Son family

"By the time Masa was in his early teens, Mitsunori was supporting up to 20 members of the extended Son family. Every weekend they would pitch up on the outskirts of Tosu in their flashy foreign cars to visit the grandparents still content to live in the Korean ghetto. This picture is far removed from later accounts of Son family poverty. On the contrary, the Son family’s wealth provided the security for Masa’s future career as an entrepreneur in Japan."

"The Son family’s path out of poverty was breeding and selling hogs. Because pigs reproduce faster than cattle or sheep, and Mitsunori was working 18 hours a day selling the animals for slaughter, the family’s finances rapidly transformed. Masa’s father had free family labour, free feed from restaurant scraps, and no rent because his family were squatters. It was all income, no expenses. Having set himself a target of ¥5m ($14,000) in five years, Mitsunori ended up making ¥40m ($111,000).[fn2](private://read/01jg9b8njt7zc5haz30afb9n29/#ch2_2f)"