Komai Kenichiro (born December 17, 1900) is the President of Hitachi, a subsidary of the Manchurian-based company Nissan.
In-Game[]
Komai arrives in Guangdong shortly after the Yasuda Crisis. He and the company he heads, Hitachi, will join the Legislative Council at the insistence of Ibuka Masura. He and Ibuka will form an anti-reformist alliance - indeed, if Ibuka becomes Chief Executive, Komai will serve as his foreign minister. However, it is clear that for Komai this is an alliance of convenience.
Regardless of who comes to power, Komai will immediately scheme to take power for himself. He will try to bribe the Chief Executive for product and military contracts, scheme to secure additional LegCo support, and help the Kempeitai to expand their influence. Eventually, his plan will go into action - if he secures enough LegCo influence, he will seize power in a coup. If not, his influence will dwindle as he has used up the money and power he had.
Komai is universally recognised as the worst ending for Guangdong - his aim is to militarise the state, society, and economy, with no regard for the Chinese population, nor even Japanese who are not aligned with him. In this sense, he represents the very worst excesses of the collaboration between Japanese militarism and their corporate allies.
In-Game Biography[]
Hitachi Coup[]
A new authority stands ascendant and triumphant upon the tumultuous stage of Guangdong, a towering figure now eclipses the Pearl River Delta in somber darkness, its penumbra extending far and wide. A goliath has stepped onto Guangdong's shores, a man who embodies the ruthless efficiency of the industries of Manchukuo, whose vision for the state is one of steel and sweat, one where the backbreaking toil of the workers allows for productivity to soar to heights never before seen. The iron cavalier of Hitachi - Komai Kenichiro.
On the exterior, Komai is a man who commands respect; urbane, polite, and charismatic. However, his pleasant character is merely a veil for the plans and thoughts he harbors within his mind, his conceptions of grandeur and prosperity which can only be attained through the bluntest and most unforgiving of actions. With him now sitting atop the ivory tower, holding the position of Chief Executive, the bustling streets of the Three Pearls have been silenced, the gates to the underground societies have been shut, Guangdong has entered into a new era, one of order, security, and efficacy.
With the merciless truncheon of the Kenpeitai at his side and the supervision of his Manchurian benefactors above him, Komai will transform Guangdong into a symbol of industrial success, by any means necessary.
Manchurian Path[]
There are times when Komai Kenichiro can only laugh faintly at how ordinary his life must be, at least in comparison to his former competitors in the form of Morita, Ibuka, and Matsushita. All he really did was graduate from Tokyo Imperial, start working for Hitachi Limited in 1925, and work hard to advance through its ranks ever since. All those years, and here he still is, forever a corporate suit with little to no real agency. Some might point to all Komai has achieved for Pan-Asianism, but always he dismisses this disinterestedly. Everybody does Pan-Asianism these days, there's nothing special about him promoting it as well. Nothing special about him at all, save only for his title of President of Hitachi Limited, a throne made of paper.
Yes, he can relish in these ephemeral piles of gold all he want; yes, he can call himself Caesar as many times as need be. But every Caesar has his Augustus, seated far and high away in Rome, holding the true reins of the empire they share regardless of the illusion of autonomy. No matter how many dissenters Komai locks away, no matter how much wealth he sits upon, something will always be missing. Something that isn't just another directive from Hsinking.
As China prepares for war, and forever after until the day he dies, Komai will always remain the man from Manchuria, the junior emperor of an empire not his own. Nothing more.
Personalist Path[]
In the end, Komai Kenichiro can't help but to look back at the whole of his life in awe at how ordinary it must be, at least in comparison to his former competitors in the form of Morita, Ibuka, and Matsushita. All he really did was graduate from Tokyo Imperial, start working for Hitachi Limited in 1925, and work hard to advance through its ranks ever since. Nevertheless, here he is now, having brought Hitachi as well as Guangdong as a whole to new heights both financially and technologically while eliminating all forms of dissent and real competition. All this is beyond the wildest dreams of his so-called 'superiors' back in Manchuria, perhaps beyond even his own just 10 years ago.
All this, for his one simple goal: to be absolute lord of his own future atop a throne of his own making. Komai is Caesar, looking down upon his Rome, ruling 'in the name of' whoever the current Augustus far away up north might be. All the feigned subservience and platitudes of loyalty end there; the true Komai, Chief Executive of Guangdong, emblazons himself with the same power and relish as Julius Caesar, the very man for whom the title Caesar was named.
Perhaps, when the dust has settled and the vying, frothing vagabonds and miscreants north the border have been dispatched, the path will have been paved for another Komai down the line. And another, and another, for as long as time shall bear witness.
External Secretary (Ibuka)[]
Plenty question why Hitachi's Komai Kenichiro, only recently invited into the Legislative Council, was selected to be the external face of Ibuka's regime. Komai was already seen as an outsider, seen as an agent of Manchuria's state-dominated economy in the freewheeling corporate ecosystem of Guangdong. Would being forced to defend Guangdong to outsiders separate Komai from his masters in Hsinking?
The truth is that Ibuka doesn't trust Komai one bit - but he would rather keep any potential assets close at hand. It would certainly be better than bringing his nemesis, Morita Akio, into Guangdong's government once again - and Komai's emphasis on efficiency and profit is a thought process Ibuka understands, even if it comes with a particularly Manchurian brand of brutality.
External Secretary (Persistence Ibuka)[]
It should come as no surprise to anyone that, having promised to keep Komai Kenichiro in line back in 1964 when he invited him to take part in government, Ibuka has proceeded to do exactly that all these years later. Much as Komai thought he might be able to take advantage of Ibuka by enabling his worst excesses in hopes that it would bring his plans to a halt, this idea ended up backfiring as Ibuka became the sort of monster with a list of people he feels have wronged him - with Komai's name one among many on it.
With Fujitsu dominating Guangdong, Hitachi is seeing less and less business these days, a minor player in a market owned by Fujitsu. Really, Komai supposes he should have seen this all coming.
External Secretary (Reconciliatory Ibuka)[]
All along, Komai Kenichiro had seen this coming: that Ibuka would fail to meet the needs of his great selfish vision. As the fulfillment of this prediction presents Hitachi with a great business opportunity, so Komai will not allow it to go to waste. He will do whatever it takes to put Ibuka's newfound softheartedness to use and pay him back for daring to think Komai could possibly be 'kept in line.'
Then, when Ibuka is inevitably defeated by the political turbulence created by his change of heart, Komai will laugh in Ibuka's face and tell him that, really, he had it coming.