By the end of November 1987, the air in Tokyo seemed to float with invisible gold dust.
Since the earth-shaking events of Black Monday the previous month, the Western-style mansion hidden deep within Kurayami-zaka in Azabu-Juban had risen to near-mythical status. In the exclusive clubs of Ginza, the private restaurants of Akasaka, and even the office buildings of Diet members in Nagatacho, conversation inevitably turned to that old mansion known simply as The Club.
It was no longer merely a members-only venue. After guiding its members safely through the global financial catastrophe, the club had acquired an almost superstitious aura. Well-informed circles soon realized that nearly everyone who had emerged unscathed from Black Monday held membership there. Rumors spread that it was the Noah's Ark of the Showa era. Possessing one of its black magnetic cards, people whispered, meant receiving advance warning before the next tsunami struck.
Tokyo promptly lost its collective mind. Countless newly rich individuals, dazed by overnight fortunes, and real-estate tycoons waving thick bundles of cash but lacking any sense of belonging, converged on Azabu-Juban like moths drawn to flame. A membership fee of one hundred million yen drew no complaints. Some arrived with three hundred million in cash, begging for admission.
Yet the doors remained firmly closed. The Saionji family enforced a strict rule: without a handwritten recommendation from an existing member, no amount of money would secure entry. This extreme exclusivity only increased the club's allure. An invisible hierarchy of disdain quietly took shape in Tokyo high society:
Those who had never heard of The Club were ordinary commoners.
Those who knew of it but could not enter were mere nouveau riche.
Those who could sit in the lobby and enjoy a drink were somebody.
And those invited upstairs to the second-floor study for tea were the true insiders—the chosen crew.
Even Wall Street, the supposed holy land of finance, had been badly wounded by Black Monday, yet The Club had steered its members to safety as though guided by prophecy. No one could measure the true depth of its influence, but everyone understood one thing: if you could gain entry, tangible benefits would follow. Simply stepping inside made you a somebody at best. Only by earning the personal recognition of the Saionji family—the club's organizers—could you secure a place on the next lifeboat when disaster struck.
Although the Saionji family never openly acknowledged such distinctions, the invisible line separating peripheral members from core members stood like a glass wall in everyone's minds. Those outside longed to enter. Those inside yearned to climb higher. This was Tokyo in 1987—an era flamboyant with desire and sharp with class anxiety.
11:00 p.m.
A silver Rolls-Royce Silver Spur glided slowly into the Azabu-Juban neighborhood. Its ostentatious, somewhat gaudy finish stood out on the quiet night streets, yet to its owner it symbolized pure strength.
Eguchi Tokuhiro sat in the rear seat, tugging uncomfortably at the tie around his neck. At forty-five he was president of Eguchi Real Estate. Three years earlier he had still been a small-time agent flipping second-hand houses in Saitama Prefecture. Riding the wave of soaring land prices, he had borrowed aggressively—even from loan sharks—to hoard plots. Now he was a newly minted tycoon worth tens of billions.
Before his subordinates he played the tyrant; before Ginza hostesses he spent money like water. Tonight, however, his palms were slick with sweat.
He touched the inner pocket of his jacket. Inside lay a letter—the stepping stone he had obtained after six months of relentless networking and, finally, by paying off a full three hundred million yen in debts owed by a struggling Kazoku count. While the count had counted the money with trembling hands, he had signed the recommendation letter and given Eguchi a complicated look. "Eguchi-kun," the count had said, "that place is unlike anywhere you have ever been. Once inside, speak less and watch more."
Speak less. Watch more.
Eguchi drew a deep breath.
"Stop the car," he ordered when they were still two hundred meters from Kurayami-zaka.
"President? We haven't reached the gate yet," the driver replied, puzzled.
"Shut up. Stop when I tell you."
Why had he never noticed how slow this driver was? He would dismiss him tomorrow.
Eguchi pushed open the door and stepped out. He knew the unwritten rules. True heavyweights drove straight to the entrance. But he was a newcomer, a land-speculator turned tycoon. Arriving in a gleaming silver Rolls-Royce would only invite silent contempt before he even left the vehicle. On this slope, restraint was the most effective display of status.
He straightened his two-million-yen Zegna suit—custom-made in Italy—and began the quiet walk up the secluded incline. The streetlights were dim. The farther he climbed, the more the city noise faded. At the top of the slope the legendary cast-iron gate appeared.
The black railings looked cold and solemn in the darkness. Moss covered the stone pillars on either side, giving an impression of quiet age.
Eguchi's eyes were immediately drawn to the family crest above the gatepost: the hidari mitsu tomoe. Three black magatama shapes linked head-to-tail inside a golden circle, rotating leftward. The lines were smooth yet sharp, like a vortex ready to pull in anyone who stared too long.
His throat tightened. He tugged at his tie again.
"Good evening, Mr. Eguchi."
A security guard in a black uniform stepped from the sentry box.
Eguchi froze. "You… know me?"
He was certain he had never visited before, nor left a business card.
"Yes, sir. Count Kujō's recommendation letter arrived yesterday." The guard's expression remained perfectly composed, his smile courteous. "Moreover, that suit is the 1987 Autumn Limited Edition from Zegna. Only three gentlemen in Tokyo ordered it. It is quite distinctive."
The hair on Eguchi's neck rose. Even the security guard possessed such discernment?
"This is my identification," Eguchi said, offering the recommendation letter and his business card with both hands. His movements had become instinctively respectful, as though facing a tax auditor.
"Please come in."
The guard accepted the documents with both hands, stepped aside, and bowed slightly. The gate slid open without a sound.
Eguchi crossed the threshold. In that instant he felt he was not merely stepping through iron bars but crossing the boundary between two entirely different worlds.
