I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 152: The gentle side of Mr. Kitagawa at the book signing event!
Kitagawa Hide immediately called Yumeko back to the bedroom to change into formal clothes.

Starting from April this year, Mengzi and her classmates will be their senior year.

There are fewer and fewer classes in school, and the society as a whole is in an economic winter. Professors and lecturers also encourage these "reserve personnel" to go out and adapt to the high-pressure working environment as soon as possible.

While Jabami Rei and a group of friends are confused about their future career choices, Yumeko has already made a clear plan for her life.

During her internship in her senior year, she planned to learn about the industry at Kawaide Shobo while working part-time as Kitagawa Hide's business manager, helping him take care of all the chores other than writing.

After graduation next April, if they get married, she will quit her internship at Kawaide Shobo and use this time to fulfill her duties as a housewife.

After changing their clothes, the two returned to the hall. Kitagawa Hide told his three apprentices not to neglect the business of the cafe, and then went out and got into the luxury business car driven by driver Kinoshita, who had been waiting for a long time.

The group of bodyguards of Kinoshita's driver are Kawaide Shizuko's personal "Jinyiwei". The big boss is actually willing to send his confidants to help him. Kitagawa Hide was a little touched.

No wonder the Noma family has made Kodansha worse and worse. If Noma Sawako and Noma Airi had been half as good to their employees as Kawaide Shizuko, they wouldn't have ended up being on the verge of being deserted by everyone.

As soon as he got in the car, two secretaries respectfully told Kitagawa Hide about the precautions and details of the book signing event.

The entire signing event is divided into three parts.

The first part is the invited singer, Izumi Sakai, who has been very popular in the Japanese music scene in recent years, singing to warm up the audience. Then the protagonist Kitagawa Hidemasa will accept brief interviews from several major newspapers.

These newspapers are all on good terms with Kawaide Shobo, or Kawaide Shizuko paid a large sum of money to invite them to support Kitagawa Hide.

Therefore, Kitagawa Hide does not have to worry about being asked unpleasant questions during the interview.

The main purpose of the newspaper interview was to promote the upcoming release of "Border" and to help Hideya Kitagawa find a suitable partner for his new book "Paradise Lost".

Kitagawa Hide looked at the "interview question record form" in his hand and couldn't help but sigh that the boss was really good to him.

Knowing that he did not plan to serialize "Paradise Lost" in "Wenyi", Shizuko Kawaide still helped him find partners. No one else can do that!

The second part was for Kitagawa Hide to take photos and interact with a group of his "special fans". These people were all celebrities from all walks of life who came to see him because of his reputation. The two secretaries handed over a long list of fans, and Kitagawa Hide even saw the name of former Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi on it!

Although this session has a bit of the flavor of business socializing, being able to interact and communicate with these "special fans" is very helpful for Kitagawa Hide to expand his small circle of social contacts.

Don’t underestimate this small group of “special fans”.

Since the 90s, the highest-earning sports star in the sports world is not the new king of football Messi, not the unique god of basketball Michael Jordan, not the king of tennis Federer, or the god of racing Schumacher, but the golfer "Tiger" Woods.

why?
Because golf is essentially an aristocratic sport, its target audience is all celebrities who are very willing to invest money in it.

Woods usually accepts endorsements for luxury goods, and his wealth is unrivaled in the sports world.

The final third part will start after 5 pm when office workers get off work. They are the real core fans of Kitagawa Hide, and this signing event is mainly to meet their needs.

Mengzi, who was standing by, nodded continuously as she listened and even took out a small notebook to write down what the secretaries said. Her seriousness impressed the two secretaries. After learning that the future "Mrs. Kitagawa" was interested in becoming a professional manager, they also enthusiastically shared their experiences with her.

Because it was a weekday afternoon, there was no traffic jam all the way from Shinjuku Ward to Chiyoda Ward and the journey was very smooth. The organizers of the autograph session and the Tokyo Imperial Hotel, who had received early notice, attached great importance to Kitagawa Hide's arrival and directly sent the general manager and the hotel manager to stand in front of the gate to welcome him.

If an ordinary "upper-class writer" holds a book signing event at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, they usually just stand in the hotel lobby and the corridor leading to the venue to greet the writer, which is considered to have fulfilled their welcoming obligations.

But when the hotel manager was meeting with the organizer, she suddenly remembered that Kitagawa Hideko was a writer who had been warmly shaken hands by the former Prime Minister, and his reputation and sales of his works in the past two years were far beyond the reach of ordinary "upper-class writers".

If you confuse him with those writers, you might offend him and Kawaide Shobo - Japan is a country that attaches great importance to status and seniority. People of different status use different honorifics when speaking to each other, and etiquette is very particular. If you get this kind of thing wrong, it is common to be bullied to death.

If it were a writer of a lower level, writers of that level would not be qualified to hold a book signing event in this five-star hotel specially used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to receive foreign guests.

Therefore, after some discussion, they finally decided to wait outside the hotel together to show their respect for Kitagawa Hide.

As soon as Kitagawa Hide got off the car, he saw a row of people standing there. They bowed to him at a 90-degree angle from a distance and shouted in a loud voice, "Teacher Kitagawa, welcome to the Tokyo Imperial Hotel. Thank you for your hard work!"

"Thank you all for your hard work. It's my honor to come to your store for a book signing event." Kitagawa Hide hurriedly bowed in return with Yumeko, and then he and the female manager who trotted over with a standard sweet smile on her face walked into the hotel one after another amid the Japanese politeness.

This signing event was indeed a grand affair. As soon as Kitagawa Hideichi entered the room, he saw a huge banner hanging from the ceiling and several exquisite posters with the cover of the physical book "Border".

