Shinagawa Station

CLASS: Mifune

GRAVITY: Partial

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Yes

POPULATION: 2K

Shinagawa Station is the headquarters for Kishiro, one of the two largest *keiretsu* -- vast corporate networks -- in the Kusari Empire. While not as politically well-connected as their primary competitor, Samura, Kishiro has instead focused its efforts on developing cutting-edge technology. Its most notable breakthrough was in 91 AS when scientists working aboard Shinagawa perfected the mass production of Optical Chips using a common Polymer base. These Optical Chips have since become key components in everything from Optronics to ships to Jump Gates and Trade Lanes.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* Border World Exports
* Kishiro Technologies
* Samura Industries

## Commodities

* Water
* Pharmaceuticals
* Cardamine

* H-Fuel
* Optical Chips
* Polymers

## Rumors

* Kishiro prefers a more focused approach to our businesses than Samura. We left the Food production area centuries ago, because it was clear that the sector was far removed from our core strengths in technology and shipbuilding.
* Unlike Samura in Hokkaido, Kishiro had to pay for the Jump Gates to Sigma-17. We shared the costs with the GMG, who will receive more equitable prices for their Fuel than they ever did with Samura. That is the right way to do business.
* Food from Deshima is transferred here to smaller ships and redistributed to our bases in Honshu and Sigma-19. We also receive regular shipments of Polymers, used in the Optical Chip fabrication process, from our Nago operation in Tau-29.
* We dominate the Honshu system. Samura controls the farmers of Kyushu. Shikoku is more complicated, as it is the one place where there are many foreigners in Kusari. We have exploited the cheap labor rates to open Consumer Goods factories there, much to the dismay of Samura, who once dominated the Kusari domestic market.
* Just between you and me, we intend to abandon the cargo shipping business within a few years. The competition is fierce, and the criminal element is making it more costly to insure our cargo. Look at IC and Ageira. They make incredible profits off of technology monopolies and their licensing. That is the future for Kishiro.
* Kishiro is the technology leader of Kusari. We design and manufacture everything from advanced Engine Components and Optronics to Optical Chips and Gas Miners. We also process and ship raw materials like Hydrocarbons and Polymers.
* We view the Golden Chrysanthemums and Blood Dragons as misguided political terrorists who occasionally engage in acts of piracy against our ships. They embody the pent up frustrations that certain elements of Kusari society are feeling towards the glacial pace of change in Tokyo.
* Our company was founded in 91 AS by a man of infinite wisdom named Katsuhiro Kishiro. Kishiro-san is the father of quantum optronics as we know it today. His vision has carried us successfully through the centuries.
* Those Hogosha are nothing but common thieves. Did you know that some of them are technically employees of Samura by day? In their ”off–duty” hours they go and steal from Kishiro and any other competitor of Samura. This kind of behavior is what feeds the terrorists' justification for their actions.
* We are trying to decipher the Trade Lane and Jump Gate technology that Liberty has so closely guarded for many years. Spies tell us that they may have learned how to apply it directly to ships, thus allowing them to instantaneously jump from place to place in the universe without any need for static field generators.
* We see the Hokkaido campaign as a thinly veiled attempt by Samura to force the taxpayers of Kusari to pay for their access to new H-Fuel fields in the Crow Nebula in the name of fighting the threat of the Blood Dragons. The government has no intention of ever completing the Chugoku Gate. They will abandon it within the next few years, declaring victory over the evil terrorists.