Chapter 259 – The 1932 Houou-kai

“Now then, we will begin the 1932 Houou-kai!”

With those words from the master of ceremonies over the microphone, thunderous applause echoed throughout the large hall.

On April 17, the Ootori presidents’ meeting, the “Houou-kai”(Phoenix Association), was held.

This year’s Houou-kai was even more charged with excitement than last year. After all, a powerful tailwind was now blowing behind the Ootori Group.

The Ootori Group had already begun making aggressive purchases around the latter half of 1930, but starting this spring Ootori Trading had entered a state of full operation. There were so many purchases that there weren’t enough ships to carry everything from the United States. Even gathering up surplus merchant vessels from across Japan wasn’t enough, and we had ended up having American ships transport cargo as well.

Even that wasn’t sufficient, so shipyards affiliated with Ootori had been operating