I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 120: Winning awards is so much fun, good people will eventually be rewarded (two in one, the award-winning plot is not divided into two chapters, 3 missing)

12 month 15 day.

Before Hide Kitagawa could even wait for the day to go to the Asakusa Shrine in Tokyo to find a shrine maiden to consecrate his deity, he already received a series of good news.

The selection committees for the three film awards, the Hochi Film Award, the Nikkan Sports Film Award, and the Mainichi Film Award, called Kitagawa Hide and asked him to bring the main creative team of "Akadashi" to attend the award ceremony.

"Akumidori", which was released on November 11, was miraculously shortlisted for these three prestigious film awards, which made Shunji Iwai and others excited.

According to the ranking rules for literary awards, among the awards in the film industry, the Japan Academy Award is the undisputed number one, while among these three awards, the Mainichi Film Award is ranked at the bottom of the second place, and the Nikkan Sports Film Award and the Hochi Film Award are ranked in the third place.

At least they are major awards that the film industry can boast of.

The reason why the Nikkan Sports Film Award and the Hochi Film Award have less influence lies in the organizers. The boss of the former is the Nikkan Sports Newspaper, and the boss of the latter is the Hochi Shimbun. The behind-the-scenes manipulators of the two news agencies are middle and lower-level chaebols, and their strength is slightly weaker than that of the Noma family and the Kawade family.

To be honest, Kitagawa Hide really doesn't care about awards. These things are not as attractive to him as the several million yen bonus.

But people like Iwai Shunji are completely different. They are ordinary Japanese people at heart. They have no resistance to awards, honors, and recognition. They are the kind of people who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of winning an award.

In order to look respectable at the award ceremony, the boastful and drinking trio plus driver Kinoshita plan to go to a suit shop to order a set of expensive ceremonial suits.

However, when they arrived at the suit shop, they found that even if they invested all their film remuneration, they could not afford even one sleeve of a custom-made suit, so they had to return to "Peter Cat" and drown their sorrows in alcohol.

After hearing about this, Jabami Rei, who is also a member of the main creative team, immediately thought of her good friend Tomoyo Kobayashi. Her family used to run a suit shop. Although the shop has closed down and turned into a more popular tailor shop, the craftsmanship is still there. It is a good shop with high quality products and low prices and a very high cost-effectiveness!

Kitagawa Hide, who had been struggling to come up with any inspiration for plagiarism recently and was thinking about whether he should just copy a popular book, suddenly drove his newly bought Mercedes-Benz worth 500 million yen and took a few people to Kobayashi Tailor Shop, just to collect inspiration for the new book.

Upon hearing the news, Kobayashi's mother went out with a smile on her face. She is a traditional Japanese woman who has worked hard for her husband and daughter all her life. During the most difficult times, she worked three odd jobs a day and also ran a tailor shop. She is less than 50 years old, but already has a head full of white hair and wrinkles.

Ken Kobayashi, sitting in a wheelchair, went out for the first time holding "No Longer Human".

After suffering a cerebral hemorrhage and becoming half paralyzed, the once famous king of suits has become a coward, afraid to even leave the house.

After watching "No Longer Human", Ken Kobayashi started to go back to his old job, ironing clothes to supplement his family income and regained the confidence to live.

Although life is still difficult, there is always hope.

This hope was given by Kitagawa Hide.

"Teacher Kitagawa! Teacher Kitagawa! Please, please come in! I've heard Tomoyo talk about you many times! I didn't expect that..."

Kobayashi Ken was so excited that he was incoherent and almost rolled off his wheelchair. He seemed to want to kowtow to Kitagawa Hide, which scared Kitagawa Hide and the others.

The group entered the store. Because it was a weekday and Tomoyo Kobayashi and her friends were still studying at the University of Tokyo, Kobayashi's mother warmly welcomed everyone and then measured the bodies of Shirou and the others.

