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Shoshaman takes us inside Japan's integrated trading companies to explore the daily lives of the shoshamen, the high-powered pro-fessionals who make them work.

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Shoshaman: A Tale of Corporate Japan

University of California Press

Suddenly a high-pitched voice cut across the calm of the promotion ceremony about to begin. Ebisawa Shiro, president of Nissei Corporation, was on his feet and the general manager of personnel was ready to make his opening announcement to the assembled employees.

In the front row of the hundred men in dark suits stood Nakasato Michio, general manager of project development, who was to be appointed to Management Grade One today. He glanced toward the entrance and instantly recognized the intruder as Ojima. He and Ojima had entered the company the same year.

Planting himself in the doorway, Ojima called to the president in a voice wild with agitation: "Hold everything, please! Before you hand out those appointments, I want you to answer my questions."

Tension froze the room. Even the personnel staff were rooted to the spot staring at the intruder, unable to understand what was taking place before their eyes.

"I should have been invited here today. For twenty-five years I have served Nissei with devotion and loyalty, carrying out all my assignments perfectly. No one else could have done them better." His voice faltered momentarily. "My performance record is unblemished. Therefore I deserve to be promoted to Management Grade One today. But I have been passed over. Why? Please tell me why. Can Nissei betray its most loyal, devoted employee?"

Personnel Manager Yamabe Seiji rushed up and whispered something to Ojima, taking him by the shoulders. Shrugging off Yamabe's hands, Ojima raised his voice again.

"True, Section Two of Iron and Steel Import and Export, my department, suffered massive cutbacks. And ten months ago I was as signed out to our subsidiary, Nissei Steel Sales. But I am not to blame for the decline in steel export. Why should I be punished for it? Keeping my full faith in Nissei Corporation, I have lived only . . ."

As Ojima's cry rose in pitch, Yamabe shouted to cut him off. Harsh voices joined in, yelling "Shut up!" and "Get out!" The murmur of voices rippled through the once quiet room. As if anticipating physical violence, some of the promotion nominees moved to stand vigilantly around the president.

Nakasato noted the expression on Ebisawa's deeply lined patrician face framed in silver-white hair. No trace of fear there. Absolutely unperturbed, cool and dignified, invulnerable in a crisis—exactly according to his reputation, thought Nakasato admiringly.

Ojima's screams were no longer making sense. Two staff members and several other men surrounded Ojima, helping the personnel manager push him through the doorway.

"I . . . I trust . . . trust in Nissei. I do trust . . ."

Trailing a cry behind him, Ojima disappeared with his unwanted escorts behind the heavy wooden door.

"We shall wait," President Ebisawa said softly. He sat down in a front seat as if nothing untoward had occurred.

"Gentlemen, please stand by," announced an alert personnel staffer who caught the president's remark. The commotion quickly subsided, and a solemn atmosphere pervaded the room.

Nakasato straightened his back and assumed a calm expression, but his mind was still reeling from the impact of the incident he had witnessed.

Nakasato and Ojima began their life at Nissei in the same year, even assigned to the same room in the orientation camp for new employees. Ojima seemed rather serious, of good family, with a business degree from a prestigious national university. Nakasato rejoiced in his good fortune at finding a suitable friend among colleagues at the start of what would be a lifetime career together.

At the same time, he was aware of a certain psychological distance separating him from Ojima. For one thing, Nissei Corporation was the whole world for Ojima.

"I was a high school student when I first heard of Nissei," Ojima confided in Nakasato. "A sogo shosha , an integrated trading company—it has the entire globe as one huge market! It's the core of the internationally renowned Nissei Group. Working for Nissei Corporation's been my only goal in life ever since. At last, today I can call myself an employee of this same company. I'm not dreaming, am I? A Nissei man now. Can you believe that!"

As if to convince himself, Ojima slapped his body all over and lightly pinched his cheek.

"I feel pain all right. This must be real. Hard to believe it but still real," cried Ojima jumping to his feet. He began to pace the narrow tatami-matted room of the bachelor quarters. It had been the last night of the new-hire training camp.

"To tell the truth, I've got another dream. Can you guess what it is?"

"Let me see . . . ," Nakasato pondered as he poured cheap whiskey into their glasses. "An assignment overseas?"

"Sure, that's a dream, but it goes with the territory. Now that I'm a Nissei man, that dream's as good as granted."

"The presidency, then."

"Too big for me."

"Oh. The board room?"

"No, no. I'm not talking about the company. Another kind of dream altogether."

"You mean a hobby? Going around the world, visiting foreign museums, or something like that?"

"You've got a one-track mind. Can't you think beyond 'overseas'?"

"Then what is it?" asked Nakasato halfheartedly, tiring of the subject.

"It's a woman. I'm in love and want to marry her. If I can manage that, my life's dream will be fulfilled."

"Completely?"

"Yes, 100 percent."

"Are you sure there isn't more to life?"

"Aside from the usual, like good health and so on, I need nothing more. To work for Nissei, marry the woman I love—that's all. A magnificent dream, I'd say."

Nakasato drained his glass in silence. He could find nothing appropriate to say, completely out of touch with Ojima's perception.

Nakasato was certainly happy to have been accepted into Nissei Corporation, but not without apprehension. What sort of assignments would he be required to carry out? Did he really have a natural aptitude to succeed as a shoshaman? He knew nothing of the human relationships at the office. Suppose he found himself caught in a feudal hierarchy that operated on a collective mentality as some of the college sports teams did? Landing this job meant no guarantee of happiness for him.

Love was not much different. During college, Nakasato had involved himself with his share of women, but only one at a time. He thought he was honorable enough but never believed that marriage with any particular woman would fulfill his life's dream. On the contrary, he'd even thought that he might be better off staying single to pursue his dream. He found it hard to picture himself as satisfied as Ojima claimed to be by a job with Nissei and marriage to a woman he loved.

Three years after their talk in the training camp, he got an invitation to Ojima's wedding. While Nakasato served in the sober Accounting Department, Ojima had been exultant in Iron and Steel Import and Export, the glamorous mainstay of Nissei's primary operations. Then he married the woman of his heart's desire. The bride was beautiful, radiating a sensuous charm that overwhelmed the young Nakasato. On his way home from Ojima's reception,...