booktalesy Chapter 218 The First Bombshell of the Year! The "Photo Booth" Storm Sweeps Shibuya
Chapter 218 The First Bombshell of the Year! The "Photo Booth" Storm Sweeps Shibuya
Chapter 218 The First Explosion of the Year! The "Photo Booth" Storm Sweeps Shibuya
After New Year's Day, the whole of Japan ushered in a short New Year holiday.
After spinning like a top for the past year, Kitahara Shin finally gave himself and his close female friends a break, enjoying a long-awaited period of leisure.
He first accompanied Akina Nakamori to a quiet indoor aquarium. Watching this seasoned songstress, who had weathered many storms, peering at the jellyfish through the glass like a little girl, Shin Kitahara generously booked an entire high-end boutique and bought her a whole bunch of beautiful new clothes, making Akina beam with joy.
As for Izumi Sakai, this diva who exudes a free and easy spirit, Kitahara Nobu took her to a racetrack in the suburbs for a few laps and then accompanied her for a long walk in a park in winter.
The two also stopped by a secondhand musical instrument street near Ochanomizu, where they picked out and bought a brand new guitar in excellent condition.
It's worth mentioning that during the time he spent wandering around with the girls, Kitahara Shin casually "picked up" a lot of new equipment dropped by the system, which he planned to take home and slowly synthesize.
However, he gradually noticed a strange phenomenon: the blue-quality equipment he collected outside was becoming increasingly rare, and most of the time he was getting low-level green and white equipment.
As for extremely rare purple equipment, it hasn't been seen for a very long time.
This puzzled Kitahara Shin. He already possessed an extremely powerful "luck boost" buff, so the drop rate should theoretically be even higher. Could it be that—the total number of high-grade purple equipment in this world is fixed and limited, and every piece he picks up is one less?
He kept this doubt to himself for the time being, intending to verify it slowly later.
Even in the latter half of the holiday, Kitahara Shin's schedule remained packed.
He took some time to visit the theater troupe and accompany Nanako Matsushima during rehearsals for her new play.
On the empty stage, Kitahara Shin unceremoniously transformed into a strict mentor, meticulously correcting many details of her performance. Nanako, abandoning her usual coquettishness, earnestly and obediently expressed that she would definitely learn well and never embarrass him.
Finally, there's Rie Miyazawa. Since severing all ties with her mother due to a financial dispute, Rie no longer has any relatives in name.
To help her release her inner pressure and alleviate the loneliness of the New Year, Kitahara Shin boldly played a "role-playing" game with her.
He changed into a high school boy's uniform and, accompanied by Rie Miyazawa, who was wearing a mask and a knitted hat, secretly sneaked back to her alma mater, the famous Horikoshi High School.
The two spent the entire weekend wandering around the empty campus like thieves, dodging the occasional security guards who passed by, enjoying the breeze on the rooftop, and truly experiencing the thrill of ordinary students secretly dating.
Fortunately, no one noticed her at all, and Rie Miyazawa completely let loose that day, laughing more than she had in the entire past year combined.
The cozy holiday passed in the blink of an eye, and as soon as work resumed after the New Year, Kitahara Office's business engine roared back to life with terrifying force.
The "photo-taking" project that Sasaki was in charge of finally completed the assembly of the mass-production machines. The first batch of machines officially began trial operation in several large arcades in Shibuya and Harajuku, the areas with the highest concentration of young people in Japan.
As the core angel investor of this project, Shin Kitahara naturally had to personally lead a team to the site for inspection and experience.
The "experience officer" he chose today is none other than Matsu Takako, whom he hasn't seen for more than ten days.
When Matsu Takako received Kitahara Shin's call and rushed to the arcade in Shibuya, she was completely stunned.
She thought her boss had called her out during the Lunar New Year to discuss some important script, but instead she saw Kitahara Shin leaning against a strange machine painted with pink patterns and covered with thick curtains, smoking.
"President, what is this thing?" Matsu Takako looked at the extremely conspicuous machine in front of her with some doubt. She had never seen such a thing before in her life.
"This is called a photo booth." Kitahara Shin stubbed out his cigarette and explained with a smile, "Simply put, it's a highly entertaining modification to the kind of machine you usually use to take serious ID photos. It not only adds all sorts of cute and exaggerated photo frame styles, but it can also automatically beautify and brighten skin. The photos come out as stickers that you can peel off and stick on notebooks or furniture."