Kitagawa Hide and Kobayashi Ken were sitting in the side of the room.

"I also bought "Akadashi" and "I Am a Cat"! I also watched the movie! It was filmed so well! Mr. Kitagawa, I...I..."

Kobayashi Ken was very excited.

In the ten years from 85 to 95, he experienced the sudden wealth after the Plaza Accord, the extravagance of the bubble era, and the despair of the depression. His life went from the bottom to the peak and then back to the bottom again.

If it weren't for Mr. Kitagawa's books, he would probably have committed suicide more than a dozen times.

Kitagawa Hide was also very emotional.

Thinking back to when I first went to hang out outside Kodansha, my initial thought was simply to pay off my debts.

As he copied more and more books, he found that those books actually had such a huge impact on society and ordinary people, which was beyond his expectations.

Kitagawa Hideichi has always been very clear about himself.

Anyone can be a time traveler or a plagiarist. There is nothing to be proud of. It would be a big stupidity if you fail to do it well.

Therefore, his goal has always been money, and now in addition to a more comfortable life, he wants to live a perfect and interesting life with Yumeko, and to make the people around him better as well.

Now looking at Ken Kobayashi, listening to him chattering about his life and the situation of the Kobayashi family.

Kitagawa Hide suddenly realized that although he was plagiarizing, his works and the books he wrote were no longer what they used to be because of their current fame and were no longer just a tool to make money.

Today, there are hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of people who are his fans. They read his books and draw knowledge and advice on how to behave in the world from them.

Some people even make a living from it and take it as their life creed.

Whether he admits it or not, he is rushing towards becoming the best writer in the world, or even on a higher literary path.

It is acceptable for one’s virtue to be unworthy of one’s position, but it cannot be seriously unworthy of one’s position.

It is okay to plagiarize, but you cannot plagiarize just for your own pleasure or to make money.

In the post-bubble era, the Japanese literary world needs a top writer who deserves the title of "literary giant".

Perhaps we should set our goals and ideals a little more ambitious.

Listening to Ken Kobayashi's words, Kitagawa Hide recalled a classic scene in "Ultraman Nexus". Nexus, who was forced into a desperate situation, could not retreat because behind him were thousands of lights!

Perhaps Himeya Jun, as the human body of Nexus, would not know this until his death, but from the moment he became Nexus, he was burdened with such a fate.

"Teacher Kitagawa, can I make a suit for you?" Kobayashi Ken's voice trembled. He hesitated for a long time before whispering, "If you can wear the suit I made to accept the award on stage, it will be a lifetime honor for me."

"I, I'm not calling for my store."

"Of course!" Kitagawa Hide nodded in agreement without hesitation.

Although Ken Kobayashi has difficulty in moving, his skills are still there. The moment he gets Kitagawa Hide's permission and picks up the ruler again.

He felt like he was finally alive.

Finally, the real "second day" of life began after the cerebral hemorrhage.

The day after Ken Kobayashi and his wife delivered the suits, a week of busy award ceremony began.

Kitagawa Hide, who was attending such a grand ceremony for the first time, was also very nervous. Sitting in the audience, he felt the anticipation and anxiety of waiting for the lottery draw.

On December 12th, the film won nothing at the Mainichi Film Awards. Kitagawa Hide, who was in the audience at the time, felt like his palms had turned red from clapping. In the end, "Akira" was only shortlisted for various awards and won nothing.

Rena Saito, who was also experiencing it for the first time, was also confused. In the end, it was Shunji Iwai who told them that for Japanese film awards, if you have strong connections, you can find out in advance whether you have won the award, but most of the time it is just like opening a blind box.

Many awards like to invite some creative teams that cannot win awards but are quite famous to support the event and increase the traffic of the awards. Obviously, the Daily Film Award regards "Akira" and Kitagawa Hide as traffic packages.

Generally in such situations, the organizer will inform them in advance or compensate them afterwards.

