Chapter 34

One day Katherine was laying on my shoulder as we recovered from sex and she said, “You have so many restaurants and bars. Why don’t you open a lesbian bar?”

“I don’t dictate who can come and go from any of my places.”

“Would you? I have some friends. You wouldn’t need a sign. Word of mouth would fill it up.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“I know when you say that, you aren’t just blowing me off but will take the time to find out if it will work and how to do it the best way you can.”

“I have an idea but need to do some research.”

Later, I was in the office and said to Yuto, “Are there gay bars in Tokyo?”

“I guess there are but they don’t advertise.”

“You know that big building we bought in Ginza?”

“The one by the station?”

“Yes, did we ever find renters?”

“I don’t think so. We have a big bar on the main and second floors. The place is packed on the weekends and busy during the week.”

“We have the coolers, kitchen and room that if we wanted to expand to the third or fourth floor we could. I had a girl ask me about opening a bar for lesbians. I was thinking that if we put a secret entrance from the ladies room on the second floor that we could build out the third floor as a secret club for them. If we wanted one for guys we could do that as well.”

“Money is money and people could come and go without having to be seen going into a known gay bar. We would just have to build it out and hire staff. We can use the same kitchen and coolers.”

I approved the go ahead on the build out and didn’t say anything to Katherine. It was almost a month later that we were together on a Sunday morning. She was caught up with school and had a day off from working at the club. I told her that we were going out and we hopped in the car and drove about a mile to the bar. It was closed but people were there getting ready for the day or cleaning up from the night before.

As we walked in she said, “I’ve been here before when I went out with some friends. They play good music and I had a lot of fun. Is this one of your places?”

“It is. I want to show you something.” She followed as I walked up the stairs and into the ladies room. It was a big bathroom with about fifteen stalls, ten sinks and a couple full-length mirrors. There were four phone booths and a couch in case they needed to fix a shoe or something.

“You remodeled the bathroom. I like the new counter tops. The old ones looked cheap. These are nice.”

“Yes and we put in some phone booths. You can go in and make a call. They’re big and have plenty of room.”

She looked at me and I said, “Let me show you.” We went in and closed the door. I picked up the phone and dialed. 3953 and a door clicked and the wall opened into a hallway.

“That’s cool, where does it go?”

“Let’s find out.” We went down a short hallway to a staircase that took us up one floor to a smaller club with tables, a bar and a dance floor. “Well, do you think you can fill this place with lesbians?”

She jumped into my arms and said, “Hell yeah. What was the code and do I have to use that booth?

“The code is 3953 or DYKE. You can use any booth.”

“That’s easy to remember. Some might be offended but I think it’s funny as hell. We can come to the club like everyone else and just slip off to the ladies room. That’s easy.”

We followed the signs down and walked out from behind one of the full-length mirrors. She watched as the mirror closed and locked so it couldn’t be opened from the front. “You built that all for me?”

“Well I hope that others come and spend money but if it’s just you, I won’t be unhappy.”

“I can bring Hana and Cho might tag along. She has expressed some interest in what Hana and I do or Mizue and Preeda do when we’re in our rooms making so much noise. I’ve hinted that I’d be happy to show her. I can’t wait to make some calls and come back tonight. Will it be open tonight?”

We stopped by the office and the manager was there reviewing the sales from the night before. He looked up and said, “Hey Nick. It’s amazing that we can have close to three thousand people pass through here on a Saturday night, serve over ten thousand drinks and have our liquor count be within two bottles of being perfect inventory. If I look closer, I think someone was ringing up vodka martinis and we were pouring gin. We were over on one and short on the other.”

“That’s the goal of the software. Are you ready to open the third floor?”

“I was going to put up one bartender and one server when you tell me to. Everything is stocked, the ticketing system prints out here in the kitchen and there is a dumbwaiter elevator for sending up food and supplies and sending down dirty dishes. There’s a chute for the trash.”

“Open tonight and keep an eye on the numbers. Have a server or two ready in case it gets busy.”

“I don’t know how many lesbians there are in Tokyo or how many other bars there are that cater to them.”

Katherine said, “I know a few and a few more that like both guys and girls. There are also girls that want to go out, have a drink and do some dancing but not be hit on all night by drunk guys. I woke up in this guy’s bed but will plan to be here tonight and bring some friends.”

He blushed a little when she mentioned sleeping with me but told her that he hoped that it was a success. We drove back to the building but she went to her place and I didn’t see her again. She was making calls and starting a chain of calls that would eventually pack the place out.

The manager asked about pushing back some walls and also mentioned that a guy had approached him about having a place for the guys but he just said to call corporate that he didn’t do any planning or building.

I slipped in the back door one time and took a look around. They were all dressed and acting like people at a bar. There wasn’t a big naked orgy or pillow fight that I’d hoped for. As I stood to the side with the manager, one of the waitresses came over and asked, “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, we were just seeing how things were going. It seems busy and the guests seem happy.”

