Three of the men were scholars, but the fourth man never studied anything. In fact, he had never read a book in his life. He just got along as best as he could on his own common sense. But the four men had been friends as children, and they remained friends despite their differences.
Stock prices declined from late July as foreign institutional investors sold stocks in line with a decline in U.S. and European stock prices, and are recently moving around 9,500-10,000 yen. In the foreign exchange market, the yen rose to 115-116 yen in mid-July reflecting the overall downtrend in the U.S. dollar, and is currently fluctuating at around 120 yen to the U.S. dollar.