One of the oldest and most influential megacorporations in the world of Cyberpunk is Arasaka.
It has played a pivotal part in some of the franchises most important stories and is set
to be a major player in Cyberpunk 2077.
In many ways it's looking like Arasaka's role in the game is set to be the culmination of
characters and plotlines the pen and paper game has been building for decades.
So before we see it play out in the video game, you need to know the history of Arasaka,
who its major players are, and how the simple manufacturing company became a trojan horse
for world domination.
The now monolithic Arasaka started out as a simple Japanese manufacturing company.
It was founded around the turn of the twentieth century by Sasai Arasaka, a clever businessman
with a talent for predicting the direction the world was going.
He saw World War 2 on the horizon and positioned his company as a major military manufacturer
for Japan, bringing him a lot of success.
Sasai also had the foresight to see that Japan would lose, so Arasaka began distributing
its vast wealth to overseas accounts, sparing itself from the ruin of the Japanese economy
following the country's surrender.
In the years following the war, Arasaka would slowly trickle those funds back in, keeping
the company on top as a vital part of Japan.
That’s how Arasaka got its start but the history of the modern day Arasaka begins with
Sasai’s son, Saburo.
Saburo Arasaka was a renowned pilot during WW2.
He was fiercely nationalistic, strongly believing that Japan should take its rightful place
as leader of the world.
Japan’s surrender at the end of World War 2 was a huge blow for Saburo, who contemplated suicide,
but like his father he had the vision and foresight to think ahead.
Saburo saw the global economic path the world was taking and knew that while Japan had failed
militarily, it could succeed commercially.
Thanks to his father’s actions, Arasaka continued to thrive and accrue a massive fortune
after the war.
So Saubro prepared and waited until his Father’s death in 1960 when he assumed control of Arasaka.
It was then time for Saubro to start his long game.
His end goal?
To bring back Japan to imperial glory and become a political and economic superpower
that controlled the world.
Saburo's first step was to create and expand the Arasaka Bank.
The bank acted as the reliable backbone of the company, always providing good income
thanks to smart business decisions on Saburo’s end.
This allowed Arasaka the freedom to invest in other ventures such as the Arasaka Security
Division, which provided the highest standards of electronic security as well as physical
manpower like armed guards.
By the 1990’s Arasaka Security was the most powerful and respected security company in
the world, with thousands of businesses using their services.
And then the collapse happened.
Ever the forward-thinker, Saubro saw the economic crash coming and made preparations as well
as a few manipulations in order to profit from the destruction of modern society.
Arasaka came out of the collapse as one of the largest corporations in the world, and
it was time for Saubro’s masterplan to take shape.
Arasaka Security would create one of the first corporate armies.
Saburo would go on a spree, buying out valuable businesses with Arasaka Bank in one hand,
and eviscerating the competition with his personal army with the other.
By 2020 the mantle of CEO passed to Saburo’s eldest son, Kei Arasaka.
But in many ways Kei was just a figurehead and the true power and decision making still
lay with the 101 year old Saburo.
His mind was still as sharp as ever and his goal of complete world domination was ever
present.
The only thing keeping him from achieving it was alliances made by other corporations
in the interest of keeping Arasaka in check.
One such corporation was Militech, an American arms manufacturer and military contractor.
Militech was Arasaka’s biggest competitor and this rivalry would end up being the source
of Arasaka’s first major defeat.
What would later be known as the Fourth Corporate War started in 2021 as a simple rivalry between
two CINO and OTEC, which were fighting over the assets of the recently bankrupt IHAG.
Looking to gain the upper hand, both turned to the backing of large megacorps for military
resources.
OTEC went with Militech, and CINO went with Arasaka.
The two mega corps had been at each other's throats for years and this was the perfect
excuse they had been looking for to begin a proxy war where they could battle it out.
And like many proxy wars it stopped being about a dispute over a bankrupt company's
assets.
In fact by 2022 CINO and OTEC had settled their little war, but Arasaka and Militech
were just getting started and tensions quickly escalated into a very real war.
Many organizations and countries around the globe were dragged into their conflict, including
the United States and Japan, both of whose economies heavily relied on Militech and Arasaka
respectively.
Things were spiraling out of control quickly as this corporate rivalry was setting the
world on fire.
Eventually Arasaka began losing ground in the United States with its final major hold
out being Night City, home of its American headquarters.
This all led to one of the most important moments in the world of Cyberpunk.
Militech sent several strike teams of mercenaries to infiltrate Arasaka Tower.
