high. God knows how many alleys. The biggest in the world. Can you imagine a 7 story concrete building that is all bowling center?
Q: So you had to stop doing it?
A: No, we just moved to a different place. And the police in another neighborhood were not as bad as we were. And we were in Shinjuku. Someplace in Shinjuku. So we had our troubles.But, I done a lot for bowling. Some of today’s big pros were kids that I taught how to bowl (i.e. more exaggeration) Yajima is one of them. He’s a famous pro bowler. He was on my team when he didn’t know how to throw a ball. And he became Japan’s best bowler. Cuz I was willing to pay for his lessons. He bowled on my and I paid all the money. A lot of people like that.
Q: So you left because Yokoi wanted you to leave?
A: He canceled the bowling. They don’t want you to stay there no more. So when the league finished, we were out. We couldn’t stay there. We had to find another bowling center. Of course, if they’d gone to Yokoi, Yokoi probably would have told them to drop dead, shove off. But they went to the bowling center manager. But they gave him a bad time. The mgr’s response was for the profit of the organization and the proper running of the organization. & they can kick all the kids out, and they can kick everybody out of the place. The police can be very nasty and very tough.
Q: Why would they kick the kids out?
A: Because they were under age. There’s a law in Japan. You’re not allowed to be out after 9:30 at night if you’re underage. They don’t enforce the law, but if they want to enforce it, the law is there. If they want to go down this street here at night, pick all the kids up that are under 18, they got a lot of them over here.
Q: Under 16? Or 18?
A: 16 or 18. I don’t know what the law is. But it can be. Can you imagine they stop everybody and say “How old are you?” And you know Japanese fear authority. They feat authority. Because when they’re in the position of authority, they want you to feel them. They breathe that into these people there. I told you everybody is a “sensei.” (teacher) the Japanese don’t want me to say that…they don’t want to hear me say that…everybody’s a sensei including the taxi driver. They don’t like that. But they all fear authority. Like I said. As soon as they become authority, they want you to fear them. That doesn ‘t work with Americans. I don’t give a fuck who they are. But, Japanese.
(ON THE JAPANESE)
Q: OK. What were you gonna say.
A: OK. Other points. I should have a million god damn examples. And they can be tough people. I told you about the time I lost a passport in LA? I went to a friend of mine’s place next to Disneyland. Anaheim. He had a property out there. Off the highway. I think it’s Lincoln Avenue. On the freeway there. and he built a mahjongg place because he thought the Japanese would go to his place and play mahjonng. It was a beautifully done place. I went there, cuz he’s a friend of mine, and we were playing mahjonng and I got 48,000 points, which is the best you can get, you know. And I heard the door slam in the car. I said, “Gee that’s funny, you know. 3 o’clock in the morning.” Anyway, so we went outside. Got to the car. My wallet was gone. My passport. No money. But it was gone. Stole it. So anyway I called the Long Beach police up, they’re the authorities in that area, and they say go back and look again. They won’t carry it after they steal it. They throw it away. So wherever the car was, you find the passport right there. Look for it. It’s over thre. This guy had little hedges a foot high growing all over the place. So that you don’t have to cut the grass. Sure enough, the wallet was there…my airplane tickets. But anyway, the main point is I lost my passport and I want to go back to Japan and get in. And they said, “You can’t go back unless you got a passport.” I said, “I live in Japan. I got business in Japan.”
Q: You were an American citizen?
A: American citizen. I sez I want to go back to Japan. She sez, “You lost your passport, you lost your visa. You lost your rights.” I sez, “If I lose my marriage license, does that make me divorced? “And, of course, I got no where. Because like I tell you, Japanese are miserable bastards when they’re in authority. And I could not get along with this girl. And I decided to go up to see the ambassador. The guy who’s in charge of the embassy (i.e.counsulate), over there in Little Tokyo in LA. And I got nowhere. They just didn’t give a shit that I was a resident of Japan. I had permission to stay here. I had restaurants. Employees. They just didn’t care. They didn’t give a shit. They didn’t want me to come back. So I went to the American Embassy, to show you how stupid those bastards are. I said I lost my passport, # so-so, issued on a certain date, because I kept all that information in a certain book, that’s what I did, I got my …..you know what? The America Embassy in Los Angeles couldn’t verify that I had a passport with a certain # issued to me in Japan. Couldn’t verify it. Can you imagine that? American Embassy. Couldn’t verify my passport. Never got the $15 back. Never got the passport. But like, the police said I went back and stumped through all the weeds and plants the guy had, and I found it. It was there.Like the police said. And that same day that I found it, I said, “Let’s get the hell out of this fucking country.” And we came right back to Tokyo.
But it just goes to show you. I’m a legitimate person. I got a 3-year visa. I been in Japan. That was what. Probably 1957, 58. Now, 67, 68. Already here 20 years. Passports every 5 years issued by the government, yet they couldn’t prove that I had a passport issued to me. I tell you. Japanese government. Of course, later on in life you could see. They don’t want the foreigner here. They’re gonna kick them out. But we accept the Japanese. We think he’s a nice guy.A great guy. And I have to admit, my wife is a hell of a nice person. Till I married her. Then it became a different person. But it’s hard to talk to you like that, because you don’t have that trouble. So you don’t understand it. But almost all the people that I know that come here…ooohhh boy.
I met a guy named Quinn the other day. And he’s another one. Fucking Japan. 99% of the people that come in my restaurant are very, very anti-Japanese. And they say it in a guarded manner. They worry about who’s listening. They have it in their heart. They know the Japanese are not good people. But yet they’re deadly afraid to speak out. One of these days that ‘s gonna happen in the States. Man is working for Sony or Toyota or something. And he’s gonna be angry at something. But he’ll keep his mouth shut cuz he gets a paycheck every month. Not as big a Reagan’s (inre.$2million ex-prez got to visit Japan), but he’ll keep his mouth shut.
