Ten years ago on Nov. 24, Yamaichi Securities Co., Japan's then fourth-largest brokerage, ended its 100-year history in disgrace amid the throes of the economic malaise that followed the collapse of the bubble economy.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2007/nn20071124f1a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='191'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>Osami Nagano, named 'Japan's top salesman' by monthly magazine Nikkei Venture in 1990, is now president of Mercury Staffing Co., a job-placement agency serving mainly financial institutions. </B> KYODO PHOTO</FONT></TD> </TR> <TABLE> </PHOTO> <PARAGRAPH>The company opted to voluntarily close its operations despite the frantic efforts of management to resuscitate its moribund business.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Yamaichi went down with &#165;260 billion worth of off-the-balance-sheet debts as a result of massive investment losses that the managers had tried to conceal to no avail.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>While announcing the demise of his company at a press conference, then Yamaichi President Shohei Nozawa broke down in tears and his crestfallen image, perceived as emblematic of the battered state of the Japanese economy as a whole, made front-page news across the world.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>As Nozawa's speech came toward its tearful conclusion, he said, 'It's excruciatingly painful to think about the fate of our 7,500 workers and their families.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'The managers alone are to blame and no other staff did anything wrong. So I beseech –

for cooperation so that Yamaichi workers won't be thrown onto the street."

A sizable number of Yamaichi workers were taken on by Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co., a Japanese unit of Merrill Lynch and Co. of the United States. Others were fortunate enough to find employment with other financial institutions.

Some used all the courage and business acumen they could muster to go into completely different lines of business, like running a pub or a golf course, to cite a few unique examples.

Tamizo Kimura, 57, used to be a Yamaichi securities analyst specializing in the TV and technology sectors. He seized on a business opportunity created by the advent of advanced digitization technology that transformed the rules of the game in the video production business.