Original subtitles

Sensei. Azuma Sensei. You have a visitor.

Excuse me. I spilled some tea.

I'm Azuma Taichi.

AZUMA TAICHI

Oh, I'm a lawyer.

Manpuku

♫Marumatteru senakani ni morai naki ♫I get infectious weeping looking at your stooped shoulders

♫Haji datte issho ni ♫We'll share the humiliation too

Week 12

Things Will Work Out Somehow!

♫Hikoukigumo bonyari nagamu ♫Gazing absentmindedly at contrails

♫Kokoro kokoni arazu ♫Here in body, but not in spirit

♫Nenkan totaru moshi shitara ♫If I was to calculate an annual total

♫Tsukiau watashi sugoi? ♫Aren't I amazing for keeping you company?

♫Toboketeru mayuge ni morai warai ♫ I get infectious laughter looking at your comical eyebrows

♫Tere datta nandatte ♫Be it embarrassment or whatever

♫Morai naki morai warai morai ikari ♫Infectious weeping, infectious laughter, infectious anger

♫Moraippaji don to koi! ♫Infectious embarrassment. Bring them on!

♫Seiten mo donten mo hekireki mo ♫Sunny days, cloudy days, thunderous days too

I read about Tachibana Manpei-san's case in the paper.

Manpei Brand's Daneihon is well known after all.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

Azuma Sensei can be a little shy at first, but he's an excellent lawyer.

He graduated from Tokyo Imperial University at the top of his class.

- At the top? - Tae-san.

I'm sorry. Take your time.

But it would be difficult to help Tachibana-san who already received a prison sentence and is serving time.

Moreover, since he was tried in the U.S. military tribunal, Japanese law won't apply.

Actually, what we wanted to ask you...

of course, nothing could make us happier than getting Manpei-san released, but

it's about the 70,000 yen fine.

We don't have that kind of cash at our company, so

we'll have to borrow from the bank if we have to pay it.

Oh...

But the banks won't lend us money under the current circumstance.

So how we should pay the 70,000 yen,

that's what we wanted to ask you.

Tachibana Manpei, the president,

told us to consult with a lawyer knowledgeable about asset management.

Have you had experience with asset management?

No, this is the first time.

But please let me do it.

I will take it on.

We could possibly go bankrupt.

- Bankrupt?! - Why?

The fine is 70,000 yen. I don't think our company has that kind of money.

But didn't we hire a lawyer so that it wouldn't turn out like that?

That's right. What's gonna happen to Daneihon if we go bankrupt?

A lot of people will be in trouble.

So are those people going to help us?

- Stop it already! - Life isn't that easy.

President's in prison, you know!

Just because he sent some young guys to school. Even though he's done nothing wrong!

Madam too...even though she's pregnant,

she's doing everything she can for the company!

Feeling sorry for ourselves isn't going to help anyone!

Hey, look! Now's the time we have to suck it up the most!

Sorry, man.

It's a bad habit of mine.

Nothing good's happened my whole life.

But things changed when you came here, right?

After President Tachibana and Madam took us in, only good things have been happening.

Although we got taken away by Occupation Forces.

But looking back now, that's a good memory too.

Don't want to hear that from the guy who was throwing the hand grenades.

Sorry.

You were throwing them too.

This is not a laughing matter!

We know that, but still...

Let's not rely on fortune tellers, Mother.

Her fortune really does come true. They call her Mother of Dotonbori.

What are you going to ask that fortune teller, Grandma?

So things like how can the company not go bankrupt,

and how can we get Manpei-san out of prison.

We're telling you there's no way a fortune teller would know that.

- She'll tell you to consult a lawyer. - That's what I think too.

It really does come true, I tell you!

- I read the decision. - Huh?

The decision on the verdict of Tachibana Manpei-san.

From the Occupation Forces' trial?

Isn't that written in English?

Yes.

The profuse use of difficult language is the same whether it's in Japanese or English.

The person who graduated at the top the class at Todai is different indeed.

I can understand some English too, but there's no way I can read a decision from a trial.