Another example is my interpreter. Man, this guy costs me hundreds of millions of dollars. Not Nickels and dimes. He was my interpreter. He called me master. And the first chance he got to stick a knife in my back, baby he done it. I’m still suffering from his activities. Yet, I picked him off the street. He was broke. He didn’t have a fucking dime. …So this guy, my interpreter Mr. Fujita, he sold me down the river, he stabbed me in the back. Fucked up my restaurant, my name, my trademark. Hokkaido property. And yet, I did exactly what Uncle Sam did in 1945. We came here. We didn’t come as occupying forces, we came here as assistants to help them and we helped them and we helped them and we helped them and what did we do at the end. They’re buying us out. They’re buying us. They’re making us 2nd class citizens. They destroyed our dollary value. They destroyed our economy. And now, they’ll destroy the people. Because the people in America what money. Money is such prime object. Yet when my father came to the United States, he didn’t come for money, he came to improve his life. We wanted a better home, a house with electricity in it. The Japanese don’t go to the United States for a better home or a flush toilet. They goes there to captivate the people. To capture the businesses. To capture everything they can capture. Even so far as to go and fucking buy a private home.
When you think of 240 million people in the United States, how many private homes are there? 50, 60, 70, 80 million private homes? More. And these people are trying to buy those homes? But you see I know how to solve these problems, but the Americans will not, it’s the same thing like I say, if the Japanese buys Hawaii Kai the shopping center, they should not allow it to be sold unless there ‘s a replacement for it….
Q: What do you mean?
A: In other words, you can buy this shopping center, the man who receives the money, if he doesn’t make another shopping center, then give him 80% tax on the gross income. Force them to make another shopping center. But you build up a business and the Japanese takes it away from you, by money. What the hell is money? Money doesn’t do anything. Money didn’t stop the earthquake from hitting San Francisco. Those guys who were driving in the car, if you tell’em look your chance of life and death, how much money will you pay so the concrete highway don’t fall on you. So what’s money?
Q: But the business stays in the U.S. It physically stays there. the jobs are there.
A: And the man who’s working for you will not be an American citizen with free will and democratic ideas. He will be a subject to the Japanese brainwashing. And training. And yes sir. You better say yes sir to a Japanese. And if you don’t say yes sir to a Japanese, you’re not going to work there. So they went to Tennessee. Why? They want to get away from the union influence. They screened 100,000 people in order to get 2,000. Why did they reject the other 98,000. Did they find some free thinking Americans who were taboo to a Japanese employer?
You know there’s a lot of America here who will stand on their own two feet and fight all odds and everything. There are still those Americans. And as this thing today is Nov 1st, 2nd, in today’s newspaper, they talk about Dakota, where they just turned a small town of 2,000 people into a gambling center (i.e. Deadwood). Ok, you got to admire the 2,000 citizens of this little town. I don’t know what the hell its called. But they got one place called Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill attitude, North Dakota probably. These people decided to make a gambling town out of their town. They have the right to vote. This is 2,000 people out of 240 million that decided to stand on their own two feet. And figure how to get out of there and figure how to improve their livelihood or anything. And how many tourists are going to go to this little town in North Dakota to go gambling. I know the easy way out. Sell to a Japanese. They’ll buy the whole town. But instead, these people stood up and decided to make a gambling town out of there. They vote for whatever they want to do and they did it. It was in yesterday’s paper. Or television. So there are Americans who will not succumb to the easy way of getting greed.
And you know that Larry somebody, that manager of Cromartie, he says “Americans will do anything for a dollar.” But you got to admire the people who make a gambling town out of
Q: Cromartie certainly will.
A: Oh, he’ll do anything. He’s a typical whore who works for a Japanese organization, who can’t….he’s gonna say I’m doing nothing different than anybody else is doing, then he’ll say, “For a black man to make this kind of money,…that’s good.” He degrades all the black because he stepped a little higher than some of them.”
Q: I did interview with weekly magazine Shukan Gendai and they sent him envelope with 200,000 yen in it,. ($2,000) All he had to do was sit there and talk for an hour.He turns to me and say “Tell these people this isn’t enough.” He said “I want 50,000 more.” Embarrassing.
(Pause/BS)
A: I had some many different things that happened to me. I wasn’t just selling pizza.
Q: You know I wouldn’t be surprised is somebody wanted to make a movie of your life when this book gets published.
A: I hope they find a good looking Italian with a big nose.
Q: Robert Di Niro…..I was telling friend from NY about book idea, your story. First thing he said was “What a great movie it would make.“
A: Same thing happened 2 days ago. This Rick Roa came in. I don’t know if you know him. He’s the one who went to the States for a fireworks display. And Rydell, big environment company, opeation from Portland, through him Roa met radio announcer or something, and man was fascinated that he’s been here 20 years and this, that & the other thing, and he says, “If you think I know Japan, I ought to introduce you to a guy named Nick.” Now, he nows Japan, he’s been here. He can tell you stories can’t even come close to.” Radio announcers say come and talk, just talk, they know so little about Japan. The other day I had 3 guys here from NYC, and the guy says “Jesus Christ, what a city. I thought it was gonna be fucking broads are little girls running around in kimonos…
Q: Isn’t that amazing, people still think that?
A: And how the hell can you afford to stay in this town. It’s so expensive.
Q: Make a lot of money.
A: Make money.
(SIDE B)
(Counter 000)
(THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS)
A: …it’s a lot of money.
Q: What’s your net profit. Can I write that or is it secret?
A: No, no. I don’t give a fuck. Yokota alone makes profit. This place here loses money. The other ones a plus minus equals zero. But my Yokota restaurant, because we own the land and the building, over there…we gross an average of 15 to 17 million yen a month. So that means about 200 million a year. Over there. And I’d say 80 million yen a year is profit. More than that. Can you imagine that?
Q: What percentage of your customers are Japanese in Yokota?
A: Oh, 98%. Americans can’t go to my restaurant. It’s too expensive for them. And I been grossing this kind of money–3 million dollars for the last 30 years. And I’m not even touching the economy much. I’m just a little pimple on a Marine’s asshole.As we used to say. There’s so much money in this country. It’s fantastic the amount of money they got. But not the people. They got their share.
