The Reckoning
by
David Halberstam
Major Players
• Katsuji KAWAMATA, “the Banker”
• Tetsuo MASUDA, union leader, ‘the
Emperor”
• Masaru MIYAKE, leader of 2nd union
• Ichiro SHIOJI, “the Strikebreaker”
• Sanosuke TANAKA, joined Nissan 1937
– Typical of worker from countryside
Ch. 7 “The Banker”
• Nissan--Nippon Sangyo--founded by
Yoshisuke AYUKAWA
• --from good family
• Mother was Inoue Kaoru’s niece
• Graduated Todai w/ Engineering degree
• Rose with militarists, Manchuria in 1930s
• Challenged Sumitomo, Mitsui and
Mitsubishi, old line Zaibatsu
The Banker
• Katsuji KAWAMATA--came from IBJ, the
Hiroshima Branch, where he had been sent
• He was rough, crude, knew nothing of
automobiles or unions. But was ambitious.
• Sent to Nissan, Tokyo, in 1947. He found
there that management feared Union.
• W/Dodge Line, he fired 2000-plus workers
The Union Leader
• Tetsuo MASUDA b. 1914 Tokunoshima off
Kagoshima.
• Father ran a small co. that went banrupt.
They moved to Kagoshima, father died
young.
• Masuda went to Todai; joined Nissan 1938.
• Masuda was smart, eloquent, charismatic
• Played baseball so was hero-figure, leader
• Returned from war politicized:
• Old guard had ruined Japan
• Independent--Leftwing but not JCP type
• His vision was for industry-wide union that
would serve the workers.
Ch. 8 “The Turning Point”
• 1951 Asahara selected president, Kawamata
runs things.
• Nicknamed “the banker” because he did not
know cars or the company.
• Masuda had always won battles until Dodge
Line--now losing.
• Korean war was “gift from gods” but when
growth slowed, times were tough.
Kawamata v. Masuda
• The 2nd Union Strategy
• Masaru MIYAKE emerges as leader.
• Zero-pilot during war, he flirted with radical
left after the war but after Dodge Line
began to question strikes and disruptions.
• Felt Masuda needed to be stopped.
Kawamata seen as hope of company.
Cahnge of Kacho Status
• Kachos--section heads--had been floor
workers, part of unions v. management
• New policy pulled kachos up into
management
• Result = suribachi or “grinding kachos
down” tactic by unions
Miyake v. Masuda
•
•
•
•
War taught Miyake to speak his mind
Saw Masuda as a bully or tyrant
Started secret meetings
Kawamata agreed to fund 2nd union w/ IBJ
funds
Ichiro Shioji
• B. Kanda 1927, attended Naval Academy
• Father died, took care of family
• Hopped the buying trains, bought/sold
produce
• Openly egocentric , Coveted power
• Cocky natural politician and street-fighter
• Loved confrontation
• Masuda was on a high
• Saw men of management as old men from
past
• Men of death--they had killed Japan
• Didn’t fear Kawamata because he’s never
been in a union
• Kawamata followed hard line--exhaust the
union, hire thugs to protect 2nd union
• Secured Nikkeiren support
• By freezing out Masuda they provoked him
to violence
• Appealed to workers that Masuda was alien,
un-Japanese in his conduct
Ch. 9 “Crushing Masuda”
• Appeal was made to workers on basis that
work is sacred, “a ceremony,” not a means
to an end as in the west.
• Masuda was jailed; emerged to big rallies
• But, he had
• Underestimated his opponents
• Overestimated loyalty of own men
• Old order had been democratized and
modernized
• But the old order was still there
• Masuda’s dream of industry-wide union
died. Nissan was stabilized.
• Workers no longer challenged superiors
•
•
•
•
•
Kawamata was the big winner
Unions became an extension of management
Masuda drifted, broken man
1960s lived alone, unemployed
1964 died of heart attack aged 50