Zaibatsu

And what is the difference between a Cebu and a Kuritsu, essentially?

So in Japan, we used to have these Zaibatsu family groups.

But after the Second World War, these families were essentially taken out.

And the Koretsu were the groups that were not family-owned any longer.

Something I wanted to come back to, you've used the Sumitomo analogy.

Is there something about the Kaibatsu that you like, or is that kind of a coincidence? like I can see some interesting parallels with like, seed stage venture firms, you know, especially something more like Y Combinator or maybe Seedcamp where it's kind of like, you know, the portfolio companies all sell to each other and there's a network and there's kind of a value in them kind of being an insider group.

Obviously there are downsides and risks with that, right? You end up with like ossified kind of structures and it's very difficult to, you know, it creates a kind of conservatism, which I think is like why...

Maybe why the Japanese economy is kind of stagnated, right? Part of it for like, you know, the last 30 or 40 years.

But the anti-monopoly law was relaxed very swiftly.

The Saibatsu conglomerates of the 19th century were replaced by Kongretsu conglomerates, which did much to coordinate between different industries and to share technology, which aided scaling.

What Japan didn't do so well was dynamism and was entry of new types of firms.

Like in Europe, they did very well when it came to catching up, but not so well at innovation at the frontier.

Anyway, Tasha Yushchenko saved Gideon from Natasha's infamous anger at being accused of the attacks on his family, and then mentioned that the ISF had been given some very meaningful glances towards Anders Moon.

That led Gideon to Marabushi Industries, a Draconis Zaibatsu.

Does everyone know this word, zaibatsu? It's legitimately one of my favorite old Japanese words, right along with kuchisabishi.

Kuchisabishi means eating not because you're hungry, but because your mouth is lonely.

And that's just a beautiful way to explain why I needed a third ice cream sandwich this morning.

Drink.

Zaibatsu is a term for a vertically integrated company.

Usually there is a single family at the top and then a bank or financial firm under that.