- Please forget about Todai... - Oh!

Azuma Taichi .

Same characters as Todai ichi with one extra little stroke.

- That's irrelevant. - As I thought...

- Manpei-san. - Fukuko.

You got 30 minutes.

This is the lawyer who will be helping us out.

I'm Azuma Taichi.

I'm Tachibana Manpei.

- What's the matter? - Oh...

I wasn't expecting someone so young...

- I'm sorry. - But Azuma Sensei is an excellent lawyer.

He read the decision on your verdict in its entirety.

- The decision? - Yes.

Why don't we all sit down?

Let me ask you right away, Azuma Sensei.

I'm not understanding why I'm here.

Why am I being accused of a crime?

I'd like to know too.

Tachibana-san was prosecuted basically for failure to pay taxes when

the scholarship money he was paying out to five Tachibana Nutritious Food employees,

Sakai Shunichi-san, Kuranaga Hiroshi-san, Hori- Kazunori-san, Komatsubara Kanjiro, Masuda Seiichi-san,

was not recognized as school expense.

Tachibana-san, you made payment for the five men's school expense in one lump sum, didn't you?

It was determined that this amount was too large

- to be overlooked. - But it was scholarship money.

That's money to send to night school our employees who couldn't study because of the war.

Last month, the National Tax Violations Control Law was amended.

To put it simply, laws to control tax evasion

have become stricter than ever. Tachibana-san got caught in this.

But still, 4 years of hard labor and a fine of 70,000 yen is...

No matter how you look at it, it's too severe.

Japan is currently under occupation of Allied Powers.

This is just my opinion, but

currently we are still in a period of postwar turmoil where tax evasions are rampant.

That is why the National Tax Violations Control Law got even stricter.

And in order to make that known to the world,

perhaps you were used as a warning to others.

What?

Warning to others?

You're now a celebrity due to Manpei Brand's Daneihon.

By arresting someone like that and handing down a severe sentence,

they're saying they'll never let you get away with tax evasion. That's what I mean by warning to others.

But Manpei-san made Daneihon in order to help all the people out there.

And to let more people know about it,

he reluctantly...really reluctantly agreed to model for the sign.

Even now, can't we make an appeal that this isn't right?

Unfortunately, there is no way to file an appeal against the verdict of

the U.S. military police trial.

Then...

Then am I staying here...for 4 whole years...

Manpei-san...

4 years!

But please don't give up hope!

You never know when the laws may be amended.

The possibility that Manpei-san... Tachibana-san

may not have to wait 4 years to get out of here still exist.

I'll do my very best to be of help to you two. So

please don't give up.

I won't give up.

I won't give up.

Then let's discuss ways to pay off the 70,000 yen.

If the company has no cash, and you can't expect to get a loan from a bank,

you'll have no choice but to sell the company.

Is that something that can't be avoided?

But we can make efforts to reduce the blow.

In other words, we'll look for a company who's willing to pay as much as possible

and try to retain as much asset as we can.

And then?

First of all, Tachibana Nutritious Food Sales Company, Ltd., the affiliate in Tokyo,

will have to be sold.

Does that mean...

Daneihon can no longer be sold nation-wide?

No. Daneihon's already benefiting people all over Japan.

We cannot pull it out of that market. Therefore,

we're going to sell the right to sell Daneihon too.

The right to sell?

Tachibana Nutritious Food will concentrate solely on producing Daneihon

and leave the selling to another company.

If you sell the affiliate company in Tokyo together with the right to sell Daneihon,

I'm sure someone will buy them for 70,000 yen.

In other words, we'd be able to protect Tachibana Nutritious Food in Osaka.

I believe this is our best option.

Manpei-san.

All right. Let's go with that.

Are you really sure?

I'm going to trust Azuma Sensei.

All right.

Then we'll entrust this matter to you.

Yes.

Send the employees in Tokyo back to Osaka.

I'll do that.

Tell everyone not to worry.

I'll tell them.

Fukuko...

Are you feeling all right?

I'm doing fine.

Don't overexert yourself.