After hearing this concept, Matsu Takako blinked thoughtfully: "So—you specifically called me here to experience it because I'm currently the only genuine high school girl (JK) in the company?"
"Smart." Kitahara Shin nodded in satisfaction, pointing to the pulled-back curtain. "Come on, go in and try it out with coins. Consider it an internal product test for the company."
With a mixture of curiosity and skepticism, Matsu Takako stepped inside the machine.
After dropping in a coin, the screen lit up instantly. When she saw the extremely cute, sparkly borders on the screen, as well as the special effects such as little hearts and cat ears that could be manually added, this usually dignified young lady from a prestigious family instantly revealed the true nature of a sixteen-year-old girl.
She enthusiastically struck various cute poses inside, added a bunch of fancy special effects, and took several sets of photos in a row.
When the printer's output port buzzed and printed out a set of incredibly vibrant, adorable, and lively selfies, Matsu Takako's eyes lit up! This is so beautiful! A million times better than those stiff, lifeless photos taken with cameras!
"Splash—"
—
Just as she was holding the photo with great affection, the curtain behind her was suddenly pulled open.
Kitahara Shin leaned halfway in, a mischievous smile playing on his lips, and asked, "How was it? How was the experience?"
Startled by being caught in the act, Matsu Takako hurriedly hid the extremely vain photo booth picture behind her back, glaring angrily at Kitahara Shin: "President! Why did you suddenly pull the curtain open and come in? You scared me to death!"
"Didn't you hear the machine finished printing?" Kitahara Shin teased her, looking at her possessive expression. "And why are you hiding it? Don't you know this machine has a two-way printing function? Your photo was printed inside, and it was also automatically printed on my main control panel outside."
Upon hearing this, Matsu Takako was struck dumb, completely shocked. The thought that the boss had seen all the photos of her making a peace sign and pouting cutely inside filled her with panic. Her face flushed red, and she rushed over, shouting, "Ah! You can't see them! Give them back!"
Seeing her almost jumping up and down in frustration, Kitahara Shin finally couldn't help but burst out laughing, reaching out to press her head down: "Alright, alright, I was just kidding. This machine has a cost for printing photo paper. You only put in a few coins, how could it possibly print two copies for you?"
Matsu Takako was stunned for a moment before realizing that she had been tricked by this wicked man again. She puffed out her cheeks in anger and rolled her eyes.
After the laughter subsided, Kitahara Shin's joking expression turned serious as he asked, "Seriously, from the perspective of an audience your age, do you think this thing will be a hit?"
Matsu Takako glanced down at the photo booth pictures in her hand and nodded with absolute certainty: "It's going to be a hit! President, this stuff is totally hitting girls' sweet spot! Girls are naturally drawn to pretty, cute things that they can immediately share with their best friends. I guarantee that once these machines are rolled out, they'll become an absolute sensation among high school girls!"
Looking into her extremely determined eyes, Kitahara Shin recalled the terrifying frenzy of photo booths that swept across Asia in his past life. He smiled slightly, his gaze incredibly profound: "I think so too."
As it turns out, Matsu Takako's judgment was conservative.
After less than half a month of trial operation, this machine called "Photo Booth" has caused a phenomenal social sensation in Shibuya and Harajuku!
This novel form of entertainment, offering immense emotional value at a relatively low price, instantly broke down the defenses of high school girls throughout Tokyo. Every day after school, long lines of girls stretched out onto the street from arcades and shopping malls, all vying for a single photo booth picture.
The terrifying money-making ability of photo booths instantly triggered a bloodthirsty frenzy in the entire capital market.
Countless amusement equipment companies, shopping mall giants, and even overseas capital flocked to Kitahara Office, waving their checkbooks and actively seeking to join or acquire related patents and copyrights at high prices.
Faced with this group of companies that came attracted by the scent, Kitahara Shin, as the core patent holder and the largest investor, didn't need to worry about machine maintenance or site rental at all.
He simply reaped the benefits without lifting a finger, initiating a capitalist's mode of exploitation.
Inside the office of the CFO at Kitahara Office.
Besides Masakazu Ota, there was also an intellectual woman in a smart business suit and wearing gold-rimmed glasses standing in the room.
