"Archer, Geoffrey - The Burma Legacy" - читать интересную книгу автора (Archer Geoffrey)

need to expiate guilt about the past . . ."
"Are we talking about the guilt of a nation or an individual?"
"The latter."
"Ah." The first clue of where the conversation was heading.
"Tetsuo Kamata's guilt," Waddell explained cryptically. "You've heard of
him?"
"Should I have?"
"If you'd been keeping up with your London press summaries . . ." the
headquarters man chided. "Walsall car factory? About to close with the loss
of thousands of jobs?"
"Ah, yes. Read about it this morning. Some Jap manufacturer wants to
buy it and produce cars for Europe."
"That's right. The Matsubara Motor Corporation. Trying to nudge
Toyota and Nissan aside for a bigger place in world markets."
Sam's recollection widened. "There was a picture in the Guardian. Some
minister salivating at the prospect of jobs being saved. Marginal seat? By-election
expected?"
"Exactly." Waddell clasped his hands to underline the seriousness of the
case. "The government is setting huge store by this deal going through,
Sam. It's not just the jobs at the Walsall factory, it's loads of others in the
area that are dependent on car manufacturing. Tens of thousands will find
themselves in trouble if the plant closes. You know the score . . ."
"So what's that got to do with you and me sitting here?"
"Tetsuo Kamata is the chairman of Matsubara."
"I'd just about worked that out."
"Problem is it's him and him alone who's insisting the new factory be in
Britain. The rest of his board want it somewhere in the Euro-zone."
"Which might make more sense."
"Financially. But that's not what Kamata's most concerned about."
Their discourse was interrupted by the return of the waiter. They
browsed the menu quickly. Waddell suggested garlic soup followed by
roast suckling pig.
"They do it crisp as a biscuit here."
"Fine," said Sam.
"Sopa de Ajo and Cochinillo Asado, Manuel," said Waddell in his best
Spanish accent.
The waiter bowed his head and was gone.
"So . . ." Sam pressed, "what is Kamata concerned about?"
I'll tell you a little story. Oh, but first . . . any idea how old Kamata is?"
"Not a clue."
"Nearly eighty."
"Christ! No pensions at Matsubara?"
"Took over the reins of the company from his father. Won't give them
up while he's still got strength in his arms."
"What's his age got to do with anything?"
"A lot. The story starts in 1943 when Tetsuo Kamata was a young officer
in the Japanese Army, carrying out his Imperial duty in Burma. His unit
captured several British soldiers. You know about the Chindits?"
"Wingate's lot. Airdropped behind Japanese lines. Aiming to terrorise the
enemy with sabotage raids. An awful lot of them died."