Kei Arasaka

Kei Arasaka (荒坂 敬) (born in Tokyo, Japan, 1980), was the first child of Saburo Arasaka and either his first or second wife. From 1997 to 2023, he was the acting CEO of the Arasaka Corporation.

As the oldest of his father's three children by fifteen years and his father's most trusted confidante, he was the logical heir to the Arasaka Empire. Kei shared his father's ideals of Arasaka dominating the world no matter the cost, but not his temper, instead going about his duties in an efficient and calculated manner. This, along with his habit of rarely showing emotion, led to the reputation of being cold. His relationship with his half-sister Hanako was one-sided: While he cared for her and worked hard to ensure her happiness, she never grew to like him.

When his half-brother Yorinobu betrayed the corporation, Kei vowed to kill him, but never managed to accomplish the feat.

Kei died as he had lived: for his father's ambition and corporation, thinking of the honour of his family.

1980 - 1990s
Kei Arasaka was the eldest son of Saburo Arasaka, born in 1980 Tokyo, Japan, who would eventually become CEO of the Arasaka Corporation. He was his Saburo's most trusted child, and the only who believed in his fathers goals, enough so to that he continued his father's work after becoming CEO of the corporation. Kei was challenged in rigorous schools and from a early age, he was groomed to inherit the corporation after his father's retirement. His experience in business, finance, and investing is only second to Saburo.

Kei considered himself of a man of action; in 1999, he amused himself by training at the Hokkaido facility, but when he took this training more seriously than his schooling, Saburo put a stop to it immediately. He still kept fit and occasionally practiced marksmanship and martial arts even after leaving the training camp.

2000s
Kei took control of the corporation in the 2000s, in his 20s he was the CEO of the Arasaka corporation, and he had many years of executive experience, despite his age. Although it was said that Saburo still made the most critical decisions. Kei had always been fully aware of his father's methods and the true scope of Arasaka's power. He shared the same ideals of his father, in his nationalistic dreams and had every intention of following through even after his father passed away. Unlike Saburo, who almost never leaves home, Kei traveled around the world and into LEO on business. In fact, he was abroad just as often as he was in Tokyo or at the family compound.

At some point in the 2000s Kei married his fiancé, an American woman of pure Japanese decent. Kei and his wife then had Michiko, the first grandchild of Saburo. Kei was afraid of the trouble his family could get into if rivals knew of their ties to the Arasaka Corporation, he also kept it secret from his family in Japan because of the effects it would have on his father. Kei knew his father would disapprove of a half American granddaughter, despite being pure Japanese. Kei protected his family by keeping them a secret as he carried out his duties around the world.

While Saburo's spirits would rise and fall with the fortunes of his brainchild, Kei maintained a detachment he considered imperative to objective decision-making. Very rarely did Kei actually show emotion, and when he did it was only with trusted friends and family.

2023
At the time of the Fourth Corporate War in 2023, Kei was responsible for a great deal of the daily operations during the IHAG fracas. He viewed the fight like any other business operation. However, in the Arasaka tradition, Kei would stop at nothing to make sure his side was victorious, and he would never step down from a direct offense to Arasaka.

He was now fully behind his father's war. However he knew the conflict war wasn't going to end well. Kei saw the war as just another part of the game for power, and considered everyone in it to be chess pieces of different levels rather than people. It was also now that he was working directly with General Ubo Tanaka. He was ready to sacrifice major assets in order to win. The only thing left was his contingency plans that he hoped would save the zaibatsu if the worst occurs and Arasaka lost.

After his compound was rushed and all his guards killed, Kei had then lost everything. Kei was visited by Spider Murphy wearing a kimono, alone with Rogue and Shaitan, on his ship the Sea Viper. They shared sake together, as she explained his failure to the corporation, his family, and himself. His own nation had turned on him and Murphy took advantage of it. She appealed to Kei's samurai roots and convinced him "seppuku" was the only way to restore honor to his family and everything they built. Kei reluctantly agreed by uploading his consciousness into a digital prison, using the Soulkiller device she had mentioned. Kei died, ending the war and restoring his honor.

Trivia

 * His name in the native Kanji appears to be 荒坂 敬, according to a post by a Japanese CDPR forum moderator.