This is Ms. Aida, an extremely shrewd and capable chief secretary and financial assistant whom Kitahara Shin finally poached with a high salary after a long interview process.
At this moment, the well-informed chief secretary and Ota Masakazu were staring intently at the first month's financial report data of the "photo booth project" that had just been compiled in his hand, and he felt his mouth go dry.
"Aida—you didn't miss a decimal point in this data, did you?" Ota Masakazu swallowed hard, feeling his hand trembling as he held the report.
Secretary Aida adjusted his glasses, took a deep breath, and reported to his superior in a professional tone that was as steady as possible but still slightly trembling: "Minister Ota, the data has been calculated three times and is accurate."
She opened the folder and reported the extremely exaggerated financial details to Kitahara Shin, who was sitting in the boss's chair: "President, the initial 500 trial operation machines we deployed in Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku are priced at 300 yen per photo."
Japanese Yen. According to recycling data, a single machine currently operates an average of over 150 times per day, meaning a single machine processes as many as 45,000 yen in coins daily!
"With 500 machines, the total daily turnover is 2250 million yen! In just the first month of trial operation, after deducting the site fees, photo paper costs, and machine depreciation at the contract manufacturer, we earned over 4.5 million yen in net profit just from the share of the terminal coins!"
Da Tian gasped in astonishment. They'd made over 400 million yuan just from steel purchases in a single month! But that wasn't all.
Aida turned to the second page of the report, his voice rising slightly: "But this is just a fraction of the cash flow. Because of its phenomenal success, the two largest arcade giants in the country are completely unable to sit still. In order to secure the exclusive nationwide distribution rights for the photo booth machines and the licensing of the underlying design patent, they directly threw down an initial licensing fee of 45 billion yen at yesterday's internal bidding meeting! And in the contract, they promised to pay us an additional 15% patent royalty for every machine produced thereafter."
"In other words—" Aida closed the folder, his eyes filled with a fanatical awe as he looked at Kitahara Shin, "plus this 45 billion yen licensing fee that was just deposited into the company's independent account this morning, and the funds you accumulated from shorting the stock market and V-Cinema's expansion into cinemas—"
"President Kitahara, your current absolute disposable personal cash reserves have officially surpassed the 100 billion yen mark!"
100 billion yen in pure cash!
In 1994, during the economic downturn caused by the bursting of the bubble and countless large corporations and even banks closing down, an angel investment that started at just tens of millions of yen managed to generate a terrifying cash flow of tens of billions of yen in just one or two months! This was nothing short of a robbery in business history!
Kitahara Shin put down his coffee cup, looked at the long string of zeros on the report, and smiled with great satisfaction.
This enormous sum of money, enough to make any established tycoon envious, completely filled the "ammunition depot" of his upcoming film and television empire surrounding "The Great Search".
With a cash flow of tens of billions in hand, Kitahara Shin was not blinded by his enormous wealth, but instead demonstrated the extremely calm and rational strategic planning ability of a mature capitalist.
"This money is not to be touched; it must be used entirely as a special reserve fund for the new IP strategy."
Kitahara Shin summoned Ota Shoichi and the newly appointed secretary Aida to his office and issued a series of extremely pragmatic instructions in a clear and organized manner.
"Aida, the first step is to have the Ministry of Justice immediately register all trademarks related to 'Great Investigation Line' (tentative title). This includes the 'Wangan Police Station' logo, any distinctive symbols appearing in the show, and a mascot character named 'Wangan-kun.' I want to completely lock the copyright of all derivative products related to this IP into our own hands from the very beginning."
Secretary Aida quickly jotted down the note: "Understood. What about the physical manufacturing?"
"That's what I'm going to talk about next." Kitahara Shin took out a list of bankrupt companies selected by Sasaki's team, pointed to a few of them, and said, "Go to Chiba Prefecture and Saitama Prefecture and acquire a garment factory with a garment manufacturing license and a plastic toy OEM factory at a low price."
Ota Masakazu paused for a moment, then asked with some concern, "President, the drama hasn't even been filmed yet, and we're already buying factories to produce merchandise? What if we can't sell it all? The risk of unsold inventory could be fatal."
"Who told you I was going to blindly produce and stockpile goods in advance?"