“They like the space and are appreciative that it’s here. There are a few arguments and I get hit on but not much more than when I’m out in the club. With drunkenness comes courage and other emotions.”

The manager added, “We’ve increased our average nightly sales by 12% so no complaints and it should easily pay for itself.”

It was interesting to see a few people that I recognized from different places like working for a store or restaurant that I owned or from the private club in my building. I did see Omi, from the law firm that handled my real estate. I sent over a round of drinks and she looked up and turned white. I didn’t want her to worry all night about anything so I walked over.

“Hi, Omi. Is everything all right? Are you enjoying the club?”

“I knew that you owned this building but I shouldn’t be here. I’m so sorry.”

“Why should you be sorry? I built this place and am happy that you’re here enjoying yourself.”

“You aren’t mad or offended by the company I keep?”

“Will it make you do your job poorly? If not then I don’t care. I was asked by a friend to build a safe place for women to hang out and have fun. I designed this and had it built. We’ve had good comments from the customers so far. I won’t say that I saw you here if it will cause you any trouble at work or in your personal life.”

She looked at me hard and when she saw that I was being sincere, she smiled. “Thank you Nick for the drink and for being a friend. I’ve had mixed feelings about the way you do business but the guests at your clubs and the employees all seem to be happy.”

“I hire people that are experts in their fields to lead my companies and divisions, so I don’t have to be an expert in anything. I do demand that everyone is treated with respect and fairly.”

She just nodded and took a sip of her drink. A tall and well-dressed woman walked up and asked, “Is everything alright Omi?”

“Yes, this is Nick. I’ve mentioned him to you. He owns this club and bought me a drink and stopped by to say hello. Nick, this is Kokoro.” She paused and then straightened a bit and said, “She’s my girlfriend.”

“It’s nice to meet you Kokoro. I hope my work hasn’t kept her away from you too much. I know we’ve been keeping her busy.”

She looked kind of shocked but then said, “No, I work a lot also. This is a nice place that you have here.” She took Omi’s hand and they both smiled.

As we walked away, I said to the manager, “Please put their bill on the house tonight.”

“Certainly, Nick. It was interesting to see her fear turn to pride and joy. I don’t get up here much but have recognized some people and tend to just slip away but we want them to be comfortable. I may start sending over a drink and thanking them for their business. It seems silly to pretend.”

“I’m fine with that.”

After that night, Omi seemed determined to be the best lawyer that she could be and I was happy for it. I continued to make my rounds between the office, the club upstairs and playing poker with the guys at the club.

I was sitting upstairs having a drink, reading the paper and having dinner when Preeda came over and sat down across from me. I looked up and smiled. “Hello beautiful. Would you like something to eat or drink?”

“I would like a glass of Champagne. I have some news for you.”

After waving over the server, which was Cho, and ordering the drink I looked at her and she said, “Do you remember last year when all those guys came in and met about the money from the US, Japan, Germany and others?”

“I do, have you heard any more about that?”

“Not all of them came back but a couple did this week and they have a big meeting scheduled in New York in September to finalize the deal. They were just reviewing the documents this week.”

“I should have bought you a bottle of Champagne. Do you have any money? I can invest it for you and make it grow.”

Her eyes got big. “Would you do that for me? Mizue and I have saved up one and a quarter million yen.”

That was about five thousand US dollars. “There’s always risk since we don’t know what the final agreement will be or if everyone will sign on. I won’t let you lose any money but I can’t guarantee you will make any or how much.”

“Nick, some call you the blond bull and others call you the golden goose because whatever you do seems to work out and make people money.”

“I just take the pieces and connect the dots. Other people do all the hard work.”

“Without a good navigator everyone would get lost. I’ll bring up the money tonight.”

She had her drink and we talked about things. I thought about her, Mi and others that may be able to benefit from the trading we planned to do. Later that night I called Adam.

“Hey Nick, how are things in Japan?”

“They’re good. I have about ten smiley faces on a napkin. What can I do and if I wanted to invite some friends to the party would that be okay?”

“You’re a mother fucker and that hasn’t changed. I would set up another account and treat it like an investment club like we did before in New York. Trading currency is so unregulated and you can leverage the hell out of it that we could make more than you can imagine. I wonder if I should fly over and work this from Japan while Mike does his thing in the US.”

“Do you want your own place or do you want to stay with me?”

“I’ll stay with you. Do you have a date?”

“I heard something about September.”

“Plan on me being over. Set up a trust account for your friends and make sure that you have access to trade everything. There are a lot of moving parts in this plan.”

I spoke to Ishii before poker over drinks and he wanted to know more than I was willing to share. He said, “Nick, I’ve told you that I’m kind of an arbitrator for the different families. I didn’t tell you how I could afford to lose to you almost every night. I’ve accumulated a nice nest egg and lend it out when families are in need or have more people wanting to borrow money than they have available.”

“You’re the loan shark to the loan sharks.”

