Review by Booklist Review
Most now take for granted the preponderance of Japanese goods in the U.S. Many are much less aware of the growing Japanese dominance of the financial marketplace. Nomura Securities is an enormous conglomerate controlling 15 percent of the Tokyo Stock Exchange's volume, dominating the international bond market, and growing into the fifth largest real estate and second largest software firm in Japan. Alletzhauser, a partner in the big British brokerage, James Capel, traces the fascinating history of this financial empire. Given unprecedented access to company insiders and records, he weaves an informative, absorbing tale that is part Shogun and, because of the involvement of the Nomura family, part "Dynasty." Appendixes of Nomura family information, select English and select Japanese bibliographies; index. --David Rouse
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Nomura Securities, the Japanese brokerage, dwarfs like American houses in profitability. Tracing how a small Osaka money-changing firm became a dominant force in world finance--surviving bank panics, General Douglas MacArthur's dismemberment of corporate Japan, competitors and internal corruption--Alletzhauser, a stockbroker, points up indigenous or peculiar features of Japan's business world. Payment of hush-money to racketeers who knew too much about financial, political or sexual scandals became an institutionalized feature at Nomura, and to gain tactical control over its labor force night and day, thousands of single men are housed in Nomura's cement-block dormitories. In this colorful company history, the author draws the curtain on a low-profile giant. Photos. 50,000 first printing. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
The house of Nomura is one of several large financial conglomerates (or zajbatsu ) which currently influence the Japanese and world business environment. Though Nomura is not a recognizable name in most parts of America, the financial assets controlled by the group are enormous. Alletzhauser, an American stockbroker who spent two years in Tokyo, tells the history of Nomura from its beginning in 1872 through two wars to its present-day stature as one of the most influential financial groups in the world. The story abounds with insights into Japanese society and culture, making it a thoroughly captivating experience for a wide range of readership.-- Joseph Barth, U.S. Military Acad. Lib., West Point, N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A flawed but fascinating history of the securities colossus that has played a key role in Japan's emergence as a global economic power. An American partner in a British brokerage house, Alletzhauser knows the territory. Having gained access to founding-family papers, moreover, he delivers a knowledgeable account of how Tokuschichi Nomura (the bastard son of a samurai) prospered as a money-changer and bullion trader in Osaka during the early years of the Meiji Restoration. His scapegrace son, who moved the business into stocks and bonds (against the patriarch's wishes), proved a brilliant speculator, engineering megabuck market coups in 1907 and again in 1915. He was also farsighted enough to hire a journalist as a securities analyst, the forerunner of a research department that quietly predicted Japan's WW II defeat before the Battle of Midway. In the meantime, the author traces Nomura's efforts during the 1920's and 1930's to establish an industrial/ banking zaibatsu. He provides telling detail as well on how corporate executives set the stage for a remarkable recovery from the ravages of WW II. In the case of Nomura, unfortunately, the dead are apparently more forthcoming than the quick. The narrative becomes decidedly episodic and anecdotal as it nears the contemporary era. Alletzhauser offers insights into the exacting demands made on those employed by the world's largest financial/investment enterprise. He also touches on Nomura's awesome political as well as fiscal clout and the arrogance it engenders. His coverage of the collusive nature of Japan's rigged capital markets, though, is scanty at best. The same holds true for many open scandals, e.g., systematic bribery of government officials (via market tips or cash), the national media's money-driven reluctance to expose corruption, protection rackets run by mobsters known as sokaiya, and the fact that precious little of Japan's securities wealth has trickled down below society's upper echelons. While the full warts-and-all story of Nomura in the post-Occupation age remains to be told, Alletzhauser furnishes an intriguing and informative appreciation of the firm's formative years. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