Kitahara Shin glanced at him and explained with remarkable clarity, "That's the stupidest thing to do. I bought the factory to gain absolute control over the flexible supply chain. Now, the only thing the factory needs to do is refine the prototype."
He tapped the table, his gaze deep: "For example, the iconic military green M-51 trench coat worn by the male lead. I want the factory to use the best fabric to make several hundred of them first, as official props for the production crew and public relations gifts for industry professionals. I want this coat to present its most perfect texture on camera."
"As soon as the TV series premieres, we'll simultaneously launch full-payment pre-sales in offline stores and magazines." Once viewers pay, the factory receives the order data and immediately starts production. This not only creates a "hunger marketing" effect, but more importantly, we always have zero inventory risk. Every penny earned is absolutely safe net profit.
Upon hearing about this advanced business model of "pre-sale system + flexible rapid response," Ota and Aida's secretary exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with shock and admiration. They then realized that every move their boss made was calculated with extreme precision and without any flaws.
Having resolved the backend supply chain and IP registration issues, the next crucial step is the playback channel.
Kitahara Shin, accompanied by Ota, personally visited the production department of Fuji Television.
This time, he wasn't arrogant like he had when he won awards before, but instead demonstrated the extremely professional negotiation skills of a top producer.
Faced with the industry's hottest star, Shin Kitahara, Fuji TV's executives initially thought he would make exorbitant demands, requesting the best "Getsu 9" prime-time slot, and were even prepared to bleed money.
However, Kitahara Shin's proposal surprised everyone.
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"President Kitahara—you mean, you don't want the prime time slot, but instead want to buy out our daytime drama slot from 1:00 to 2:30 every day?" Fuji TV's production director looked completely astonished.
In the Japanese television industry, that time slot is usually "garbage time" for housewives to watch low-budget melodramas or cooking shows; no big productions would even consider airing there.
"That's right, it's the midday slot." Kitahara Shin rationally explained his business logic, "The Great Search Line."
It's not positioned as a hardcore mystery drama that requires full concentration to solve; it's essentially a workplace comedy and slice-of-life series disguised as a police drama. This lighthearted, down-to-earth show is best watched by housewives during their leisure time after finishing housework and lunch.
Kitahara Shin looked at the assembled executives and laid out the core point of interest: "Gentlemen, don't underestimate housewives. In Japan, housewives always hold the reins of the household finances. If you can get them to develop an emotional connection with the characters in dramas every noon, then in the future, the money they'll use to buy 'Wangan Stationery' merchandise for their children and matching trench coats for their husbands will all be readily available from their wallets."
Upon hearing this insightful analysis of the audience, the executives fell into deep thought, their eyes gradually brightening.
Following that, Kitahara Shin presented a concrete cooperation plan: "The production cost of this drama will be 100% funded by my Kitahara agency, without taking up a single penny of Fuji TV's budget. All I need is for you to provide the channel for this midday slot."
"In exchange, Fuji TV can exclusively enjoy all the revenue generated from interruptions during that time slot. But one..."
Kitahara Shin paused, then stated his uncompromising bottom line: "I will not sign an exclusive agreement. Fuji TV will have the first-run broadcast rights, but once the first run ends, I reserve the right to simultaneously distribute the second-run broadcast rights to TBS, various local stations, and even the videotape market. Furthermore, all revenue generated from merchandise and related products related to the drama will be unrelated to the television station."
The entire conference room fell silent.
Fuji TV executives quickly began to calculate the costs and benefits: without spending a single penny on production costs, they could acquire a big-budget production personally crafted by a "Cannes screenwriter and the newly crowned TV King" to fill the originally extremely lackluster midday slot, and exclusively enjoy the high production fees.
For the TV station, this was an absolutely risk-free and incredibly profitable opportunity!
As for the lack of exclusive broadcasting rights and related revenue? These traditional rules can be completely compromised in the face of GG's profits, which are absolutely risk-free.
"President Kitahara, your suggestion is very—constructive." The production director took a deep breath, his face full of a sincere smile, and extended his hand. "Regarding the details of the midday slot's scheduling, I think we can immediately have the legal department start drafting the contract."
Kitahara Shin smiled and extended his hand, shaking hands firmly with the other person.
He obtained all the channels he wanted without bloodshed, backed by extremely rational business logic and massive capital, while also reducing the risk to zero.