So we can not expand because basically I’m too old and tired. I’m frustrated. I can’t make sense, I can’t put sense in these people’s head. They reach a point where they stop as soon as they see that they can eat, pay their rent, They don’t care too much about enjoyment.Cuz the government doesn’t allow them to be Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. And go down and go down here. They don’t do that. They don’t allow that here. So Japanse will say I made enough money to live this month, with a little nickel and dime left over. He has reached the peak of his life. I got Nomura who works here. He’s now 60years old or so. He’s been working for me for 33 years. He started at 27. He’s very happy with his 210,000 yen a month salary. Plus the benefits that he gets besides that. After being a waiter for 27 years, I offer him, “You want to be an owner?” He don’t even want to talk to me about being an owner. Because certain Japanese will stick in that little category. Japanese will expect Americans to stay in that category. And I doubt it.
Q: I doubted if Americans would ever sell Columbia or Rockefeller Center. What’s next? The Empire State Building. The White House?
A: Well, they won’t buy the Empire State Building cuz the word is out it’s a white elephant. But they could buy the White House. You read this bullshit the other day in the paper that the Emperor’s Palace is more valuable than the complete state of California. You read that I’m sure. I mean this is their arrogant attitude.
Q: What is?
A: This attitude that the Emperor’s Palace is worth more than the State of California. Anything the Japanese got is valuable. Anything you got ain’t worth shit.
(U.S.-JAPAN TRADE PROBLEM: SOLUTIONS)
Q: If you were running the U.S. government what would your Japan policy be.
A: Oh I think, you should have a policy like I said…the American has no policy because there is too many dissensions in their group. So maybe we ought to go back to a system where you pay for your vote. How would you do it. How would you make a guy say, “I want so much voice in the government and this and you pay for your voice.” How do you do something like that to make people understand it? Because in America, they’re full of lobbyists, they’re full of …you know I’d like to give people money to go out and blow the horn for me, but if I was in America…first of all the American thinks that whoever he works for he don’t give a shit as long as he gets a salary. And I think that’s wrong. It’s wrong because when I was a kid & living in New York, I always heard the expression, “Italians don’t like to hire Italians.” Because Italians can not fire an Ialian. It’s the same blood and same way of thinking. And a Jew will not hire a Jew. So a Japanese hires an American and if they feel that they’ve taken everything he’s got out, they throw him out. So, if I was running America, I’d make different rules for different people. The proportion of the population. Why should you have….blacks only got 10% of the people in the U.S. Why should they have a 50% say in anything. They only represent 10% of the people.
Q: Who says they have a 50% say?
A: Oh, they gotta lot a say. They make a lotta noise. But anyway of course they don’t…they try to. You talk to Cromartie and all and they say they we got a tremendous percent of black people in sports–as it was announced in the paper the other day, it was only 16%. Oh, boy, he was hurt. He was really angry. See. And I sez “You want me to clarify it? Tell me how many black people are riding horses. That’s a sport. Tell me how many black people are playing hockey. That’s a sport. You want me to continue these different sports? All you know is baseball. And you see 5 black men on a basket ball team. And you see so many”…I hate to see Oakland (in the 1989 WS) beat them because they got so many black players and San Francisco has very few black ballplayers….He didn’t like it. He didn’t like to be told that. But I think that a person who comes…if a foreigner comes into the United States, he should not be subject to the same taxes an American is subjected to. Just like you and I are foreigners in Japan. You think we’re subject to the same laws they are? No way. I went to court. I couldn’t win because I was a gaijin. They took my property w/o a bill of sale. I hadda stay 17 years in court. You try that with a Japanese. You try to take his property without a bill of sale. Shit. And if you’re a foreigner, they’ll put you in jail for theft. To take Hawaii, I think that the taxes of the private homes and the purchaser is a foreigner, should not be billed the same way as a Buddhahead that lives in Hawaii, who lives on fish and poi. I think the real estate tax for foreign acquisition should be a lot higher. But you see I’m anti-Japanese so everything I say is targeted to the Japanese. And I’m anti-Japanese because they don’t speak our language. They don’t think our way. I can not say I’m anti-British, because basically we’re an offshoot of England. England has its migrate employees and America has its migrate employees. Some are Italian. Some are Greek. Some are French.
Q: 2 guys from Ameican on NHK tv this a.m. from banks/. Security Pacific Bank or some other bank. Barkely’s Bank, that’s right. One guy’s from California, the other from N.Y. Fluent Japanese. Very good. I was impressed. Guys are in their 30’s. And they’re talking about Rockefeller Center acquisition, & California guy says “Rockefeller Center always represented a dream to me. It symbolized. It stood for the American dream. There were no limits to what you could do.
A: You could be a Rockette.
Q: & he says to have that in J. hands just doesn’t seem right. It’s an emotional thing. ^ so the announcer says, “Yes, but don’t you think there’s something more going on there. If this was an Australian company that bought Rockefeller Center, there wouldn’t be the hue and cry in the U.S. there is now..It’s only when there’s Japanese involved & guy says, “That’s because we don’t have trade conflicts with Australia or Britain or the other country. Japan’s the only country.”…you know, he was about to say a racist reaction. The guy shot him down so fast.
A: But the Japanese will ask him that same question 16 different ways. And hope that one of the answers is slightly tilted. And then he’ll emphasize on that. I seen them do it to Kissinger. They asked K. was is the future of Japanese-American relations, in relation to thedollar, will it go up or down. & he wouldn’t answer. And I seen them asking the same question again& again, finally he said “I think the dollar will go down to 100 yen to 1.” Which J. didn’t want to hear that. They wanted him to say it’s going to go up. That Miyazaki’s the Finance Minister and its going to go to 160 like that.
But, I don’t know. I have mixed feelings about the dollar. If I was Uncle Sam, I’d lower that motherfucker to 100 yen.
Q: Why?
A: Because I think that 100 yen will hurt the Japanese. It will hurt the American tourist but if they want to go to Japan, why don’t we sell them yen at 200 yen to the dollar. Why not? You buy airplane ticket (at inflated yen-dollar rate in J.)
Q: If you did that, they’d be able to buy the entire U.S.