But this time, the jury of the Daily Film Awards seemed to have collectively lost their memory and did not say anything.

Kitagawa Hide was so angry that he remembered the two organizers: Mainichi Shimbun and Sports Nippon Newspaper. He would repay them double if he had the chance in the future!
Fortunately, "Akira" achieved a rare big harvest at the Hochi Film Awards and Nikkan Sports Film Awards on December 12 and 20!

"Akudama" won four awards at the 20th Hochi Film Awards: Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Jabami Rei), Best Director, and Best Audience Award.

Iwai Shunji and Jabami Rei, who was still a sophomore, instantly became the two most popular people in the Tokyo Prince Hotel (the venue for the awards ceremony at the time)!

Not long after being fired by Nikkatsu, Shunji Iwai proudly won the first director award in his life. He picked up the trophy and burst into tears. The first person he thanked was Mr. Kitagawa, who was willing to accept his business card and then suddenly called to invite him, a newcomer, to be a supervisor.

Jabami Rei was stunned when she received the award. The literary girl she played could only be considered the sixth female role, but she actually won the Best Supporting Actress award at the Third Film Awards, which instantly beat more than 90% of the professional actresses in the film industry.

This almost shook Jabami Rei's future career plan!

The most interesting one is the 8th Nikkan Sports Film Awards.

"Akumi" won five major awards: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress (Mayumi Aso), Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Work.

Also nominated was "Hear the Wind Sing", which was taken off the screen early. It was nominated for the same award as "Agara", but ran away with it for one night.

Because this is the only prestigious film award nominated for the movie version of "Hear the Wind Sing", the creative team actually came to the banquet hall of Chang Fu Palace Hotel to attend the award ceremony.

Then they watched with gloomy faces as the people from "芥廾" ran to receive the award with a smile.

Shunji Iwai, who was fired from Nikkatsu, was really proud of himself.

This film award is indeed interesting, because the organizer is the Nikkan Sports News, so at first glance at the name you might think it is an award for sports films, and its fame is never really up to par.

In order to boost the popularity of the award, the Nikkan Sports News started to do some fancy things.

This time, the two major teams of "芥廾" and "且聽风吟" were deliberately invited, obviously to stir up the topic.

This film award also has two additional awards, the Yujiro Ishihara Award and the Yujiro Ishihara Newcomer Award.

This was created by the Nikkan Sports News in memory of Yujiro Ishihara, a representative Japanese film star who died in 1987.

The award is fully assisted and operated by Ishihara PROMOTION. The work that received the most support from fans that year is awarded the Ishihara Yujiro Award, and the most promising newcomer is awarded the Ishihara Yujiro Newcomer Award, with prize money of 300 million yen and 100 million yen respectively.

The former was awarded to Akebono and the latter was awarded to Dangoshiro.

The most interesting thing about this matter is that Yujiro Ishihara is Shintaro Ishihara's younger brother, the one who forced real sex on the heroine in "Season of the Sun"!

The conflict between Shintaro Ishihara and Hide Kitagawa is now well known.

It's ironic that a top "upper-class writer" insisted on taking a junior as his disciple, was rejected, and then wrote a novel and made a movie!
Now, the memorial award established after your brother's death was given to Kitagawa Hide's film that satirized you. How ironic it can be.

Kitagawa Hide almost wanted to get to know the president of the Nikkan Sports News. What kind of person could come up with such a method to attract traffic?

Anyway, no matter what, these two awards made "Akira" return home with a full load, and Kitagawa Hide was very satisfied with the ending - good is rewarded with good and evil is punished with evil!
I thought the biggest joy and gain in December would be these film awards, but unexpectedly, on December 12, Christmas Eve, when Kitagawa Hide had already dressed up as "Peter Cat" and was planning to invite everyone to the cafe to celebrate together, he suddenly received a call from the Naoki Prize jury.

He was invited to attend the Naoki Prize ceremony at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo on Christmas Day - "The Serial Murder Case" was shortlisted for the Akumizu Literary Prize.

