Well, the investments began maybe close to four years ago, and I was looking at company after company, as I'll do every day, and I just thought these were big companies.

投資を始めたのは4年近く前のことで、毎日のように次から次へと会社を見ていた。

They were companies that I generally understood what they did.

彼らが何をしているのか大体理解できる会社だった。

Some were similar to Berkshire and that they owned lots of different interests, and they were selling at what I thought was a ridiculous price, particularly the price compared to the interest rates prevailing at that time.

バークシャーに似ているところもあり、さまざまな権益を所有していることもわかった。

So I started buying all five of the five largest trading companies, and by my 90th birthday, August 30th of 2000, whatever it was, we had bought just somewhat over five percent of each company, and we were buying identical amounts.

それで私は5つの大手商社をすべて買い始め、私の90歳の誕生日（2000年8月30日）までに、各社の5％強を購入した。

So we announced at that time that we bought this five percent interest in each of the five.

そこで私たちはそのとき、5つの会社のそれぞれ5パーセントの株を買い取ると発表した。

I wrote a letter to the CEOs of each of the companies saying the same thing, that Berkshire would never buy more than 9.9 percent without their consent, and that was my word.

バークシャーは、彼らの同意なしに9.9％以上を買うことはない。

And they all welcomed us in, and their results have exceeded our expectations since we purchased the group.

そして彼らは皆、私たちを迎え入れてくれた。私たちがグループを購入して以来、彼らの結果は私たちの期待以上だった。

I think their dividends on average have gone up 70 percent or something like that, and we now own 7.4 percent of each of the companies.

平均して配当金は70％ほど上がっていると思う。

And I just, Greg and I together, we wanted to come over and talk to them, and so we got on a Netshift plane and flew over, and we have had a terrific time meeting each of the five sequentially over the last two days, and it's been fascinating.

そして、グレッグと私は一緒に、彼らに会いに行って話をしたいと思い、ネットシフトの飛行機に乗って飛んでいった。

And we feel even better about what, but we couldn't feel better about the investment.

そして、私たちはさらに良い気分になっているが、投資についてはこれ以上良い気分にはなれない。

And over that time, we've sold periodically yen-denominated bonds.

そしてその間、定期的に円建て債券を売却してきた。

So more or less, we don't do it precisely, but we've insulated ourselves from exchange rate changes.

だから、多かれ少なかれ、正確にはやっていないが、為替レートの変動から身を守っている。

So it's worked out very well so far, but we'll be in these stocks 10, 20 years.

だから、今のところはとてもうまくいっているが、10年、20年とこの株を続けていくことになるだろう。

I mean, we weren't buying with the idea they'd go next week, next month, next year.

つまり、来週、来月、来年に行くという考えで買っていたわけではないんだ。

But we have had revelations about each of the companies that, well, Greg and I are just fascinated by it.

しかし、私たちはそれぞれの会社について、グレッグと私が魅了されるような発見をした。

Was it worth the trip?

遠征する価値はあったのか？

Oh, absolutely.

そうだね。

It's been a great trip.

素晴らしい旅だった。

I mean, they've been exceptional in how they've communicated, both with their performance, but just their approach to business.

つまり、彼らはパフォーマンスだけでなく、ビジネスへの取り組み方においても卓越したコミュニケーション能力を持っている。

What'd you learn since you've been here?

ここに来て何を学びましたか？

I think the thing that stands out very quickly to us is they came to the meetings wanting to build a relationship and strengthen it.

私たちにとって非常に印象的だったのは、彼らがミーティングに参加し、関係を築き、強化しようとしていたことだ。

So they understand we've invested in their companies, but from the very get-go, when we start the conversations with them, they come each with their own story, and it's around building trust in that relationship with them.

だから、彼らは私たちが彼らの会社に投資していることを理解している。しかし、私たちが彼らと会話を始めると、最初から彼らはそれぞれのストーリーを持ってやってきて、彼らとの信頼関係を築くことになる。

Meaning what?

どういう意味だ？

That there are other potential deals that you all could do together?

あなた方全員が一緒にできる可能性のある取引が他にもあると？

We've clearly made it, each time we've met with them, we said we very much like the core investment.

私たちは彼らと会うたびに、コア投資がとても気に入っていると言ってきた。

But to the extent they can identify an incremental opportunity that we could do with any of the five companies, we would very much evaluate it quickly, and Warren highlighted the bigger the better, and that he'll answer the phone on the first ring.

ウォーレンは、大きければ大きいほどいいと強調し、最初の呼び出し音で電話に出ると言った。

And we'll never run out of money.

お金が尽きることはない。

I mean, they can call us anytime, and it may be that what they have interests us, it may not, but they'll have an answer, you know, bingo.

つまり、彼らはいつでも僕らに電話できるし、彼らが持っているものが僕らに興味があるかもしれないし、ないかもしれない。

And if we make a deal, the money will be on the way, and we look forward to it.

そして、もし契約が成立すれば、そのお金はすぐに支払われる。

And I'm just astounded at how they really, they're all different, and they're all the same at the same time.

そして、彼らが本当に、みんな違っていて、同時にみんな同じであることに驚かされるんだ。

I mean, we'd learned about five different individual companies, but it was not exactly what we expected.

つまり、私たちは5つの異なる個々の会社について学んだが、それは私たちが期待していたものとはまったく違っていた。

It was better than we expected in every respect.

あらゆる点で期待以上だった。

People look at this and say, okay, Warren Buffett is putting his stamp of approval on investing in Japan, basically.

人々はこれを見て、よし、ウォーレン・バフェットは基本的に日本への投資にお墨付きを与えている、と言う。

Is that an accurate read?

それは正確な読みか？

Well, yeah, it was an accurate read, but it was an accurate read a couple of years ago, too.

まあ、そうだね、正確な読みだったけど、2、3年前も正確な読みだったよ。

I mean, I was confounded by the fact that we could buy into these companies and, in effect, have an earnings yield of maybe 14% or something like that with dividends that would grow.

つまり、これらの企業に投資することで、実質的に14％程度の利益利回りを得ることができ、配当も増えていくという事実に、私は困惑したのだ。

They actually grew 70% during that time.

その間に70％も成長した。

And the people were investing their money at a quarter of a percent or nothing.

そして、人々は4分の1パーセントかゼロパーセントで資金を運用していた。

And that quarter percent, if they put it out for many years, wasn't going to grow, and the 14% was more likely to grow than not.

そして、その4分の1は何年も出しても伸びないし、14％は伸びないより伸びる可能性の方が高かった。

And if that doesn't look like something sensible to me, that's as easy as it gets, but it's turned out to be better than I thought it would be.

そして、それが私にとって賢明なものに見えないのであれば、それは簡単なことなのだが、思っていたよりも良い結果になった。