A: Yes. But if you made it 300 to one, what American is going to come over here and buy anything. You can’t use this money to buy, they won’t let you. I’ve been here since 1945. I was not allowed to buy anything in Japan. I was not allowed to buy property. It was not allowed…..100 yen dollar will increase the American exports. …and you should write this because I think I’m telling you something that’s very valuable. Let us say that the American dollar became 100 yen to one. And now the American exports items to Japan. Let’s take a small shitty item like a Cadillac. Not a fucking Ford but a Cadillac. Well, a Cadillac in the U.S.if you want to export it will probably cost you…let’s put a minimum price of $20,000. I paid a price of $27,000 for my Cadillac in Hawaii. So let’s say you export it for $20,000. How much is $20,000 at 100 yen to one dollar.2 million yen. So let’s say we had a free trade. It was 100 yen. If that Cadillac came to Japan at 2 million yen, who is gonna buy a Toyota at 5 million. Now what happens to Toyota’s automobile business. It drops tremendously. Do you they only sold 200 Cadillacs last year in Japan? Did you read that in the paper the other day. 200 fucking Cadillacs in a country of 120 million rich people. Now when Toyota goes under because nobody buys their car, doesn’t that show you what happens to the rest of the Japanese economy. Now tell me where they’re going to get the money to acquire the U.S. or anybody’s property. And that’s what would happen if the dollar went down to 100 yen. And free trade. Which are two things the Japanese will never let happen. They’ll declare war before they’ll let that happen. So you see the value of the dollar…what it can do?
Q: But everybody is saying that it hasn’t worked.
A: That’s because it’s not a free market. OK. I was raising pigs. I know what pigs are. Ok, now what happens if we bring the America pig to Japan? Frozen. Whichever way you want to say it. Who’s gonna buy Japanese pork. That sells for 2200 yen a kilo in the market. That’s almost 20 bucks a kilo.That’s a little under $10 a pound. What the hell do you buy pork in the United States for? $1.69. What happens if that pork came to Japan? Would there be pork farms in Japan? They’d disappear instantly….$1.69 a pound in the United States. I think it is. It might be even less than that. Cuz I looked at the pork price cuz I was thinking about making a restaurant and making sausages and things like that. So when you look at that 100 yen to the dollar, which I was against…cuz I have pride in the American dollar that this is a valuable item. It isn’t. The American dollar is not overpriced and its not underpriced. But I think when it comes to, if it’s a 100 yen to the ….dollar. The whole country will go bankrupt. If they allowed you to bring in stuff.
See this chair? This comes from Italy. They tried to sell it for 100,000 yen. I paid 35,000 yen for it. You know what 35,000 is…it’s $250. If I can buy it for $250, what the hell is this chair worth in Italy? 50 bucks? And if that chair came to Japan at $50, who’s gonna buy a Japanese chair. So what happens to their lumber business? It’s gone.The whole economy will evaporate. They can not afford it….Cost probably $50 in Italy, to come over here and sell it for $250. I paid 35,000 yen which is 250 bucks for this chair. And I bought 84 fucking chairs. It’s a low price because I’m a buyer.
So what the U.S. is doing is keeping the dollar high. Why?
Q: They’re afraid the Japanese are going to keep buying up the United States?
A: The Japanese can not buy, because they’ll go bankrupt. They can buy today, but they’re gonna sell tomorrow. How many people are gonna buy Sony operation if Turner decides to come to Japan and do what somebody’s doing now. 4,000 yen for satellite television. All the movies you want. 4,000 yen is the price in Japan. I buy Turner television in Hawaii for 64 bucks. I don’t know how many stations I got. Now if he comes to Japan and he puts Turner Broadcasting…what is it CNN, Headline News and all that other shit. All the movies? I know in Hawaii, I got about…HBO. I got Cinemax. I got Disney. It costs me 64 bucks a month for the complete shebang. What’s 64 bucks. 7,000 yen? How many stations do I have? 20? If somebody came here, what would happen to Japanese television. Go bankrupt. They can’t sell advertisements no more. I can’t even advertise on Japanese tv cuz it’s son god damn expensive. But now, if their economy goes down, anybody can get into their markets. So although I used to be…I wanted the dollar to stay high, high…I’m in favor of bringing down the dollar to 50 yen. Wonderful. Fuck yes. Because they might have a lot of purchasing power, but they don’t have any, what do you call it, back up power or stamina. They will not have any stamina. Who is gonna buy/…
You know what you’re looking at? You see this thing here, this shit I got here. And this thing here. This cost 3 million yen. That’s 2500 fucking dollars. What am I talking about. Two thousand five hundred dollars. What does this sell in the States for , if it was made in America? And if it was 100 yen to a dollar. These fucking companies would go bankrupt. It doesn’t have CD. That ‘s the only thing that’s missing there. It’s got laser, it’s got karaoke on the bottom, that’s laser, then it’s got VHS, whatever you want to call it….I’m in favor of the low dollar.
Sure when you travel you gonna get hurt, but the way to offset that is to give them travel funds. If a man buys a ticket for 600 dollars, he’s allowed to cash in so many dollars to get Japanese yen. Let’s put their yen in a roll of toilet paper like we have in the shithouse in America. Give the money away. Let them come over here with a pocketful of yen. And buy American things and whatnot. Like you go to the States, shit. You go to the U.S. and buy a Japanese for $10,000. And over her they want $25,000 for it. What do you call that. Isn’t that supplementing? And you go through every single item they got. Let me tell you, you can destroy their economy with 100 yen to the dollar. That’s why the Japanese are deadly afraid. They want to keep it at 160. They hope they can make it go to 200. And if they ever get control of the United States economy, let me tell you, boy, you can’t buy a Japanese fucking yen. Let me tell you they will never let that thing go down.
Let me tell you…I was against it before, because I was dealing with pride and not with common sense. And most Americans deal in pride. We believe that what we do is fair and just.
Q: You didn’t answer that question. Why does the U.S. keep the dollar high?
