Yamada

Biodata

Appearance

• Build: Thin 14.
• Features: Ordinary and unremarkable, with a face described as easily lost in a crowd 14.

Personality

Yamada values practical competence, orderly work, and dependable business partners. Chen Fan earns his approval by arranging a quiet, efficient unloading operation without disrupting the military convoy’s schedule. Yamada also stresses that a trader must visibly demonstrate his capabilities to secure lasting cooperation 15.

He is more direct and less analytical than Yoshino Tomokazu. Accustomed to solving problems with “guns and wheels,” he becomes frustrated by Yoshino’s extended consideration of Chen Fan’s motives and asks for a straightforward decision. Nevertheless, he accepts Yoshino’s authority and continues observing Chen Fan rather than immediately arranging another deal 20 38.

His friendliness does not override financial self-interest. He initially favors Chen Fan partly because the trader lacks powerful backing and would be easier to manage if something went wrong. Later, while agreeing to help obtain weapons, he explicitly separates friendship from business and expects payment 19 42.

Alcohol severely impairs his judgment. During the gathering at Inoue Cuisine, he mistakes Fujiwara Kyoka for a hired companion and brings her into the party, only realizing the danger after she reveals her official position 39 40.

Abilities & Skills

Military Transport and Smuggling

Yamada uses military transport privileges to move diverted supplies through Shanghai 11.

• Commands four trucks normally used to transport confiscated goods 11.
• His vehicles carry Military Police Headquarters plates and special windshield passes, allowing them to pass checkpoints and patrol zones without being stopped 11.
• Personally drives the lead truck during Chen Fan’s first cloth delivery 14 15.
• Handles the transport and handover of firearms diverted through a substitution scheme 44.

Underworld Knowledge and Background Checks

Yamada understands Shanghai’s illicit trading practices and investigates prospective contacts 12 15 19.

• Recognizes a red-cloth roadside marker as a signal that the route is clear of hidden lookouts 15.
• Checks Wu Jingui’s background for Yoshino Tomokazu 12.
• Has Chen Fan’s purchase of the Wusong Road storefronts investigated 19.
• Continues monitoring Chen Fan’s suitability as a business partner at Yoshino’s direction 38.

Languages

• Japanese: Uses Japanese in conversation with Chen Fan and his fellow officers 15 39.
• Chinese: Speaks with a heavy accent but communicates without difficulty in ordinary exchanges 15.

Equipment / Vehicles

• Military truck fleet — Four trucks under his command, equipped with military plates and special passes. Three Japanese-made Isuzu heavy trucks carry the first cloth shipment to Shiliupu Wharf 11 15.
• Military tarpaulins — Cover the truck beds during the cloth delivery 14 15.
• Sakura Brand cigarettes — Smokes cigarettes from a white soft pack while overseeing the unloading at Shiliupu 15.

Relationships

• Yoshino Tomokazu — Leader of the smuggling operation. Yoshino controls its connections and major decisions, while Yamada primarily executes transactions and transport arrangements 38 47.
• Chen Fan — Customer who becomes a regular trading partner. Yamada admires his operational discipline, encourages him to establish visible commercial credibility, and later helps supply him with weapons 15 19 42 44 47.
• Shimura — Fellow participant in the supply-diversion scheme. Shimura provides warehouse access and later obtains scrapped firearms used to conceal the diversion of serviceable weapons 11 44.
• Inoue Kazuhiko — Tokkō contact associated with the operation. He recognizes Fujiwara Kyoka at the drinking party and warns Yamada and the others about her influential family 11 40 41.
• Hyoda Isamu — Assistant who delivers Yamada’s invitation to Chen Fan 39.
• Fujiwara Kyoka — Senior official whom Yamada drunkenly mistakes for a hired companion. Her identity leaves him frightened about the consequences of his mistake 40 41.

Background / History

Cotton-Cloth Diversion

Yamada joins Yoshino Tomokazu’s plan to sell confiscated cotton cloth kept at Yangshupu Warehouse. His role is to supply military-police transport and manage the men carrying out the delivery. Yoshino initially reports that Yamada demands twenty percent of the transaction; the subsequent profit-sharing plan assigns him ten percent 11 12.

At Jiuyuan Warehouse, Yoshino offers Yamada’s transport assistance to Chen Fan as a gesture of sincerity during their first transaction. Yamada agrees to deliver the cloth to Shiliupu Wharf, despite briefly hesitating over its location in French territory. He waits for the coded message “Favorable winds and timely rain” before starting the convoy 14.

At the wharf, Yamada watches Cao Bin’s men silently unload a thousand bolts of cloth. Impressed by their efficiency, he tells Chen Fan that further business is possible but that a lasting partnership requires a more convincing demonstration of his resources. Chen Fan subsequently follows this advice by commissioning fine suits and establishing a trading firm 15 16 19.

Assessing Chen Fan

After learning that Chen Fan has bought three storefronts on Wusong Road, Yamada recommends approaching him again. He regards Chen Fan’s competence and lack of powerful backing as advantages over established Shanghai traders with complicated connections 19.

Yoshino remains suspicious of Chen Fan’s confidence and choice of location. He instructs Yamada to wait until the trading company has regular customers, then observe its premises and business contacts before discussing another transaction 20.

When Chen Fan later requests a meeting through Translator Liu, Yamada again argues that he is a rare, useful connection: an unfamiliar trader who can nevertheless mobilize Shanghai’s distribution networks without leaving loose ends. Yoshino chooses to consult his uncle before proceeding 38.

The Inoue Cuisine Incident

Yamada invites Chen Fan to Inoue Cuisine, arriving with Yoshino and Shimura. Chen Fan pays for drinks and entertainment, intending to discuss cooperation once the gathering has relaxed 39.

Drunk and concerned that Chen Fan has no companion, Yamada leaves the room and returns with Fujiwara Kyoka. He fails to recognize her status even when Inoue Kazuhiko addresses her as a colonel. After Fujiwara identifies herself, Yamada and the others become frightened and leave at her instruction. Outside, he insists that he did not touch her beyond pulling her into the room, and the group agrees to keep the evening quiet 40 41.

Arms Delivery and Continued Trade

The following morning, Yamada visits Chen Fan to ask about Fujiwara and resume business discussions. Chen Fan instead requests long guns and heavy firepower within twenty-four hours to defend against an imminent underworld attack. Yamada initially suggests settling the conflict with money, but agrees to seek Yoshino’s help after hearing why negotiation is unlikely 42.

Under a plan devised by Yoshino Takehiko, serviceable weapons are diverted from a consignment intended for the Peace and National Salvation Army and replaced with scrapped firearms. Yamada collects the supplies from Warehouse Seven at Huishan Wharf, carries out the substitution, and meets Chen Fan for the handover. Chen Fan pays in silver dollars, which Yamada places beneath the driver’s seat 43 44.

Their contact subsequently grows closer through repeated, mutually satisfactory deals. Yamada remains the operation’s executor, with Yoshino Tomokazu directing matters from behind the scenes 47.

Notable Quotes

“Doing business is like being a person. You have to show others.” 15

“We’re all in the same boat, so helping each other is only right. But friendship is friendship, and business is business.” 42