Matsuzawa Takuji
Matsuzawa Takuji is the representative director of Yasuda Bank's Guangdong branch and second-in-command of Chief Executive Suzuki Teiichi. After the Yasuda Crisis and Suzuki's disgraceful exit, Matsuzawa will be forced to succeed him and preside over the auction of Yasuda's assets before a more permanent Chief Executive emerges victorious in the power struggle, after which he leaves for Tokyo. If the IJA takes over Guangdong near the end of the first decade, Matsuzawa is given a final event showing him reacting to the news with a smirk and a wry comment about the affair.
In-Game Descriptions
'In every crisis, lies great opportunity', so the Western saying goes - unless you're Matsuzawa Takuji, in which case the more apt Eastern aphorism might be 'the carp on the cutting board.' With Yasuda Bank being taken apart by its creditors, the political establishment, and the media in Tokyo, Matsuzawa had his hands full simply putting the company's affairs in order in Guangdong. That is, until the former Chief Executive abandoned ship, with the remaining tycoons pushing the poisoned chalice into Matsuzawa's hands.
With communications from Tokyo all but severed, Matsuzawa has not been formally appointed by the Japanese government to his position. Nor does he have the luxury of waiting: the aftershock of Yasuda's collapse and the political turmoil in Tokyo has left Guangdong's budget deep in the red, scaring investors even as the local populace turn to crime and vice to make up for lost wages. The remaining tycoons jockey for position with honeyed words and convenient 'plans', no doubt aiming to become Chief Executive themselves once the dust clears.
Although Matsuzawa savors the clarity of knowing that his assignment to Guangdong was the work of a corrupt cabal working against him, the fallout from their schemes has led to his entire life's work crumbling to dust around him. There is no coming back from this, no matter how innocent he was; he is a dead man walking, and all he can do is to keep it all together until the curtains close.
Chief-Executive
The Representative Director of Yasuda Bank's Guangdong branch since 1959, Matzuawa Takuji runs the financial conglomerate's operations in Guangdong - which are but one part of a sprawling financial network that stretches from Tokyo to Calcutta. Yasuda's prominent position as the only one of the Big Four zaibatsu among the Four Companies means that Matsuzawa also serves as the de facto second-in-command of the civil government, the Chief Secretary, on top of his corporate duties.
After a distinguished career in the Home Islands managing major corporate clients and the Ministry of Finance, Matsuzawa was rumored to be a prime candidate to join the board of directors, making his assignment to Guangdong a surprise - most so to Matsuzawa himself. Yasuda's recent turn towards breakneck overseas expansion (as encouraged by Prime Minister Ino's government) might partially explain things, but many still wonder as to the true reason why Matsuzawa was sidelined - and whether it simply reflects differences over business strategy, or something more.