A: I don’t understand it. Maybe because people get $2 million for a Japanese agreement. Kissinger, who gets $150,000 from one company. Maybe these people are the ones who are doing this. Why don’t the market find its own value? If the market finds its own value, you see what they did. They were so positive the dollar was going to go up to 160 170. Now it’s down to 140 again. And it’s gonna go down. I mean its gonna go to 150 to 160. And this is the worst thing that can happen to America. To me, it’s terrible. I think they should let it go down to 100 yen to one, because it makes everything in Japan,….the economy in the United States will increase, because we can export. We can export any item that anybody makes. We are the biggest fucking country in the world. Do you know that during World War II, we used to launch one 10,000 ton boat per day? Do you know that about WWII when they made these Liberty Ships? Japanese can’t compete with that kind of labor.One 10,000 ton Liberty Ship a day….Ford made a statement that it cost them $50 to assemble an automobile. $50 bucks to assemble a Ford….I’m sure you can check easily how many 10,000 tonners were made during the war. Onassis bought most of them. So the American economy…you can’t match the American businessman, the American laborer…he has not work…he can’t send anything to Japan…You got 120,000,000 people here and you can’t sell them anything. Yet, look how many industries and companies are running in the United States with only 240 million people. A lot of people say “Why don’t you go to Viet Nam?” They went to Viet Nam because there are 100 million people in that IndoChina area. They went there to capture the market. They didn’t go there to fight for democracy. They went there for the market. Sell them American products. At 100 yen to the dollar you can sell anything in the U.S. to a Japanese. They’ve been trained to spend a lot of money to buy things, but yet when they go to the United States don’t they buy everything? They even brought back rice to Japan. Can you imagine that? Jesus. It’s like an Eskimo bringing back ice to Iceland. Or coals to Newcastle. Is that the way they say it? So you can say that to me. I’m in favor of bringing that dollar down. Bring it down. Why stop at 100 yen. Don’ stop. Stop until you destroy the Japanese economy. Uncle Sam says that’s the dollar value. We’re gonna lower the dollar value.How do we lower the dollar value. I don’t know how they do it? But they can do it./….go back on the gold standard. Fuck’em. And now you see the Japanese with all their acquisitions, they’re not gonna get their money back, cuz if it goes down to 100 yen, and the economy starts booming, you think the price of rent is gonna go up?
Private homes will go up. Properties will be more valuable. Who’s gonna rent a Japanese place that he wants like me over here. I pay two and a half million yen a fucking month rent.Now you know something, this friend of mine, we had a Trump show here. He came here the other day, Richard Roa, and said, “Would you believe it? I got a Japanese. And they want to buy Trump Towers….Over on 59th or 60th between East & West of Central Park.It’s only a hole in the ground and they wanna buy it.
It’s gonna be a 55 story condominium building. With minimum apartments of 2.5 million dollars and the Japanese are trying to buy it.
And, of course, they’re gonna try to take the name of Trump off it?
And this guy says, Trump’ll never sell it. He’ll never allow his name to be taken off. He’s a very, very, what do you call it, a conceited person? He knows who he is. And he knows what Trump means and nobody’s gonna buy it. And if Rockefeller Center was Trump Center, the Japanese don’t have enough money to buy it. But who is Rockefeller. He was the first American millionaire in the oil business. Today’s paper. And now what is the grandchildren and grand-grand children, they just take as much money as they can and fuck it. They have the same attitude I have. But I’m 69 years old. And I’m tired. And so I willing to put money in the bank and live off the interest. But a 25 or 30 or 35 or 40 year old man thinks like that, that’s ridiculous. The opportunities are there.
Q: If the dollar did go to a 100 yen, what would that do. Japaense would have to keep their investments in the United States. They couldn ‘t afford to sell them.
A: They can’t afford to sell them because they can’t get their money back.
Q: Would they keep buying Treasury Bonds.
A: They’re not going to be in a position to buy anything
Q: T-Bonds financing the deficit and all that.
A: Because our exports will increase. Now the American businessman is working. He’s exporting. All our products are going overseas. We supplied the whole world during WWII. We supplied 100% of the Russian military needs. We supplied all the shipping that was required. We supplied all the GI’s that had to shoot rifles. That’s what we are. We’re the biggest and the strongest country in the world. And when we ask our people, they stand up and salute the flag. And a flag could be in front of an America building, but it’s never in front of a bank. They don’t salute a bank. The Japanese are in love with banks. That’s why the ratio of savings is so fucking high. But I go back and say, let the American dollar go down, and every company you can think of in the United States will be a big exporting company.
And when you think of how many…My god there’s one billion Chinese. The items they would buy. It would be a revolution that would create and make American millionaires instead of Japanese. And now they’re stuck with all these buildings.
Because they’re not gonna get the rent no more.
People will say the same as you and I say here in Japan. I don’t wanna pay rent. I’d rather buy a house. Rents are so high it’s cheaper to buy a house. So what American is gonna move into a Japanese owned Hawaiian house, when he can buy his own house.
So what happens to all these houses that are owned by foreigners. What do you call them? Absentee owners? What happens to these houses?
They’ll all go down the drain.
Everything that Japan bought in the United States can not be supported by the building itself and the Japanese will have to do something because their income in Japan will disappear.
If you can bring a Cadillac to Japan for two million yen, that’s then end of Honda, Toyota, all these companies. And once they lose all that industry that they got, what are they gonna do>?
You think they gonna keep Rockefeller Center knowing that they got 120 million people who are having a hard time living now because there’s no more jobs for them to do.
There’s no more high rents for people like Kuramoto who owns 56 office buildings. Look at it from that point of view and you’ll see different, different situations.
Q: This is really interesting. You ought to have your own tv show. Once a week. An hour. Just talk.
A: Well, you put it in the book and make as much money as you can. You should take these things, these little excerpts and
Q: I gotta do this Penthouse story on What’s wrong with America.
A: Use this chapter I just gave you. Just give me a byline. This is what Mr. Zappetti said and he’s been here since 1945. And he knows the people. He knows their attitude. He see them all day long.
(DISCRIMINATION/RANT)
You know the other day, Bobby, just to show you what kind of son of a bitches, they are, and you should know it by now, I got on the bus at Shibuya Station to go to Azabu ju-ban…(near Roppongi)[main commuter line]. I sat in a seat for 2 people. And would you believe it? There were 20 people standing up inside of 5 minutes and nobody dared to sit next to me? Now what the hell does that mean. They don’t know that I’m a Japanese citizen. Here I am. You can see my face. I’m an old man. I dress clean. Cuz I threw away all my sport shirts. They too cold to wear. Now I wear a shirt, a tie and a suit, everyday. And no Japanese would sit next to me. A bus with 20 people standing. 25 seats. 24 seats are occupied and I got the other seat next to me and I’m a small guy now. I’m not a big 220 pounder anymore. What do I weigh? 75 kilos. 165 pounds. So I don’t take a whole big seat up. But they won’t sit with me.