The Naoki Prize jury was worried that Kitagawa Hide would not attend the ceremony like he did with the last Akutagawa Prize, so they simply told him directly that his work was the final winning work, so come and get the prize!

The Naoki Prize probably still holds a grudge against Shintaro Ishihara for his disgusting remarks during the last Akutagawa Prize award ceremony.

They could have chosen any one of the works "Youth Trilogy" or "No Longer Human" to become a god, but someone had strangled them first, making them feel extremely uncomfortable.

However, no one expected that Hidetoshi Kitagawa would be able to release two more top-tier hits in the second half of the year, "I Am a Cat" and "Akira", each one more powerful than the last!
"I Am a Cat" is a pure literary novel, so it is not appropriate to deify it. "Akutagawa" is obviously popular literature, so it is just right to be used to oppose the disgusting Akutagawa Prize.

Moreover, whether it is the quality, content, sales volume, or implication of the novel, it is completely worthy of the Naoki Prize. No, it should be said that it is worthy of it.

If this wasn't the first time Kitagawa Hide wrote a popular literature novel, the popular literature award, the Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Award, might have snatched it away in advance!

People come to lick his boots on their own initiative, and Kitagawa Hide is not an unkind guy. The key point is that he really has no conflict with the Naoki Prize.

Therefore, the next day, Kitagawa Hide drove his Mercedes-Benz and took Agatsuma Yumeko and Saito Rena (the award stipulated that only one person from the family and friends group could go) to the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.

When seeing Rena Saito in the rearview mirror wearing a black fishtail evening gown, pinching the hem of her dress and lowering her head the whole time, Kitagawa Hide couldn't help but ask with a smile: "Saito, are you nervous?"

"Yes, yes. Although I knew in advance that Akudama won the award, I was still very nervous." Saito Reina nodded. "Come to think of it, I only officially entered the industry last year. I didn't expect that two years later, I would have the opportunity to attend an award ceremony for such a big award."

In her heart, she was actually eager to participate in such occasions. From childhood to adulthood, she had planned her career to the fullest. After knowing that she had no talent for writing, Rena Saito was committed to becoming the top female editor in the industry.

What can prove this achievement are undoubtedly various awards with extremely high gold content.

After winning the Akutagawa Prize, she once felt that as Kitagawa Hide's editor, she would most likely not have the opportunity to attend any award ceremony - Kitagawa Hide seemed to be targeted by the entire literary community.

After witnessing Shunji Iwai and others winning film awards a few days ago, Rena Saito became even more envious.

She knew she shouldn't be so greedy sometimes.

Everything is much better now than it was six months ago.

But in my heart, there is still a trace of longing, and I recall the scene when Kitagawa Hide invited me.

“We left Kodansha together and went to a place that would accept us, accommodate us, and give full play to our talents.

Whether it is the Oricon chart, the Akutagawa Prize, the Naoki Prize, or even the Nobel Prize far away in the West.

Let us continue to work together as partners, as editors and authors, to take them down!"

These words kept lingering in her mind for a long time.

She was even mentally prepared to follow Beichuan Xiu for decades without any results.

Happiness comes so suddenly!

"Where is Mengzi?" Kitagawa Hide asked again with a smile.

"I'm so nervous!" My wife Yumeko nodded continuously.

She knew better than anyone how difficult it was for Kitagawa Hide, the grievances he had suffered during this period, and his efforts.

She felt that no one deserved the award more than Xiujun.

If after a year like this, Xiujun really wins nothing in the literary award, she will be super angry!
You will begin to question the literature that you once loved very much.

"Haha, then you have to adapt as soon as possible." Beichuan Xiu looked at their cheeks and suddenly felt that winning an award seemed to be a very good thing. "Because in the future, there will probably be many, many occasions like this, and we will win many, many awards together!"

"Yeah!" The two of them laughed.

