Japanese Agent Link: https://youtu.be/G6K-p4gm3OI

SYNOPIS

Masaaki Fukada, is the CEO of Tokusaka Corporation based in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

The city of Manchester in England has always been close to his heart since his early career-forming days in London. He was seconded to Nomura working in their Commodities Department.

He saw London excelling in financial services. but the industrial heart throb was in the North of England – Manchester. Its rich history in engineering, manufacturing, and entrepreneurship have always captivated his imagination.

His deep love for football was another attraction with two football giants being close neighbours and rivals. But Manchester Old Boys had definitely a soft spot in his heart.

Over the last few years he has been traumatised by the suffering in his hometown of Fukushima. The earthquake followed by the nuclear disaster left hundreds of people suffering with deep scars and lingering horrible afflictions. He established a Cancer Clinic for badly affected people needing unusual specialized cancer treatment — Tokusaka Cancer Clinic. Personally, he donated over $50 million to equip it with the latest state-of-the-art facilities. He is the patron and visits once every three weeks, time permitting.

Apart from his philanthropic activities, Fukada is a man who has an ego but he keeps it well under control. He has power but never flaunts it. He has money but never brags about it. And he loves acquiring items of Prestige. And most of all, he loves to be loved.

Manchester Old Boys Football Club most certainly falls in this Prestige category. In his mind it is the icon of the north.

Establishing an EV manufacturing facility in Manchester and acquiring a Manchester icon, have now become an obsession.

The Pizza Box Takedown, is a paraquel to the novel Divided We Stand, the latter being the instigating story, if you will. Both are completely standalone novels.

The Pizza Box Takedown introduces a number of new characters; however, the old character names still stand.

The two stories happen simultaneously but The Pizza Box Takedown delves into the detail and tactics as to how control of the Manchester Old Boys Football Club is acquired.

While Jack Jones, the protagonist of Divided We Stand searches for his illusive answers, his white knight and protagonist in The Pizza Box Takedown, Mr Masaaki Fukada, is busy running his group of companies in Tokyo. He is the CEO of the umbrella corporation - Tokusaka K.K.

Corporate intrigue is abundant both in Tokyo and in New York where the Club owners live.

In Japan, the omnibenevolent deity, Mr Masaaki Fukada, reigns supreme.

In European tax havens, billions of dollars are moved across a network of non-descript companies.

Shifting five billion dollars’ worth of shares brings its own intrigue, in-fighting, cynical ploys, gatherings behind closed doors, coercion, machinations, boardroom manipulations and even foul play.

This story gets down to the nitty-gritty. Mr Fukada does not really know what happens five levels below, and he is not keen to understand either. He just writes the cheques.

He has been away for health reason in a clinic in Zurich, Switzerland. In his first day back, he is travelling in his limousine with his trusted lieutenant Kengo Harada.