Q: How tall are you?
A: About 5’9″. 165. And I dress very clean. I would say you wouldn’t be ashamed to sit next to me because I’m a clean dressed person. I’m not wearing dirty blue jeans. And In don’t have dirt under my fingernails. And I don’t have grease spots all over me. So why? Why they won’t sit next to me? And I wasn’t sprawled over the seat….it was 12 o’clock in the afternoon.
Now let’s go a little deeper into what we’re talking about. Let’s go back. What are the advantages of a 100 yen to the dollar for the American. All right, the American by the name of Mr. Planter. That’s a guy named Carter who has peanuts. All right? He comes to Japan. And they’re producing Carter’s peanuts in Georgia, Plainsfield, I think the shitty town he comes from. And they sell them in Japan.They sell them in Japan at the same price they sell them in the United States. Or maybe a nickel or a dime more or something. Now this guy by the name of Carter, he’s selling a tremendous amount of peanuts.
Q: This is a hypothetical case.
A: Yes, it’s a hypothetical case. Now, he’s selling a lot of peanuts in this country. Manufactured in the United States. And now he receives yen. But now he can take this yen back to the United States at the rate of 100 yen to a dollar. Now he has a tremendous dollar income. And as a Japanese, they want to tax your foreign earnings. Or that’s America that wants to tax your foreign earnings. Or that’s America that wants to tax your foreign earnings. Wouldn’t America gain by that? That Mr. Carter, who’s selling ten tons of peanuts a week in Japan brings in this Japanese money into America at the rate of 100 yen to the dollar. That’s an income to his company in Plainsfield. It’s taxable by the U.S. government. This would automatically bring down the Balance of Payments to a tremendous level.
And the man who sells the Cadillac here. He also receives yen that convertible to a 100 yen to a dollar. What makes people think that only Japanese can make money? What makes some people think that in America Japanese make dollars? Americans make dollars. And in Japan, an American can make yen. Japanese makes yen. And if it’s tradable both ways, we will defeat Japan economically. And they become our customers. I don’t want to call’em slaves. They will become our customers. And they can not produce and compete. They can not grow peanuts, they cannot grow beef, they cannot grow oranges, they cannot even grow rice. Uncle Sam’s rice fields in Louisiana & Texas, probably can produce more fucking rice than the Japanese can. That’s why they don’t want to lower their price. They don’t want rice to come into Japan. Their rice fields will disappear. Their whole economy is based on the fact that the dollar and the trade barriers….and they will fight toot n’ nail for it. And when we stopped their fucking embargo. When we put embargoes on them in 1941. They retaliated. They bombed Pearl Harbor. And they would retaliate again. Instantly. And they’re doing it every single day. They’re fighting American ideas of protectionism they call it. It ain’t protectionism. We don’t need protectionism. We need fair trade.We ned a man to go to Japan and sell peanuts, sell Cadillacs. Sell anything he makes. They won’t even let Motorola in here.It has to be a joint venture.Put that in your penthouse. And when you start multiplying the items that we’re talking about, you’re talking about a tremendous amount of money that Americans can make or foreigners can make in Japan. If you had free trade. What’s gonna stop a German car company from bringing a Benz in here. You know what they’re selling these fucking Benz’s for here? A hundred thousand dollars. What happens if a German brought Benz’s here? And says “Fuck you, I’m sellin’ the Benz’s.” And he’s getting a hundred yen to the dollar.He’s getting a hundred thousand dollars for a Benz that he bought out of Dusseldorf, the factory there. For whatever he paid for it. $30,000. 40,000. America, they sell for 48,000 bucks. Over here, they sell twice as much. Because there’s no free trade here. If there was free trade, you couldn’t buy a Benz for a hundred thousand. Right away it would be worth $50,000.
You’re in a good position to make a lot of noise, you’re becoming a celebrity instantly, with that attitude. Because there’s a lot of Americans who’d call you up and say “Come on our talk show and tell us about this.” Because there’s so many people…they’re so interested in what ‘s happening in Japan…because Japan is kicking the shit out of them. They’d like to know what kind of shoe he’s using.
Q: What other things you say America can’t sell in Japan. You said Motorola?
A: Anything. Anything that the U.S. makes. They can sell it in Japan if it’s 100 yen to one dollar, it’s free trade. And Japan will never allow free trade. I told you about my department store idea?
Q: All only American goods?
A: You know what you need. You need a building as big as the Sunshine Building to put in American products. A 48 story building. One story each product. Each state.The Japanese will never go any place except that building to buy. The only thing that you find in this country that’s equal to an American selling price is things that don’t sell. Or things that have a very, very marginal sales. Anything. Anything that’s made in the United States can be sold here if it’s free trade and the dollar is worth 100 yen to the dollar. It means the American entrepreneur in Japan will earn a tremendous amount of money because the Japanese will never sell anything below the price they think they can get. If they can’t gouge you, they will curse you.
I told you back in 1956 when I opened my first restaurant. I put pizza on the menu at 150 yen. And a delegation of Japanese came over to me and in those days I didn’t even know how to speak Japanese. You can imagine. Even today I don’t know. And they told me that they are selling pizzas at 350 yen. And used to make a pizza with a biscuit dough and put a slice of fresh tomato on and a slice of cheese in an oven and they called it pizza. So completely different from me and they wanted me to charge 350 because they’re charging 350. But this is the Japanese. They call it “Administrative Guidance.”
Q: These are restaurant owners?
A: Restaurant owners. And I told them to go fuck themselves. Because it cost me 40 yen
To make a pizza and I think 4 times the price is the way you should do business. Japanese don’t do that. They wanna get 10 times and 20 times the price.
Cost of food should be 25%…..They want as much as they can get. …biscuit mix and a slice of fresh tomato.And processed cheese.
Q: Must have tasted like shit.
