I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 127 The Secrets Japanese Women Can't Tell
After reading the preface, Mayumi Aso was shocked by Mr. Kitagawa's bold choice of topic.

[Extramarital affair: the secret that Japanese women can’t talk about]

This naked preface title struck directly into the heart of Mayumi Aso, a married woman. It made her legs numb and weak, and she could hardly sit still.

Just as Mr. Kitagawa wrote in the preface, the rate of infidelity in Japanese families is much higher than the public knows. Previous official statistics put it at 0.3 per 10,000, meaning that only three couples out of 10,000 will cheat.

In fact, Oricon, a company that loves to collect statistics on everything, gave a more realistic and shocking figure last year - 12 percent!

Later, because the data was so horrifying and even caused a certain amount of social unrest, at the strong request of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Oricon had to remove the data analysis and announced that it would never touch this topic again.

But the disappearance of the data cannot cover up the Japanese people's private discussions about extramarital affairs. For some things, the harder you suppress them, the more terrible the backlash will be.

In most people's minds, words like cheating and extramarital affair are often directly associated with dandi wives, housewives, and shameless women.

The root of this problem can be traced back to the numerous “group communities” that sprang up in the 60s and 70s.

During the construction of the housing estate, considering that the first batch of residents are all middle class people, their feedback will affect the subsequent housing market.

Therefore, the designers fully considered the privacy of the residents, so the sound insulation of these houses is very good.

It is said that in a housing estate, once the neighbors close their doors, it is impossible to eavesdrop on what is happening next door unless you stick a stethoscope to the wall.

Soon, the first batch of residents moved into the community. They were all typical Japanese families - high-income husbands earned money to support their wives and children, and virtuous women took care of daily life at home.

Married women living in the danchi were called danchi wives. In the morning, after their husbands went to work and their children were sent to school, they were left alone at home.

So, how do these danchi wives spend their private afternoons?
This question makes people think a lot.

Then a bizarre case that happened in 1970 directly became the answer to this question in the minds of the people.

In the summer of 70, the Tokyo police received a report from a worker at a garbage incineration plant in a certain district, saying that human tissue had been found in the garbage pile to be incinerated.

Then outrageous things started happening. Several more garbage incineration plants reported finding body parts. In the end, the number of body remains gathered reached hundreds. It took the forensic doctor several days to piece them together into a human shape, but the head of the body was missing.

The case caused an immediate sensation after it was exposed. Under heavy pressure, the professional team elites quickly solved the case.

The deceased was a middle-aged man, an ordinary company member, and the murderer was his wife who lived in the group residence.

Originally, the police and the judge thought that this was just a murder case caused by a family conflict. Unexpectedly, when the trial began, a man suddenly appeared and claimed that he had murdered the deceased!
The murderer who suddenly appeared was not acquainted with the couple. He was a plumber who just went to the deceased's home to unclog the sewer.

But as he said, his fingerprints were on the murder weapon and he was very clear about the process of dismemberment and disposal of the body, which obviously showed that he was closely related to the case.

This is completely different from the testimony of the wives of the danchi.

The judge fainted and adjourned the court to decide the verdict on another day.

The court opened the next day, and before the judge announced the verdict, another man appeared and said that he had murdered the victim. This man was a salesman, and his situation was similar to that of the plumber.

This is not the end. Three men later appeared and claimed to be the murderer and defended the wife of the danchi. Their occupations were electrician, garbage collector, and apartment manager.

After the police's reinvestigation, the truth finally came to light.

It turned out that the five of them were the cheating partners of the gang leader's wife. The husband was killed by his wife, but all five of them participated in dismembering and disposing of the body.

On the day of trial, they stepped forward and decided to "take the blame" for the woman they loved.
This bizarre case was later adapted by Nikkatsu Corporation and made into a movie called "The Afternoon Affair" in 1971, which caused a sensation at the time.

