As I was writing about Iwaki Masahiko, I was wondering what the family actually did for a living.

We know that they are rich (the big, traditional house) and we know that Masahiko had to take care of the house (and possibly also of the family business). But where does the money come from and what is it they do? Iwaki's father is the head of the local Niigata Yakuza group. Not! It is probably something very honourable...

Iwaki travels for his company (that's why he visits when Katou is alone at home, making Katou "enjoy" a loooong day, trying to entertain Masahiko until Iwaki gets away from work), and takes the Shinkansen to Tokyo (takes around 1.5 hour, if you want to know...).

As for Iwaki's father? Is he old enough to have retired?

The Iwaki family lives in Niigata, in Niigata Prefecture - a relatively large city approximately in the middle of Japan. It has around 1.2 million citizens. The main industries are food-related or chemical industries. Niigata has a large international harbour and airport as well. There are seven universities, and several are involved in research and education related to the many agricultural sources in the region. Niigata, due to the meterological conditions in the area (facing the Sea of Japan) has rain/snow/something wet coming out of the sky approximately 170-200 days a year. There is usually a lot of snow during winter.

Useless historical info: Niigata was one of three cities predestined to be A-bombed during WWII (A few other cities had been removed from the list earlier in August). As only two bombs were ready, bad weather over the Niigata area the week before the bombing changed the plans and the bombs were used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki instead.