A: To them, it doesn’t matter. Taste don’t mean nothing. It’s a foreign food. Therefore it has a foreign taste.
You see today, there was a man sitting here. This guy is “Peacock”. They’re asking us to make pizzas and deliver them to their store. Fresh pizzas. And they want to sell them over the counter. So now people are conscious of pizza and they know that delivery pizza tastes like shit.
But that’s Japanese. They will talk to each other. Like right now, the American government or somebody in the IRS or whatever it is, is annoyed at the Japanese banking system that they all coincide their rates. The interest rates are the same. Everything is the same. All banks.The Japanese don’t believe in make your own rates. They all get together and they say this is what we are going to charge. And if ever they get control of any industry, you’ll pay their price. Just like they control the industries in Japan. You pay their price.
Jesus, if I keep talking to you like this you’re gonna be a lecturer on Japanese economics. You could do it, sit home, magnify what I said….it’s a very interesting subject…
Q: List some things that you think would sell here.
A: Ok. Let’s talk about tv sets. All right? I went to Hawaii and I bought a tv set. 29″. I paid $488 for it.. from Shears Roebuck.
In Japan, hey, let me tell you, you ain’t gonna buy no 29″ tv set for 50,000 yen.
Q: 29″ would be about 250,000 yen here. 1500 bucks.
A: I don’t think it’s that high. You’re way above the thousand dollar class…..And if Shears sells them for $488, and if it was an open market, and these tv sets were not sold by Shears, what would their price really be? Shears is not a non-profit organization. So let’s take that same tv set, if it’s made in the United States. And sent to Japan. You think National Electric is going to be in the tv business long? I saw a 50″ tv set in Shears for $2,000 bucks. I got a 37″ set at home that cost me approx. $5,000. 37″ Mitsubishi. About $5,000 bucks, two years ago.
Q: What would it cost in the States?
A: $2,000. Now I’m talking about a 50″ set in Shears for $2,000. What would a 37″ cost? Another example. In my home I bought a refrigerator. General Electric. A 22 or 23 cubic refrigerator. With a water dispenser in the front. You know the ice cubes or the water. I bought it from Shears and Roebuck.
Q: Sears and Roebuck.
A: Sears and Roebuck. I always say Shears….A refrigerator, for $1580 bucks. In Japan, if you can buy it for $5,000, you’re doing good. Now why can’t Shears come to Japan and sell it for $5,000….uh, $1580 bucks. Plus transportation, which should not be much. When you consider all the automobiles that come to the United States. Those ships go back empty.And you say, oh, the refrigerator’s made in Thailand. What’s the difference where it’s made? And I can go on forever with things like that.
Q: Go ahead.
A: All right. Let me give you a good example. A friend of mine told me about an American in Japan, who’s bringing in garbage disposals, what do you call these kitchen disposals who put them in the sink. Disposals? His selling price is a 159,000 yen. Ok? I call up my friend Claire Oberly, from Santa Ana, I said, Claire, I’m interested in bringing in these stuffs and I’d like you to be my export agent. I’m interested in the trash compactor. And I’m interested in the garbage disposals, because that’s a whole kitchen that eliminates the use of garbage pails and delivery of garbage outside–today is plastic day and tomorrow, you know that shit they have in Japan. He says, “Oh, I can get you the garbage disposal for $59. Now you figure that out. A $59 item. Sold in the United States. All over the United States, sells in Japan for $1,000. Now let’s say that that American who’s selling…he sold 20,000 units last year. You know the fucking profit he must have made on 20,000 units? This is an American guy in Japan doing it. He’s getting away with it because the Japanese don’t know his volume is so big yet. Wait until the custom people notify the Japanese that this guy is doing so good. That’s what happened to the pots and pans. So, if that guy is bringing the thing in. And let’s say he’s …of course, he’s got a high percent for salesmen. Why not? He’s got such a tremendous nut. And I’d say that 15…19,000 is the cost of installation. Then he’s got 140,000 yen left which is, let’s say, a thousand bucks. If he gives $500 to the salesman. And he keeps $500. His investment of $59 plus transportation to Japan and what not, let’s bring it up to $65. $70. He’s getting $500 for a $70 imported item. And a 100 to one, or 100 yen to a dollar, what is his purchasing power in the United States now? 20,000 times $400 bucks. How would you like to make that kind of money? What can you buy in the U.S. 20,000 times $400. Jesus Christ, how much money we talking about? 20,000 is four zeroes. $400 is 6 zeroes. He’s making 8 million dollars a year. On one little item sold by one man. Making $8 million a year. But he’s gotta pay taxes of course. But then again if you put a couple of cushions inside that thing comes to Japan at $400 instead of $50. If you do it right.
Q: 19,000 installation. What else?
A: 50% of the 140,000 yen balance to the salesman. Probably the salesman has to find his own customers. And he gets $500 back for a $70 item. I’m counting import duties. Indon’t even know if they got duties on them. So how would like to make $430 profit on 20,000 items, this year.
Q: Let’s go back to the refrigerator for a minute. So they bring it in and say there’s free trade…What about the costs of …You gotta ship it to whereever…
A: Well, I tell you. What a container used to cost. I think a 5 ton container would cost about $200. It cost $200 bucks to bring a car to Japan.
Q: That’s all it costs to ship a car?
A: That’s all. Container costs. Loading, unloading. It was $200. That’s when I was fooling around with importing Trans-Ams. If you, right now, this guy is asking me to introduce him to some people in the United States that sell Budweiser beer. Can you imagine that? And I said “What the hell do you want Budweiser beer for?” He says, “cuz I could sell Budweiser beer in Japan, instantly, lower than the importer, which is Kirin Beer? Because they are gouging the people. I said, “Well, why don’t you just go there and buy it?” And he says “Oh, you can’t buy it. They got agreements that nobody can import Budweiser beer into Japan. Only the agent. And the warehouse in the U.S. that houses it will not sell it to somebody for shipment to Japan, because it would infringe on the agreement that they got. So you can see the American is tied up with a Japanese in such a way that the people are getting fucked by the Japanese big companies and the Americans are playing the game with them. If the American says “Fuck you. You wanna buy Budweiser beer, go to the counter and buy it.” This is what I’m talking about, free trade.