Especially the two classic lines in it——

"It's not that I like married men, it's just that the person I like happens to have a family."

"I have been enduring it all the time, trapped in this concrete box day after day, doing the same thing over and over again. With your meager income, you can't afford to eat the food you like, and you can't afford to buy the things you like. I'm almost suffocating."

In an instant, "dandi wife" became a recognized derogatory term.

Since then, extramarital affairs have become a sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of Japanese women.

After Mayumi Aso married her ex-husband, she always wanted to write books to make money, one of the reasons being to get rid of her identity as a danchi wife.

Neighborhood gossip can drive a man crazy.

If Kitagawa's new book is just a gimmick and deliberately brings up the taboo topic of Japanese women's extramarital affairs, Mayumi Aso will be very disappointed.

But in the preface, Mr. Kitagawa showed her a completely different story template.

Extramarital affairs are indeed a secret that Japanese women find difficult to talk about, but in fact, there are both men and women who cheat in marriage. From the big data, the two groups each account for half, and the blame is simply put on the wives of the danchi.

After discovering their husbands’ infidelity, many wives can only endure it silently, locking it in their hearts and turning it into an “unspeakable secret.”

Kitagawa said in the preface, "I want to write a somewhat different story. Starting from the perspective of a man, observing from the perspective of a danchi wife, so that everyone can evaluate these things more objectively, as well as the real reasons behind them."

And then he did it.

The story begins with the 12-year-old protagonist "Hatsu" and the lame girl Shimamoto's innocent love, and then writes about the young love between "Hatsu" and his high school girlfriend Izumi, and "Hatsu"'s work life after graduation. Kitagawa Hide only brings five chapters, and the plot ends abruptly when "Hatsu" goes on his first blind date, but it deeply shocks Mayumi Aso and Rena Saito.

After reading the story of Chapter 5 about a blind date with a lame female colleague after graduation and work, Saito Rena let out a long sigh, and all the expressions on her face instantly turned into admiration and respect for Kitagawa Hide.

"How is it? Are there any parts of the story plot and details that need to be changed?" Kitagawa Hide asked hurriedly when he saw that they had finished reading.

He felt that the pace of the first five chapters of the original book was still too slow, and only later did he slowly mention concepts such as "only child", "sense of incompleteness", and "danchi", gradually revealing the core idea of ​​the novel.

But judging from the content of the first few chapters, it is easy to misunderstand it as a story about a man's personal love history from his adolescence to young adulthood.

In addition, in the first two chapters, the twelve-year-old "Hatsu" and Shimamoto, this kind of naive childhood relationship made Kitagawa Hideo feel that it was a bit too taboo.

He wasn't sure if this was okay.

"It's perfect. I think everything is just right." Saito Reina sighed, holding the manuscript under her palm, looking at him seriously, "It made me feel the same inexplicable excitement as when I first read Hear the Wind Sing. I don't think there is anything I need to change."

"Master, I want to continue watching. I feel itchy and restless! I want to know the plot later. Will 'Hatsu' and Shimamoto meet again? If one of the themes is extramarital affair, he will not meet Shimamoto again after marriage, right?"

Mayumi Aso was more touched by the story.

If a man reunites with his childhood love after "Chu" marriage, the two are bound to create new sparks.

What should you do if you meet the right person at the wrong time?
If it were me, how would I choose?
Mayumi Aso stole a glance at Kitagawa Hide and suddenly felt melancholy.

"It's probably a similar trend. This is the outline of my subsequent chapters. There are about 10 chapters to go. Let's take a look."

Kitagawa Hide threw the prepared outline directly to the two of them.

"Ms. Aso, you can continue writing according to my outline."

Mayumi Aso and Rena Saito really don't want to read the synopsis!

They are also fans of Hide Kitagawa's books, and reading books is the greatest pleasure!

But since this was the job, Saito Rena could only reluctantly take the outline and read it carefully.