He smiled, “That and sometimes they make big deals and need some short term loans to pull it off. I make good income on my money but if I could make even more, I would be interested in liquidating some cash to be more involved.”

“I don’t know how much that means and I really don’t know what to expect in the way of returns.”

“If I could come up with a million US dollars would that be enough or too much?”

“That sounds fine to me. I was afraid that you were going to say ten.”

“Nick, I’m well off but not that well off. I’ve been retired for a while.”

Yuto wanted in for a million. Mi had a million from her trust. Katherine had some money to invest but had to call both her mom and dad and they both wanted to talk to me. They both agreed that a hundred grand wouldn’t bankrupt her and Julie heard about it and wanted in for a hundred of her own. Omi heard about it and asked if she could get in on the action. She and her partner put up a hundred. After that I had Sitoshi set up a trust. He asked to get in when he saw Omi’s participation and he had a hundred.

I decided to add in ninety-five more for Preeda and Mizue since they got the information and the trust had a total of three and a half million. There were a lot of hopeful and nervous people around me. Adam did come over and we discussed how the currency markets worked and they weren’t that much different than options. I told him that if we did well, that we could write a program for trading currencies and he shook his head and said, “I should have thought about that a year ago.”

In August, the rumor mill was going and the dollar started to drop. Adam had us invested by then and we had almost all of our cash invested. I could go through it all trade by trade but let’s just say that as the price of the dollar and yen moved closer, we were making more money that we needed to retire or live on. We were more aggressive with ours. Each of our dollars turned into a hundred and each of the trust dollars turned into fifty. There was still a lot of drop going on in the value of the dollar but we didn’t want to find the bottom and were happy with the return on the investment.

Ishii, Mi and Yuto had to pay taxes on fifty million dollars each, Katherine, Julie, the girls, Omi and Sitoshi each had five million dollars in profit. There was a lot of hand shaking, hugging and kissing depending on the person. My parents and Katherine and Julie’s parents were upset that they didn’t invest anything when they were offered the chance.

Adam had gone home but flew back over with Tiffany. She was knee deep in wedding planning and she needed a week to get away. I got more hugs and kisses. After we sat down and each had a drink Tiffany asked, “How are you going to top this one? Adam told me that you took us from being millionaires to billionaires.”

“I haven’t told you what I planned to buy you for your wedding present.”

“I can’t think of anything that we want that we don’t have. You’ve given us more than we could ever ask for. Thanks Nick.”

We had a meeting and Adam said, “Microsoft is going public and they want us to sell most of our shares in the IPO. We can keep ten percent and a seat on the board.”

I shrugged. “That’s fine. Are you having fun? Do you want to sell our company, take it public or keep running it the way you have been?”

“Nick, I’m not even thirty and neither are you. If we sold out, what would we do?”

“You could run for President, Senator, Governor, Mayor or dog catcher.”

“I’ll think about it but I know enough people that I get offers every day to invest in startups.”

“We have money, we might as well. Make good choices.”

While they were in town, Tiffany wanted to watch the roosters fight. We had some great meals and Yuto opened some very expensive wine when we were dining at his place. We enjoyed the time together.

I had a few months before the wedding. They were having a Christmas wedding in New York. I didn’t think much of it as I went on with life. I had sex with Katherine, had fun playing cards and pretty much just hung out and counted money at the office.

One night I came home a little early and went up to have a drink. The club had a lot of people and there was some kind of party going on. It was one of the Tokyo baseball teams. They had won their division and were having some kind of party to celebrate. They had decorated for the party and I was going to let them have some space and head down to my condo when my name was called.

Turning back, I saw Katherine. She was in a good mood and waved me over. She was working as the bartender and wanted to introduce me to a man that she was talking to. His name was Mr. Nakagawa and he was the owner of the Ginza Dragons and a member at the club. We said hello and he said, “Katherine tells me you own the building and many of the restaurants around town.”

“They’re kind of a hobby. My main interest is software and investing.”

“Then why own so many restaurants?”

“They’re what I call a land bank. I bought the real estate and used the restaurants as a way to pay for them while they went up in value. It’s like getting a dividend while owning stock.”

“That’s interesting. Would any of your businesses be interested in sponsoring a baseball team?”

“We don’t have sponsors of teams back in the states. Why would you want a sponsor?”

“It costs a lot to run a baseball team. Sponsors help out and get their name seen whenever the team is mentioned.”

“How much is a sponsorship?”

“There are different levels. How much would you want to spend?”

“I don’t want to spend anything. How much is a team worth?”

“A lot. One sold last year for a hundred and twenty-five million US Dollars.”

“The US dollar isn’t worth much anymore. If I bought a team, I could let all of my businesses advertise.”

“Could you afford that much? You must be leveraged a lot to buy all those buildings.”

“I could but I don’t know any of the teams or how good they are.”

“I was thinking about selling at the end of the season. I know the dollar is down but I’m getting old and my wife and kids don’t have much interest in the team.”

“Do you have a card? I’ll do some research and think about it.”