One of which was led by the legendary Johnny Silverhand.
You can learn more about why Johnny was involved in our video on him.
There's a lot that happened in Araska Tower that day, enough to do a whole video on it
alone, but the most important thing is how it ended.
A thermonuclear device was detonated, resulting in the destruction of Central Night City and
the deaths of over half a million people in what would be referred to as the Night City
Holocaust.
The blame was placed on Arasaka and US President Elizabeth Kress used the event to nationalize
Militech and expel Arasaka from the United States.
Small conflicts continued for two more years but at this point Arasaka had lost.
CEO Kei Arasaka, eldest son of Saburo, committed suicide in 2025, offically bringing the Forth
Corporate War to an end.
The fallout of the war severely damaged Arasaka.
All its overseas assets had been seized by different governments, and it was kicked out
of pretty much everywhere.
The Japanese government, which had long butted heads with Arasaka, was terrified of a potential
retaliation from other nations, despite not being directly involved.
But the government still needed Arasaka due to its massive influence on the Japanese economy.
So the government nationalized all of Arasaka’s assets and Arasaka became a Japan-only company
for the next decade.
With the loss of its CEO and power, an internal power struggle took place within Arasaka.
There are three major players.
The first was the Kiji, led by Hanako Arasaka, the youngest daughter of Saburo.
Hanako is an intelligent and kind hearted woman who wanted to live an independent life
rather than be a pawn in her father's corporate game, which is perhaps why she led a faction
to grab the power for herself.
Next there’s the Hato faction, led by Michiko Arasaka, the youngest daughter of the late
Kei.
She is a US citizen and had the backing of the US Government, which wanted to take control
of Arasaka.
The final group is the outside rebel faction Taka, led by Yorinobu Arasaka, another of
Soburo’s children.
Yorinobu is by far the most interesting of the three.
When his father told him of the true purpose of the Arasaka Corporation, Yorinobu left
his family in disgust.
He went on to become a famous Rockerboy, the Johnny Silverhand of Japan; moreso in the
rebellious spirit as he was not an actual musician.
He started the Steel Dragons (Kotetsu no Ryu), a gang he used to attack Arasaka from the
shadows.
Yorinobu was even involved in the events leading up to the Nuclear detonation of Arasaka Tower.
Unfortunately there’s not much information on the details of this decade long family
rivalry.
However, the conflict was eventually solved and Arasaka reunited under one banner again.
Arasaka spent much of the next several decades rebuilding power and regaining a foothold
outside of Japan.
A return to America was tricky following its expulsion in 2023, but an opportunity presented
itself for Arasaka to worm its way back in.
The New United States had what was known as the Unification War in 2069, an attempt by
the government to regain control of a series of free states that had seceded from the nation.
Night City had long been warry of the US after it basically abandoned the city following
the Night City Holocaust.
The City avoided involvement in the war until the federal invasion of Coronado Bay gave
them no choice but to act.
City Councilman Lucius Rhyne turned to Arasaka for help.
This was the opportunity Arasaka was looking for and it showed up days later with a supercarrier
causing a swift retreat of the NUSA.
The sudden involvement of Arasaka drummed up fears of another 4th Corporate War level
crisis, and as such the New United States backed down and signed a treaty of unification,
ending the short lived war.
Night City was now an independent city-state and by the present day of 2077, Arasaka was
once again in control of the city.
Which brings us to the upcoming game in which Arasaka plays a pretty major role.
If you pick the Corpo Life Path option, main character V will start as an employee for
Arasaka's counterintelligence division and you’ll get to see the ruthless Arasaka corporate
lifestyle for yourself.
The company is also involved in the game’s main plot, which involves stealing an ancient
prototype chip from Arasaka.
Expect an appearance from Saburo Arasaka himself, who is still CEO of the company at the ripe
old age of 158.
How can he possibly still be alive you ask?
We’ll let's just say Saburo had plans long ago to download his personality into an AI
when he died.
The very existence of this piece of tech has been at the heart of many of Cyberpunk’s
most important stories and will be an important part of the game.
Yorinobu will also play a role in the story.
He has, for unknown reasons, returned to the fold of his father’s empire.
But knowing him, he has his own plans and motivations.
The events of Cyberpunk 2077 might end up being another major chapter in the history
of Arasaka.
We covered a lot of information today and there are plenty of details left for further
exploration.
In fact, next week Jake will be diving deeper into the Fourth Corporate War so make sure
to come back for that.
As always let us know if there’s a particular subject in the world of Cyberpunk you want
to know more about, and thanks for watching.