White Wolf Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Saisho or New Beginning was a Japanese program designed to lift the country out of economic depression after the Moscow Crash of 1999.

Overview[]

After Russia itself, Japan was hit harder than almost any other country by the global depression that followed the Moscow Crash. As much of their economy depended on the import of raw materials and the export of manufactured goods, the collapse of overseas markets and transportation infrastructure brought their manufacturing sector to a grinding halt. When the IMF gave its pessimistic report on the crisis in June of 1999, the Nikkei stock index lost half its value in a single day, and thousands of businessmen committed suicide.[1]

In November, the government rolled out the Saisho initiative. Targeted subsidies were meant to encourage businesses to hire novas, with the goal of developing new technologies.[2][1] Part of this initiative was the formation of Nippontai, a Japanese national nova team to rival Team Tomorrow.[3] The project was funded, in part, by the Nakato Gumi, who recognized an opportunity to ingratiate themselves with the government; they also established Kuro-Tek to profit off the same program they were funding.[4]

Saisho succeeded beyond anyone's wildest imaginings, as Japan once again came to dominate the worldwide tech industry. This eventually brought them into conflict with Project Utopia over the sale of banned "blacktech."[5]

References[]

Advertisement