Morita Akio
Morita Akio (born 26th January 1921) is the chairman of Sony Corporation, one of the four Companies of Guangdong.
In-Game Biography
Chief Executive
"The Gadgeteer of Guangdong." "The Man Who Fought the Zaibatsu." "The Japanese Washout." Morita Akio is known by many names, all of which are true to a degree. Despite his prestigious origins - a graduate of Osaka Imperial University and a member of the IJN's Wartime Research Group - Morita washed ashore in Guangdong after a falling-out with his once-friend, Ibuka Masaru, over the acquisition of Tokyo Telecommunications Company in 1952.
With little more than memorized schematics - and the assistance of his long-time associate, Li Ka-shing of Cheung Kong Enterprises - Morita clawed his way back up the corporate ladder in Guangdong in the 1950's, selling high-quality audio-visual electronics in Guangdong and the Republic of China. With Sony's accession into the Four Companies in 1960, Morita became the lone voice of reform, fighting to make his adopted home of Guangdong both an economic powerhouse and a better place for the Zhujin community he has come to represent.
A long decade in the shadow of the Japanese has convinced Morita and Li that for Guangdong to survive, it must become more than just a playground for the corporations - but a place that its people can call a home. Few of Guangdong's Japanese establishment think he will succeed - but even fewer expected Morita to come back swinging from his fall from grace, let alone speak out against them. He will not stop now.
1970s Chief Executive (Success)
More than an engineer or an executive, Morita Akio is a survivor - one who holds the fate of millions in his hands.
Nearly a decade after becoming Chief Executive, Guangdong has been recast into something close to what Morita has wanted for nearly half of his life, ever since he washed ashore in Honkon in 1952: a second home. With hard work and with trusted allies - foremost amongst them Li Ka-shing - at his side, he has built a life in a Guangdong that has transformed itself in his image: no longer Japanese or Chinese, but somewhere in between.
Luck, he admits, may have had some role to play in his - and Sony's - fairytale success. He knows that he will need far more of it to survive the decade to come.
As China and Japan stare each other down, pacing around each other like boxers in a cage, Guangdong stands on the precipice of extinction. Much as it flirted with destruction in the Riots, it now faces the prospect of being trampled by the two goliaths of Asia in a historical reckoning, long overdue.
But Morita has no interest in becoming collateral damage. His home - his Guangdong, and the millions who will soon find themselves in the eye of the storm - must survive, at any cost.
1970s Chief Executive (Failure)
When faced with his first brush with death in 1952, Morita Akio chose flight. Now, months after the threat of Sony's financial dissolution, he chooses to fight.
Even a decade after becoming Chief Executive - working alongside Li Ka-shing to build a second home that has gradually transformed itself in his image - he finds he is no safer in Guangdong than he was in Japan, all those years ago. The only surety of his existence in the twilight chasm between Japan and China is that he is forever vulnerable - if not to the whims of the two goliaths of Asia, then to the predations of Ibuka Masaru.
And while there is relatively little he can do to steer China and Japan away from conflict, Ibuka presents a far less intractable problem.
Where Morita had once worked almost exclusively from the Kōshu government complex, he now increasingly decamps to Sony's Honkon offices, allowing Li to face the passions of his people head-on. Every waking moment is spent rebuilding Sony from the ground up - and preparing it for an inevitable war with Fujitsu.
Their third showdown will be their last - and Morita will have the last laugh over Ibuka Masaru, no matter what the cost.
External Secretary (Matsuzawa Cabinet)
Even as one of the heads of the Four Companies, Morita Akio and Sony had always been an outsider - comfortably outvoted by Yasuda, Matsushita, and Fujitsu combined. Yet, as Yasuda careens towards its dissolution and Chief Executive Suzuki abandons his post, Morita is one of three men standing between Guangdong and total chaos. It stood to reason that along with his new responsibilities, he would receive a title befitting his position.
Morita knows full well there are ways to signal displeasure even amongst insiders: the External Secretary is a glorified PR position at the best of times, and an easy target for criticism in times of crisis. But even his small seat at the table gives him access to the Chief Executive - one who eyes the naked maneuvering of Matsushita and Ibuka as warily as Morita does. As for Morita - he is both the man with a plan, and a man who can be trusted, and he will not let this crisis go to waste.
External Secretary (Matsushita Cabinet)
For Morita Akio, being kept in the position of External Secretary under Chief Executive Matsushita is a consolation prize - an example of how he failed to seize his moment. With the Corporate faction once again outnumbering his and Li Ka-shing's State faction in the Legislative Council, Morita knows that once again, he is condemned to serve in the role of the eternal opposition.
It could be worse - he could have been shut out of the Chief Executive's cabinet, as was the case before Yasuda's fall. Morita wouldn't have been kept on without his being of some use - no doubt to serve as a counterweight to Ibuka Masaru of Fujitsu. So be it! Morita knows better than anyone how all-encompassing Ibuka's ambition is - and Matsushita will soon find that Morita is a far better confidant than Ibuka could ever be.
External Secretary (Independent Matsushita cabinet)
Good for Matsushita, Morita Akio thinks, without really meaning it.
A decade of effort was spent convincing Matsushita and his predecessors to not be satisfied with just building a corporatocratic empire and instead take actual, substantial steps to help the people of this artificial state—all wasted, for nothing. Mere ashes. At least Morita has tried, though it is cold comfort to say so.
Then again, maybe Morita can't really judge Matsushita for that. No rational person would just give up power even if doing so harmonised with the morals one claimed to adhere to. Morita Akio would like to hope he is better than that. But he feels he is really just the same.
External Secretary (Sony Puppeted Matsushita cabinet)
Finally! An opportune time has come for Morita Akio, whose decades-long work to convince the rulers of Guangdong to adopt a more just, responsible way of governing has at last reached fruition. That old conservative curmudgeon, Matsushita, has done the only reasonable thing he could do in the face of the Riots and handed over power to those most capable of preventing them from ever taking place again. With this leeway, Morita will move to do more to help the people than Matsushita has ever done.
But the External Secretary suspects that it may well be too late already. Tensions are rising north of the border—as well they would, after all this time. But at least Morita can try to do what he can to make sure things don't get much worse. And at least Ibuka, that bastard, hasn't gotten his way this time around.
External Secretary (Fujitsu Puppeted Matsushita cabinet)
What the hell is Matsushita doing?" are the words that issue forth from Morita Akio's mouth semi-regularly these days.
That makes all the more sense when one realises that it's because Morita's decades-long rival Ibuka Masaru has been handed the reins of Guangdong after Matsushita's failure. It irritates Morita so much. After all these years how the hell has Matsushita managed to not just double down on being a corporate brute but doing it the way Ibuka out of all people would?
All this is proof positive that Morita has had a terrible failure—that of not realising that people like Matsushita are closer to Ibuka than they ever will be to him. The more one trusts amorphous protoplasms like Matsushita, the more isolated Morita will be—but if corporate obstinacy destroys Guangdong in the end, then Matsushita and his clique have only themselves to blame.