When these words come out of Kitagawa Hide's mouth, it seems like they have full of magic, making people fascinated and looking forward to it.

As the three of them were chatting and laughing, the car quickly drove into the parking lot.

The three of them entered the hotel after being greeted by the organizer's staff who had been waiting for a long time.

When passing by the red carpet, many book fans outside cheered and shouted Kitagawa Hide's name. Occasionally, someone could be heard shouting "Teacher Saito", which almost moved Saito Rena to the point of falling down.

She and my wife Yumeko supported each other and came to the banquet hall.

The award ceremony was similar to those that Kitagawa Hide had seen in his previous life. This time it was also broadcast on television, but it did not receive as much attention as the Akutagawa Prize, a major award for pure literature.

Who makes popular literature always inferior to pure literature?

But this time, several TV stations that broadcast the show received the good news of a huge ratings explosion.

"Akudama" was shortlisted for the Naoki Prize, and Mr. Kitagawa came in person to attend the award ceremony!
Ordinary audiences outside the literary world just wanted to watch the fun, just like Jabami Rei and the other two who were watching TV at this time, just to see Kitagawa Hide.

Industry insiders understand that Kitagawa Hide's willingness to come means that the Naoki Prize has already been decided.

Shintaro Ishihara, who was also in front of the TV, was so angry that he smashed the TV!

It's okay for a mere Nikkan Sports Film Award, it's not a well-known thing to begin with, so it's normal for it to attract attention by sensationalism.

But now even the Naoki Prize has begun to disgust me!

When the Akutagawa Prize was awarded, didn’t they understand what I said?
You are awarding it to Kitagawa Hide now. Don't you have any shame at all?
You think it doesn't matter that the Naoki Prize is lower in status than the Akutagawa Prize, right?

"They are just a bunch of people who can only write popular and vulgar literature! Shameless! Bastards!"

Just as Shintaro Ishihara was jumping and roaring at home, the Naoki Prize award ceremony began grandly.

The people sitting around were all well-known writers of popular literature. Kitagawa Hide didn't know many of them, but many people came up to him cheerfully to say hello and hand over their business cards.

At this point, Kitagawa Xiucai realized that these writers also had business cards!

Compared with those pure literature writers who only know how to admire themselves and reminisce about the past, these people are more genuine and more interesting.

No wonder Saito Rena prefers to interact with writers like Keigo Higashino, Shiro Dango, and Mayumi Aso. People who like to put on airs make everyone feel sick!

The Naoki Prize is also more down-to-earth than the Akutagawa Prize. It even invited two entertainers who perform manzai (Japanese crosstalk) to liven up the atmosphere. It does not have the arrogance of a top literary award at all.

Of course, these things are just superficial features.

In Japan, where Kitagawa Hide lived in his previous life, the original work of "Akutagawa" written by Yasutaka Tsutsui was actually a satire on the Naoki Prize. It is birds of a feather and there is not much difference between it and the Akutagawa Prize.

In other words, all awards in the world literary world cannot escape the dark side; even the Nobel Prize in Literature has been involved in several scandals.

In the final analysis, literary awards are not like scientific awards. Substantial scientific research success is difficult to fake, while the only quantitative standard for judging the quality of literature is sales. However, the data that all well-known literary awards dislike the most is sales.

Anything that loses its quantitative standards is bound to be manipulated in various ways.

This is why Kitagawa Hide had no desire for awards at first.

However, the Naoki Prize was awarded to himself very wisely this time, and he would not reach out to hit someone who smiles at him.

Now he has family, friends and a career, and sometimes it's nice when these things can bring a smile to their faces.

But on the path of literature, Kitagawa Hide's goal has gradually become clear.

"The best in the world", a great writer in Japan and even the world.

He wants all the awards to be given to him as a sign of pride!
".Now, I declare that the winner of the 1995th Naoki Prize for the second half of 114 is Mr. Kitagawa Hide!"

