Briton Scales Heights of Olympus

[Samurai_Jerk]

It's starting look like this may be Japan's Enron. Anybody making popcorn? This is gonna be fun to watch!

[matsuki]

It's starting look like this may be Japan's Enron. Anybody making popcorn? This is gonna be fun to watch!

Hahaha, but definitely the last foreigner hired at such a company

[Dreamy_Peach]

It's starting look like this may be Japan's Enron. Anybody making popcorn? This is gonna be fun to watch!

If Olympus could get away with it so easily, it makes you fear what could happen to other blue chip kaisha's in Japan.

I have a small number of Jstocks. Makes me want to dump them.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

This case goes to show there is absolutely no place for honesty in Japanese business (or the media here for that matter) when it comes to doing business.

[matsuki]

If Olympus could get away with it so easily, it makes you fear what could happen to other blue chip kaisha's in Japan.

I have a small number of Jstocks. Makes me want to dump them.

I never bought any in the first place....after seeing the amount of company money that goes to snacks, kabakura, deli-health, alcohol, etc etc

This case goes to show there is absolutely no place for honesty in Japanese business (or the media here for that matter) when it comes to doing business.

Japanese business has more talent in acting and selling fantasy than any Japanese movie/TV show evar!!!!

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Japanese business has more talent in acting and selling fantasy than any Japanese movie/TV show evar!!!!

Having witnessed more than my fair share of Japanese movies/TV shows, I'm afraid that's not really saying much....but, I get what you're trying to say.

[Yokohammer]

This whole saga is riveting. There's some real suspense going on here.

Will whitewash and apathy win out in the end, with the whole thing going flaccid and being forgotten in the interest of national pride and corporate togetherness?

Or will justice ring true, bringing the evildoers to an excruciating but just end?

Can't wait.

[Greji]

This case goes to show there is absolutely no place for honesty in Japanese business (or the media here for that matter) when it comes to doing business.

Hair, we're talking J-business here. Why would you expect honesty to have anything to do with that?

Conversations around my company and with assorted people we do business with have led to a general consensus like "Wow, Olympus really screwed the pooch on this one!" But almost to a person, they couldn't figure out why the gaijin would drop a dime on the company, even if he was fired. "A J-employee wouldn't do that!" even if he was fired the same way, according to the peanut gallery.

It would seem that whistleblowing is stlll a long way from coming into vogue in the land of four seasons.

[Mulboyne]

...almost to a person, they couldn't figure out why the gaijin would drop a dime on the company, even if he was fired. "A J-employee wouldn't do that!" even if he was fired the same way, according to the peanut gallery...

They have short memories. After Fujitsu sacked president Kuniaki Nozoe he sued them and went straight to the FCCJ to give a speech with his side of the story.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Will whitewash and apathy win out in the end, with the whole thing going flaccid and being forgotten in the interest of national pride and corporate togetherness?

What a strange question....Of course, there's only one possible answer: TIJ

[Greji]

They have short memories. After Fujitsu sacked president Kuniaki Nozoe he sued them and went straight to the FCCJ to give a speech with his side of the story.

I do recall that, but that has to be the exception rather than the mean, don't you think?

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I do recall that, but that has to be the exception rather than the mean, don't you think?

I have to agree. While the real world is going apeshit over this story, the Japanese media is hardly giving it blanket coverage. (And why would you when there's autumnal festivals on all weekend?)

Forgotten again in a couple of weeks and the crazy gaijin joins the ranks of the jobless...

[Dreamy_Peach]

What a strange question....Of course, there's only one possible answer: TIJ

TIJ. But I wonder about those thinking of coming to Japan. Surely it becomes even more unattractive as a place for business. That isn't a good thing for those of us with jobs and careers here, and somewhat tied to the economic fortunes of Japan. Christ, what a situation that is.

Still, sacking a chap seems fine, but asking him to get the bus to the airport.
That kind of vindictiveness will surely stick in some memories.

[Yokohammer]

I have to agree. While the real world is going apeshit over this story, the Japanese media is hardly giving it blanket coverage. (And why would you when there's autumnal festivals on all weekend?)