He barely remembered walking through the garden filled with rare plants. When he regained his senses he stood before the main building. A waiter opened the door. A faint, complex fragrance met him—old sandalwood, aged whiskey, and the mellow scent of leather sofas that had settled over many years.
Eguchi stepped onto the carpet. It was impossibly thick, soft as a bed of late-autumn leaves, swallowing every footstep.
He looked around. No harsh crystal chandeliers assaulted the eyes; instead, indirect lighting bathed the dark oak wainscoting in a gentle glow. The walls displayed original ukiyo-e prints whose colors spoke of age rather than modern abstraction. Soft clinks of porcelain and low, measured conversation drifted through the hall.
"Welcome, Mr. Eguchi."
A butler in a tailcoat approached, carrying a silver tray. "As is your preference, this is Hibiki 21 Years with a single large ice ball."
Eguchi was stunned. He did indeed favor this drink, yet he had never mentioned it to anyone here.
"How did you…"
"In this house, knowing a guest's preferences is the foundation of proper service." The butler's smile was perfectly measured. "Count Kujō also mentioned that you prefer a window seat. One has been reserved for you over there."
Eguchi accepted the glass and walked somewhat stiffly to the corner. He sat, took a sip, and let the ice ball roll across his tongue while the spicy liquid slid down his throat. Only then did he begin to study the place that had haunted his dreams.
What he saw left him astonished.
The balding man on the sofa to his left—was that not the Director of the Banking Bureau at the Ministry of Finance? Only last week the man had appeared on television delivering stern lectures on financial regulation; now he sat smiling while playing Go with an elderly woman in a kimono.
The man smoking a cigar on the right—was that the managing director of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries?
That foreigner—surely from Goldman Sachs?
And over there, the woman kneeling gracefully on the carpet to brew tea for a Diet member—he recognized her as a famous idol.
Eguchi's hands began to tremble. His tens of billions in net worth had felt invincible inside the Rolls-Royce. Here, among people who controlled the lifeblood of Japan, it suddenly seemed pale and insignificant.
What was sold in this room was not alcohol. It was class. It was the intoxicating sense of privilege that made one never want to leave.
"Have you heard?" a low voice drifted from the next table.
"S.A. has been acquiring large tracts of logistics land in Chiba recently."
"Yes, I received the same report. Mr. Saionji appears optimistic about the future of the logistics sector."
"If he is optimistic… then tomorrow I will instruct my secretary to secure those docks in Yokohama as well."
"Following his lead?"
"Of course. When has following the Saionji family ever led us astray?"
Eguchi pretended to lounge casually in his chair, but his ears strained to catch every syllable. This was intelligence. A few casual remarks like these, if acted upon outside these walls, could be worth more than a billion yen.
He finally understood why the three-hundred-million-yen recommendation fee had been worth every yen.
Suddenly the atmosphere in the hall shifted. Conversations halted mid-sentence. All eyes turned toward the staircase leading to the second floor.
Eguchi followed their gaze.
A man was descending the stairs. He wore a deep-gray haori over white tabi socks and geta sandals. His features were not strikingly handsome, yet an aura of gentle jade-like depth made it impossible to look away.
Saionji Shuichi.
The master of The Club.
The man who had guided half of Tokyo's elite safely through Black Monday.
Shuichi did not pause to speak or offer greetings. He simply passed through. Yet as he moved, the powerful figures in the hall—bureau directors, company presidents, Diet members who dominated the outside world—set down their glasses and offered slight bows or respectful nods. Their gestures were uniform, carrying deep-seated awe, like a pack of wolves lowering their heads before their king.
Shuichi looked straight ahead, acknowledging others with only occasional polite smiles. When his gaze swept across the corner where Eguchi sat, it lingered for half a second.
In that brief contact Eguchi felt his heart squeezed by an invisible hand. Those eyes held only calm understanding, as though every petty thought, every trace of nouveau-riche insecurity and ambition within him had been seen through in an instant.
Shuichi continued across the hall and disappeared into the corridor leading to the back garden.
Only after he had vanished did conversation resume, yet a lingering pressure remained in the air.
Eguchi exhaled shakily and realized his back was soaked with sweat. He glanced at the whiskey in his glass; the ice ball had already melted by half.
"So this… is the core," he murmured.
He had believed that paying the fee and crossing the threshold would make him a true member. Now he understood he had purchased only a standing-room ticket. Real power did not reside in the luxurious hall. It waited behind the closed door of the second-floor study, in the casual words spoken by the man in the haori.
Eguchi looked up at the black railings on the second floor. An unprecedented ambition ignited deep in his chest.
He would not remain a mere spectator. He would not settle for eavesdropping on other people's secrets. He wanted to ascend. He wanted to become the kind of man who could say to Saionji Shuichi, "Shuichi-kun, shall we share a drink tonight?"
He drained the glass in one swallow.
"Another, please," he told the butler. "And kindly keep an eye out. Which piece of land has Mr. Saionji shown interest in lately? Although Eguchi Real Estate is still a young company, if Mr. Saionji requires anything…"
Eguchi's jaw tightened, a flash of determination in his eyes. "I am willing to serve as the vanguard."
The butler maintained his flawless smile while refilling the glass. "I will note your sentiments," he said softly. "At The Club, opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared."
Eguchi gripped the cold glass and stared at the hidari mitsu tomoe printed on the coaster—three rotating vortices that also served as a lighthouse in this frenzied era.
He knew he could never return to his former life. Once a man had glimpsed the view from above the clouds, who would willingly crawl back into the mud? Even if he had to crawl on his hands and knees, he would find his way upward.