Tanaka leaned closer, lowered his voice, and his eyes kept darting involuntarily toward the television screen.
"Tell me, does what's happening in Southeast Asia have anything to do with ordinary people like us? TV's been reporting the Thai Baht's plunge every day lately. Soros and those big predators have gone completely mad. I just can't shake this uneasy feeling. My right eyelid keeps twitching."
Sato wiped his hands with a tissue, and the faint flush of drink slowly darkened on his face.
"Don't mention it. This afternoon, the old man from the Finance Department came looking for the president. They shut the door tight and argued inside for ages. You could even hear them slamming the table from the hallway."
Tanaka picked up an edamame bean and was just about to put it into his mouth when he froze.
"What happened? Wasn't your company doing pretty well all along?"
"Our company has a contract manufacturing plant in Bangkok. Things are a complete mess over there now. They'll only accept settlements in US dollars, and the local currency depreciated so much in the blink of an eye that material costs have been thrown into chaos. But that isn't even the worst part. The worst part is the loans."
At that moment, a financial expert on television pointed at an enormous chart and analyzed in a hoarse voice, "According to currently available data, Japanese banks have extremely high exposure in Southeast Asia. In particular, several major financial institutions deeply involved in Thailand's real estate and infrastructure investments may be facing bad-debt rates spiraling out of control—"
Sato pointed at the television screen and gave a bitter laugh.
"Hear that? The bulk of our company's loans came from a big bank up in Hokkaido. These past two days, that bank's loan officers have