Forgotten again in a couple of weeks and the crazy gaijin joins the ranks of the jobless...

I'm hoping (and believing) that Woodford has done his homework and has set things up so that the elephant in the room will grow to proportions that even the Japanese media can't ignore. His move to attack the company via their overseas operations seems to be part of that strategy. Trying to go through the Japanese system would have been a dead end. Seems like a smart dude.

[Mulboyne]

It's not fair to say all Japanese reporters turned a blind eye to Woodford's allegations. One of the new journals, FACTA, reported the same questions being asked at the Olympus shareholders meeting and made it their cover story back in August, well before Woodford went public. I won't pretend to have seen it myself but it's interesting that such a story also went unnoticed by the overseas press and foreign shareholders. There is a small media segment positioned roughly between the traditional giants, and the wild rumour mills of 2ch and the weeklies, which we need to start watching.

FACTA is obviously delighted to have been so far ahead of the game and their twitter feed is following developments. They just mentioned that Diamond Weekly has published an interview with Woodford which FACTA thinks is the first in a major title. Diamond is on a par with something like Business Week.

I'm not so sure that you can just write this story off as something which would never have broken if Olympus hadn't appointed a foreign CEO. There are changes in corporate culture which are having some profound implications for governance as a whole.

Consider the yakuza crackdown. Their sokaiya used to blackmail corporate executives by threatening to reveal shady deals or personal failings. It is now illegal to pay off sokaiya and so that line of income has been sharply, if not completely, reduced.

What happens to all the dirty laundry now? if blackmailers can't use it, then there is more chance it will be made public. If some of that dirty laundry consists of relations with gangsters, then the police are demonstrating a willingness to chase down those kinds of connections.

Look at Daio Paper. Mototaka Ikawa is the grandson of the founder and took over as chairman. He has now been forced to resign and is currently under police investigation on suspicion of misuse of company funds. How did that story come to light? Company executives and auditors are less willing to be complicit in corporate malfeasance because they are at risk of lawsuits or police action themselves.

The issue of company succession is important. Many presidents and chairmen run their firms as personal fiefdoms and have been fairly poor at grooming executives to succeed them, family or otherwise. Companies may be reluctant to appoint a foreign CEO but it will become more common to see outside appointees or unexpected internal promotions. No matter what the board hopes, a new executive will not have the same interests in keeping skeletons in the cupboard.

I don't expect a cleaning of the Augean stables is imminent, and most developed countries have problems in prosecuting or punishing white collar misdeeds. Does anyone really think Apple should have been allowed to escape all punishment over the options backdating scandal? Are no financiers criminally culpable for their actions leading up to the worldwide debt bombshell?

However, looking at the Olympus story as purely the result of a foreigner shining some light into the dark recesses of corporate Japan misses the fact that some change is already underway.

[Taro Toporific]

[2triky]

[Yokohammer]

[matsuki]

[Mike Oxlong]

The FBI seems to be curious about a pair of Japanese bankers working Wall Street who advised Olympus...

[Taro Toporific]

[Ganma]

The FBI seems to be curious about a pair of Japanese bankers working Wall Street who advised Olympus...

The shit hits the fan.

[Ganma]

[Mike Oxlong]

[Dreamy_Peach]

Jake Adelstein's take:

http://www.japansubculture.com/2011/10/olympus-bringing-it-into-focus-a-special-breach-of-trust/

[Russell]

In its final year of bussiness, Mr. Sagawa's company (AXAM) turned a profit of $6 million. And that while it received more than 100-fold of that in fees from Olympus. Could it be that that $6 million is the usual 1% cut in advisory fee from that bigger fee? Then what happened with the remaining 99%?

No wonder that the FBI is interested in this case, because if Mr. Sagawa pocketed this 99% himself (which is unlikely), he is evading US taxes.
They now only have to follow the money. Just wondering where they end up.

[legion]

Woodford has an MBE, and according to Jake the Yamaguchi Gumi are involved (linked above)

So this is a face off between the British Empire & the Yamaguchi Gumi.

[Ganma]

[Coligny]

TIJ dood, this law could be fresh from last summer...

[2triky]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203554104576654434277415242.html