Computer security -- Fiction; Didactic fiction; Privacy, Right of -- Fiction; Records -- Access control -- Fiction
Realizing that the war would come to an end some day, Homosoto
begin making plans. OSO Radio sets appeared on the market before
the end of the Korean Police Action. Then, with the application
of the transistor, the portable radio market exploded. OSO
Industries made more transistor radios than all other Japanese
electronics firms combined. Then came black and white televi-
sions. The invention of the single beam color TV tube again
brought OSO billions in revenues every year.
Now, OSO was the model of a true global corporation. OSO owned
banks and investment companies. Their semiconductor and electron-
ics products were household words. They controlled a vast network
of companies; electronic game manufacturers, microwave and appli-
ance manufacturers, and notably, acres and acres of Manhattan
Island, California and Hawaii. They owned and operated communi-
cations companies, including their own geosynchronous satellite.
OSO positioned itself as a holding company with hundreds of
subsidiaries, each with their own specialty, operating under
thousands of names. Taki Homosoto wove an incredibly complex web
of corporate influence and intrigue.
OSO was one of the 10 largest corporations in the world. Reaga-
nomics had already assisted in making OSO and Homosoto himself
politically important to both Japan and the US. Exactly how
Homosoto wanted it. American leaders, Senators, Congressmen,
appointees, lobbyists, in fact much of Washington coddled up to
Homosoto. His empire planned years in advance. The US Govern-
ment, unofficially craved his insights, and in characteristic
Washington style, wanted to be near someone important. Homosoto
relished it. Ate it up. He was a most cordial, unassuming
humble guest. He played the game magnificently.
Almost the entire 66th floor of the OSO Bank Building was dedi-
cated to Homosoto and his immediate staff. Only a handful of the
more then 200,000 people that OSO Industries employed had access
to the pinnacle of the OSO tower which graced the Tokyo skyline.
The building was designed by Pei, and received international ac-
claim as an architectural statement. The atrium in the lobby
vaulted almost 700 feet skyward precursoring American hotel
design in the next decade. Plants, trees over 100 feet tall and
waterfalls graced the atria and the overhanging skylobbies. The
first floor lobby was designed around a miniature replica of the
Ging Sha forest, fashioned with thousands of Bonzai trees. The
mini forest was built to be viewed from various heights within
the atrium to simulate a flight above the earth at distances from
2 to 150 miles.
The lobby of OSO Industries was a veritable museum. The Van Gogh
collection was not only the largest private or public assemblage
in the world, but also represented over $100 Million spent in
Sothby and Christies auctions worldwide since 1975.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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