Mayumi Aso nodded with a bitter face and said, "Yes, Master, I will try my best!"

When the time comes, when she compares the sequel she wrote herself with that written by Kitagawa Hide, she will be able to clearly feel the difference in their writing skills, and Kitagawa Hide can also use this to give her some guidance.

After the content of the manuscript was temporarily finalized, Saito Rena immediately rushed to the editor-in-chief's office and the president's office to inform the leaders, and then asked the distribution department to prepare to reserve a large amount of space for "South of the Border, West of the Sun" in the first issue of "Wenyi" in the new year to be released on January 1.

Kitagawa Hide has been promoted to the ranks of "upper-class writers". For a writer of this level to serialize a new book, it is not enough to just allocate a space in a magazine.

Activities such as publicity and warm-up before the serialization of the work, media interviews, planning and reservation of fan-related peripherals, and collaboration with media companies such as TV stations must be properly arranged.

We also need to send people to notify all cooperating bookstores, and then ask the design department to make posters and banners overnight. It would be best if they can be hung at the entrance of the bookstore tomorrow to attract passers-by to stop and watch!
However, all these matters are handled by Kawaide Shobo. As a great writer, Kitagawa Hide only needs to complete the novel with guaranteed quality and quantity.

After Saito Rena returned to the office, Kitagawa Hide proposed to follow her to take a look at the various work arrangements for the pre-heating of new books by top writers. If it were other writers, such a request involving understanding the company's operations would have been rejected long ago.

But he was Kitagawa Hide, and Saito Rena knew that he was very curious about these things, so she called an insider in the company and got the approval of Kawaide Shizuko, and then took Kitagawa Hide and his apprentice to visit various operating departments.

Kitagawa Hide is now the savior and emperor of Kawaide Shobo. Wherever he goes, he is greeted with flowers and applause.

Although it looked strange for a writer to wander around the confidential departments of a publishing house, no one minded. They took the opportunity to ask for photos and autographs. They even wished that Kitagawa Hide could just move his computer to their office area and sit there typing, so that they could get a glimpse of the typing style of an "upper-class writer"!

After a round, it was almost evening and Kitagawa Hide and Aso Mayumi had gained a lot.

Kitagawa Hide originally wanted to invite Saito Rena to dinner together, but Saito Rena, who had entered a workaholic state, was just like him after his gender change. She felt that eating was a waste of time, so she directly declined his request and asked her secretary to order food at the restaurant next door, planning to continue sleeping in the company tonight!
"Saito, you really should not work so hard and take care of yourself." Kitagawa Hide looked at Saito Rena and finally understood why his friends had been so scared and worried when they saw him as if they had seen a ghost.

This fanatical work attitude really makes people worry about the other person's mental state.

"Yes, I know, don't worry. But if you need to go to a hot spring hotel to rest for a while, just call me and I will make the arrangements." Saito Rena walked them to the car and repeated the board's ideas as a routine.

For writers that the publishing house values ​​very much, the board of directors of the publishing house will approve a sum of "marketing funds" for the editor, allowing him to use the money to meet the writer's personal needs.

For example, you can go to a hot spring hotel to write, ask a Turkish bath lady to take a bath, or find a prostitute to comfort your body and mind.

In short, we must feed the writers and let them produce works with guaranteed quality and quantity!

Saito Reina knew that Kitagawa Hide was not that kind of person, so she just asked according to convention.

After Kitagawa Hide refused, she smiled, sent the two of them to the car, and asked Kitagawa Hide to take her two younger sisters to the cafe to stay temporarily.

The car started, and Saito Rena watched Hu Touben leave the parking lot before turning around and running quickly back to the company.

She couldn't wait any longer, she had a feeling that the novel "South of the Border, West of the Sun" would recreate the glory of "Youth Trilogy", or even surpass it!

This could also be another monument of achievement in her career at Kawaide Shobo, and it must be built to perfection!

(End of this chapter)