Raccoon Jun's Laundry Chronicles: Kill Blue

1. The Paradox of the "Resource Curse"

An article in PRESIDENT Online titled "No oil, no iron, 70% of the land is mountains... Yet, what is the reason for Japan's success as a world-leading economic power beyond 'diligence'?" states: "If oil suddenly started gushing out in your garden, what would you do? You would probably stop working hard. You might even stop studying and honing your skills. Because you could live your whole life just by selling the black liquid gushing from your garden. This applies not only to individuals but also to nations. In economic geography, there is a famous paradox called the 'resource curse.' It is the phenomenon where countries blessed with natural resources like oil, natural gas, and diamonds tend to have slower economic growth, more corrupt politics, higher risks of civil war, and populations suffering from poverty." A similar story is that many lottery winners are said to use up their prize money in about 3 to 10 years. This phenomenon is also a common end for those who receive large sums of money through inheritance. The mechanism of the "resource curse" is that if you gain "power" that exceeds your ability to handle it, you end up being controlled by that "power." There is a term called "Imperial Studies" (Teiogaku). If a child born into royalty inherits the throne without education, they cannot control "power" such as status, wealth, authority, military force, and the people, leading them to become arrogant, ruin the country through waste, or follow a path of self-destruction. By having "Imperial Studies" drilled into them from a young age, they acquire governance literacy, such as dignity, political acumen, economic knowledge, and military leadership. We investors, by earning money ourselves, working hard to save to increase our seed money, honing our knowledge to select investment targets, and building assets over time, acquire financial literacy. I suspect this is what makes us different from lottery winners who suddenly get large sums of money or those who become rich through inheritance."}], 2. "The Book to Read from [That Day]"

2. "The Book to Read from [That Day]"

In the investment world, ten-bagger stocks exist, albeit rarely, and if you benefit from a ten-bagger twice, 1 million yen can turn into 100 million yen. In such cases, just like people who suddenly get large sums of money from the lottery, there is a possibility that they have not acquired financial literacy. For such people, there is "The Book to Read from [That Day]." "That day" refers to the day of winning the lottery when one suddenly obtains a large sum of money, and it is said that this booklet is handed to lottery winners. The overview of the book is as follows: This booklet serves as an "instruction manual" to prevent winners from getting carried away or being targeted by malicious people, and to help them enrich their lives. It is also recommended for those who suddenly become millionaires through two ten-baggers.
Chapter 1: From That Day (Immediately after winning): It describes the importance of staying calm first, and the necessity of not telling anyone (keeping it a secret), among other mindsets to maintain composure.
Chapter 2: From That Day to a Few Weeks Later (Receiving and organizing the prize money): It explains the specific procedures for receiving the prize money, how to deposit it into an account without being noticed by those around you, and how to start calm asset management.
Chapter 3: From Now On (Long-term life planning): It summarizes relationships with family and relatives, the benefits of receiving advice from experts (tax accountants, financial planners, etc.), and precautions when making donations or large purchases.

3. Underground Resource Stocks

Japan, which is poor in underground resources, also has underground resource-related stocks. Moreover, the educational level of the Japanese people is high, so there is no worry about resting on the laurels of resources. The fact that Japanese financial literacy is also improving with the introduction of the new NISA is a supporting factor.
<Oil and Natural Gas Development (Core Energy Stocks)>
These are stocks that play a central role in Japan's energy security. Stock prices are strongly influenced by crude oil prices and exchange rates (benefits of a weak yen).
"1605 INPEX": Japan's largest government-affiliated resource development company. It leads LNG projects in Australia and elsewhere.
"1662 Japan Petroleum Exploration": In addition to domestic natural gas field development, it is also participating in technical development for seabed rare earth mud around Minami-Torishima.
"1663 K&O Energy Group": It has strengths in the development and production of natural gas in Chiba Prefecture and boasts world-class production volume of iodine, a byproduct.
<Mineral Resources and Rare Metals (Non-ferrous and Resource Majors)>
These are stocks that handle copper, nickel, gold, and rare earths, which are essential for electric vehicles (EVs) and semiconductors.
"5713 Sumitomo Metal Mining": It owns the "Hishikari Mine," one of the world's leading gold mines, domestically, and is also developing copper and nickel mines overseas.
"1515 Nippon Steel Mining": A Nippon Steel group company, it boasts a top-class domestic share in limestone mining for steelmaking.
"5714 DOWA Holdings": It has strengths in non-ferrous metal smelting and is also attracting attention for "urban mining," which extracts rare metals from used products.
<Seabed and Next-Generation Resource Development (Speculative and Technology Stocks)>
These are companies with the technology to mine rare earth mud, methane hydrate, and manganese nodules sleeping in Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). They have the characteristic of being easily noticed as national policy themes.
"6269 Mitsui E&S": A global leader in Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facilities for offshore oil and gas. It is participating in a rare earth mud development project led by the University of Tokyo.
"6330 Toyo Engineering": A major plant engineering company. It is working on the technical development of a mud-lifting system that efficiently pumps rare earth mud from 6,000 meters below the seabed to the ship.
"6297 Koken Boring Machine": A top manufacturer of boring (drilling) machines for underground development. It has the characteristic of easily attracting funds due to news about the next-generation energy "methane hydrate".

4. Kill Blue

The manga and anime "Kill Blue" by Tadatoshi Fujimaki is a slapstick comedy where Juzo Ogami, a skilled hitman belonging to the assassination organization "Z.O.O.," is stung by a mysterious bee one day and loses consciousness. When he wakes up, he has changed from a 39-year-old adult into a 13-year-old child. Juzo infiltrates a junior high school, and the story unfolds as other hitmen targeting his secret and assassins related to Noren Mitsuoka, the top heiress of Mitsuoka Pharmaceutical, infiltrate one after another. The setting of "looks like a child, brain of an adult" has something in common with Detective Conan. He is a cheat junior high student who possesses both adult knowledge and experience, and the physical toughness of a first-class hitman. This is the exact opposite of people who suddenly get large sums of money and step onto the path of ruin because they lack financial literacy. One of the most famous quotes symbolizing Spider-Man is, "With great power comes great responsibility." This is a piece of knowledge that those aiming to become millionaires should keep in mind.

The Book to Read from [That Day]

https://www.takarakuji-official.jp/mypage/kuji/pdf/lottery-winners-handbook.pdf

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