Q: You mean the J. agent has agreement with Budweiser that Budweiser will only sell to the.
A: For export to Japan. So I told them call my nephew who will introduce you to people. He’s talking about bourbons. He’s talking about all kinds of scotches and liquors. That he wants to get them into Japan away…you know what parallel imports are? You know what that word means? OK. A parallel import is, ….let’s say Yanase. You heard of Yanase,….they’re the General Motors agent. They are the appointed agent of General Motors. And anybody who is the appointed agent of anybody…ok?…Now, I decide that I’m gonna import Cadillacs. Or Budweiser. Or something. This is what they call parallel imports because it’s a parallel…this is the agent…and this is a free person. It’s a parallel import. That’s what they call parallel importing. When you import the same thing that anybody else imports. And there’s a lot of cars on the market here, you can buy a Benz. If you go to Yanase, it’s 15 million yen. But if you read Japanese and go look at a magazine,…look for importers of automobiles, you’ll find that Benz is selling for anywhere from 6 & 7 million yen. This is the same Benz that Yanase sells for 15 million. This is parallel importing. Now a lot of things you can’t bring into the country because the Japanese will not allow you to bring them into the country. See. But something, you can bring it in. So if you have free trade, everybody will be a parallel importer. You can’t stop them. What will happen to Yanase’s $100,000 for a car that everbody else can sell for 50,000. What happens to Yanase?
Q: Where’d this term “parallel importing” come from?
A: Oh, it’s an old time saying. It’s not invented by me. It must be 150 years old. It must be the day that they started agents. You know what parallel means. Same thing has happened. Except one is an agent. And one is a free importer.
Q: But both need government permission. A license.
A: Yes, but you know that next time you fly back and forth from the U.S., you get a declaration sheet and its got a corner on the righthand side that…what is unaccompanied baggage. All right, now you know you can not say accompanied baggage is a Cadillac. So you right in that corner 1988 Cadillac, kore, kore, kore, kore (this, this, this, this). And when your car comes you got your…you”re declared. You go down there and you say “yes, it’s un accompanied baggage. I declared it when I came in.”
(Photographer friend Gregg Davis comes in)
A: But that’s parallel importing. Any items comes in through Japan without an agent is a parallel import. There was a guy by name of Gambetti…Italian guy who took I off his name. …got in trouble with Mitsubishi cuz he brought in scotch from Hong Kong.
He made Time Magazine. His name was not Gambetti, he took the I off. But he had a name that looked like an Italian type name with two consonants and a vowel like that,, ..the Japanese government stopped him. They took his cash away. They took his house away. They did everything, they through him out of the country. Because he imported items that Mitsubishi was importing. From Hong Kong. He was buying it from London. He went to Hong Kong. From there he brought it to Japan.
Q: So you can go down and get your car and bring it in.
A: And you pay whatever the duties are, which I think are very low now. Nobody can stop you from bringing in a car.
Q: And you can keep bringing them in.
A: You can keep bringing them in as many times as you want. And nobody can stop you.
What did I read today? ….In the ACCJ, I advertise in that magazine. (American Chamber of Commerce in Japan). Because I’m trying to get a higher grade clientele. And then it talks about this guy who brought in Hobson’s ice cream. You know the story/ The name? If you read the story, it tells that you can bring anything you want into Japan. He brought popsicles into Japan. Frozen. Cuz you allowed to bring in 10 kilos or ten pounds. And he brought it into Japan. And now he’s starting popsicle U.S.A. Or something like that, he’s tied up with. I was interested in the thing cuz the man is the type of guy that I need to promote the pizza delivery business. But it’s a complete different world what he’s doing than what I’m doing. What I’m doing you have to work. He’s only looking for buyers. He brought in Hobson’s…Read it carefully…it appears he set them up and then they threw him out….
(checks time on audio watch)
Then he went into other operation like that. Of course, he’s trying to make it look like a tremendous big deal. Because I used to make 23% butter fat ice cream. & I can sell anything I want in Japan. What you got to pass is hope test….blah, blah, blah….
Q: You do this with a car they can stop you anytime?
A: Can’t stop you.
Q: Stopped this guy with the whiskey?
A: Cuz he was competing with Mitsubishi. You don’t compete with Mitsubishi. But now next year or something, they gonna eliminate the duties on liquour. Or something like that. See these things are coming around. And these things are coming around. The Japanse as we say years ago,
: As we say years ago, the Japanese won’t go back to the farm after they’ve seen Berlin.)
So that means that Suntory is going to be in deep shit.
A: They all gonna be in deep shit.Because they so used to…they went to Berlin, how you gonna bring them back to the farm.
And another thing they say, “No Japanese will sleep on the floor after he had slept in a western style bed.
Now they got all this economy. This got it all. Everything is theirs. But now when the barricades fall down, what’s gonna happen to them? You think they gonna do it like my nephew Joey.He’s got the biggest liquor store in Florida. He says “Nick, some bottles I make a nickel on it, a dime.” Can you see a Japanese selling a bottle of whiskey making a nickel? A dime. Impossible. But the American does it. This kid is named Joe Nicola from Bonita Springs, Fort Myers….He’s got the biggest liquour store in Florida….He’s got 28 items in his store. He’s got a 10,000 square feet liquor store. With probably a quarter of a million to half a million dollars in stock. Can you see a Japanese suntory making ten cents a bottle? And he only sells one Japanese liquor called Suntory vodka. And yet look how big Suntory is.
Q: So things are opening up
A: They’re opening up and the more they open up, the more Japan will be, how do you say, go downgrade…go back down to what they are…just a small country. Another banana republic. Well, of course, they don’t sell bananas, they’re a tv republic.
Q: & all these guys who go to US to work for J. companies, guys in 30’s and 40’s, going over there to work…more and more of them, becoming Americanized, they enjoy life, they like the weekend off, learning to speak up….so they’re losing the will to work too. They’ve caught the American disease. Yes, my friend Mr. Oberly’s wife said to my wife the other day, “We have no Japanese friends. We do not associate with any Japanese….(garbled) in Tuscany? …Do you know that there’s 50,000 companies in Southern California or some shit like that? Japanese companies.
Tokyo Junkie 