for cooperation so that Yamaichi workers won't be thrown onto the street."
A sizable number of Yamaichi workers were taken on by Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co., a Japanese unit of Merrill Lynch and Co. of the United States. Others were fortunate enough to find employment with other financial institutions.
Some used all the courage and business acumen they could muster to go into completely different lines of business, like running a pub or a golf course, to cite a few unique examples.
Tamizo Kimura, 57, used to be a Yamaichi securities analyst specializing in the TV and technology sectors. He seized on a business opportunity created by the advent of advanced digitization technology that transformed the rules of the game in the video production business.
He now heads Memory Bank Co., which he founded in February 2004. The video production company in Tokyo's Chuo Ward employs 13 and is now gearing up to go public.
"I hope to become just one example of former Yamaichi workers who can make it even if they work outside the financial services sector," Kimura said.
Osami Nagano is another resilient, ex-Yamaichi man looking to make his own unique dream come true. "I want to re-establish a brokerage named Yamaichi Securities again," he said.
The 49-year-old is now president of Mercury Staffing Co., a job-placement agency serving mainly financial institutions.
When he was at Yamaichi, Nagano did so well that he was selected as "Japan's top salesman" by monthly magazine Nikkei Venture in 1990.
When Yamaichi collapsed, he was vice head of the brokerage's Chiba Prefecture branch, which he says was making more money than the offices run by other securities firms in nearby areas.
"Our office was turning in a stellar sales performance but the top management decided to fold without even consulting us," Nagano said.
After leaving Yamaichi, Nagano was first employed by Merrill Lynch Japan and then worked for temporary help agency Pasona Inc. He subsequently founded Mercury Staffing in April 2003.
"In our company, I want even new recruits to feel free to object to what the president says," Nagano said. His egalitarian outlook was cultivated while he worked at Yamaichi.
Of the 40 employees at Mercury Staffing in Minato Ward, 11 are former Yamaichi workers.
The company's revenue is forecast to rise to ¥2.5 billion in the year through next March, up from its first-year sales of ¥200 million booked four years ago.
After the company grows further, Nagano aims to launch the new Yamaichi Securities within about six years, investing his own money in it.
Nagano is pinning his hopes on deregulation, which is expected to further draw down the boundaries separating the banking, brokerage and insurance businesses and create new business opportunities in the financial services sector.
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