"The winning work is "The Akumizu Literature Award Serial Murder Case"!"

"Let's welcome Mr. Beichuan to the stage to receive the award!"

"Kitagawa!"

"Hideki-kun!"

In a trance, Kitagawa Hide, who was still lost in thought, was gently pushed by two women on the left and right.

The host on the stage was looking at him with a smile.

Kitagawa Hide stood up, and Mengzi helped him tidy up his clothes. Suddenly, she put her arms around his neck and kissed him gently: "Hide-kun~ Great!"

"Congratulations, Mr. Kitagawa!"

Congratulations were heard all around.

Without having time to congratulate, Saito Reina raised her fist, gave him a cheering gesture, and smiled.

The prize money for the Naoki Prize is only 20 yen, plus a gold-plated notebook with a row of small words engraved on the cover: The 114th Naoki Prize, "Akira Literary Prize Serial Murder Case", Kitagawa Hide.

When Kitagawa Hide received the prize and the bonus, the presenter smiled while holding the microphone and said, "Congratulations to Mr. Kitagawa for winning the award. As for me, I heard that during the award review, a little joke was circulated among the jury."

"Hmm?" Kitagawa Hide looked at him with a smile.

"Someone among the judges asked if we should also learn from the Akutagawa Prize and make a last-minute move like Kitagawa.
Then, many judges immediately waved their hands! They said, no, no, absolutely not! What if Mr. Kitagawa gets angry and changes the "芥廾" in the novel title to "直本"? "

“Hahahaha——” an unspoken laughter was heard from the audience.

After the laughter died down, the presenter continued, “Of course, that was just a little joke.

The actual situation is that the Naoki Prize jury believes that whether an award should be given to a certain author or a certain work depends on his literary attainments and the popularity of the work among the general public.

Obviously, Mr. Kitagawa and his works deserve the Naoki Prize!

The jury gave only one comment on this winning work: It is an honor for the Naoki Prize to award "Akudama"! "

The applause from the audience was thunderous and lasted for a long time.

To be honest, Kitagawa Hide was shocked when he held the gold-plated notebook.

Although it may seem like flattery, such compliments are indeed very helpful.

He waited for the applause to end, and when the microphone was handed to him, he paused, then smiled and "returned the favor" and said: "I am very grateful to the jury. As for my acceptance speech, there is really not much to say. If I must say something, it is that please rest assured, everyone in the Naoki Prize, I will never secretly change the '芥廾' in the title of the book to '直本'."

"Hahahahahahaha——" the laughter below became even more cheerful.

When the laughter completely died down, Kitagawa Hideya slowly put away his smile. He glanced at the gold-plated notebook in his hand and looked at the audience.

In fact, he had already prepared himself for not winning any literary awards this year, or even any awards in the future.

If he was interested in these things, he would not have torn his face with the Akutagawa Prize, and he would not have slapped those guys in the face at Kyoto University.

But now, having won the Naoki Prize, he suddenly felt that the new life and literary career that began in 1995 seemed to be more complete and perfect.

Yumeko and Reina below were smiling happily.

Many of your friends in front of the TV are probably also laughing and feeling sincerely happy for their own success.

Wait until everyone calms down again.

Beichuan Xiu said to the microphone seriously and frankly: "I have said before. It is the works, not the awards, that are remembered forever.

In fact, there is another half sentence behind it.

It is precisely because the awards are given to countless works that will last forever that those awards will remain everlasting.

I think the Naoki Prize is such an award.”

Just this once.

Let the Naoki Prize and yourself achieve mutual success together!
In fact, this chapter can be divided into three chapters.

One chapter about the Kobayashi family, one chapter about the film award disgusting Shintaro Ishihara, and one chapter about the Naoki Prize awarding ceremony.

But I finally decided to combine the three plots into one, which is more compact.

So don't be stingy with your monthly tickets, rewards and subscriptions~

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(End of this chapter)