Along the way, waitresses in kimonos kept bowing and greeting, which is also a unique feature of the Imperial Hotel. The decoration and staff in the hotel are Japanese style, and the restaurant provides all types of Japanese food for free.

At the end of the corridor, a beautiful woman in jeans and a white T-shirt was leaning against the wall and reading quietly. Next to her stood five men and women in strange clothes, whispering to each other. "Teacher Kitagawa, they are the ZARD band who came to support us," the female manager whispered.

The ZARD band, with Izumi Sakai as the lead singer, is very popular now. They have three singles and one band album with sales exceeding one million. Among them, "Don't Give Up" which was released in support of the Great Earthquake has topped the Oricon Music Chart for a whole year!
The head of B-GRAM RECORDS record company gently poked Izumi Sakai, who was still reading a book, with his arm, then pulled her and hurried over to greet Kitagawa Hide.

"Ah." Izumi Sakai quickly gathered the hair by her ears with her hands, and holding the copy of "Border" with both hands, she bowed 90 degrees to Kitagawa Hide, "Hello, Mr. Kitagawa! I, I am Izumi Sakai, and I am honored to support your book signing event. Please give me more guidance in the future, Mr. Kitagawa!"

Kitagawa Hideya quickly returned the greeting to Yumeko: "Hello, Ms. Sakai, please take care of me in the future."

He was quite curious about this first-generation pure lustful female singer who died young and could be called the national diva. He remembered that in the original history, a TV series of "Paradise Lost" was filmed in 1996, and she sang the theme song for it.

Izumi Sakai, who followed them into the venue, was obviously a little nervous and shy. She looked like she wanted to talk to Kitagawa Hide, but was too embarrassed to speak.

Mengzi, who was standing next to her, noticed her embarrassment immediately and began to chat with her in a low voice, relieving the huge pressure on her.

The venue was already filled with celebrities from all walks of life. Tomiichi Murayama, who was sitting in the first row, was talking to a middle-aged fat man. When he saw Kitagawa Hide and the other man coming, he immediately interrupted the conversation and waved to Kitagawa Hide enthusiastically.

Kitagawa Hide greeted him with a smile.

"Mr. Kitagawa, long time no see. "Border" is such a good book that makes people savor it endlessly!" Although Tomiichi Murayama is actually past the age of reading youth romance and extramarital affair novels, he was still deeply attracted by "Border".

Especially the album "South of the Border" which was popular for a while, it was very much to the taste of an old man like him.

"Your compliment is too much. My novel still has many imperfections and does not deserve the evaluation of 'good book'." Kitagawa Hide was modest for a while.

In fact, in this Japanese literary world full of shit, it is estimated that only those seven "number one writers in the world" can stand out and compete with him. The works of others are basically not up to standard and cannot compare with the books he plagiarized.

Even the so-called seven "best in the world", their books were all read by Kitagawa Hideya. Compared with the works he was going to copy later, it was like the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan fighting Huang Lao Xie. The seven together were not enough for him to defeat alone.

But now, all the big names in Japan's upper class gathered here, so you should be humble when it is time to be humble.

While chatting with Tomiichi Murayama, he exchanged business cards with other people who came to say hello, and then handed all the business cards to Yumeko, asking her to organize and contact them.

The chit-chat in the audience stopped immediately when the pure and lovely Izumi Sakai came on stage.

Everyone's eyes were on Izumi Sakai standing in the center of the stage. After standing on the familiar stage, Izumi Sakai immediately threw away her previous shyness. She seemed like a different person when she picked up the microphone and sang her famous song "Don't Give Up" without any fear.

After the song was over, Kitagawa Hidekazu and Murayama Tomiichi led the applause, and the audience gave a rapturous response, pushing the atmosphere of the book signing event to a climax.

In the past, I listened to Quanshui’s songs through music software, but the live version has a different flavor.

Her singing skills are good and steady, no wonder she is sought after by so many young people.

The warm-up event ended perfectly. After Izumi Sakai stepped down from the stage, she went straight to Yumeko. It seemed that the two of them had become friends during their brief exchange just now.

At the invitation of the host, Kitagawa Hide stood up and strode towards the center of the stage. As soon as he appeared on the stage, there were countless flashes and discussions around him. His popularity was obviously much higher than that of the ZARD band.

This was his third time appearing in public. In the eyes of the people below the stage, he was only 24 years old and had not even attended college, but his ability to control the situation was surprisingly good. With just a few opening remarks, he made everyone laugh out loud, and there was no sense of alienation at all.

Izumi Sakai, who was in the audience, sat up straight and stared at her idol, Mr. Kitagawa.

She graduated from Shoin University in Japan. She is interested in literature and sports, and especially likes haiku. However, because haiku is relatively high-end in the circle, she never dared to submit her works to literary magazines for fear of embarrassment.

Since Kitagawa Hide created the new style of haiku, she has tried to submit anonymously several times and was successful!
Since then, Izumi Sakai began to read a lot of novels written by Kitagawa Hide, and soon became addicted to them, becoming a member of the army of hopeless Kitagawa die-hard fans!
She has a quiet personality and doesn't like taking advertisements or doing business, but she took the initiative to ask the company to come to the fan signing event this time.

The purpose is to see Mr. Kitagawa up close and get a sample of "Border" in advance. It would be even better if I could ask Mr. Kitagawa to sign it!

As she was thinking in such a mess, Kitagawa Hidenori on the stage restrained his smile and earnestly thanked the people who came to the book signing event, thanking them for their support and willingness to read the book he wrote. His voice was soft and gentle, completely different from the tone he had used to angrily criticize his opponents the two times before.

The reporters also realized that this time they would be interviewing a more down-to-earth and everyday Kitagawa Hide, and they immediately became very alert and took photos.

Everyone was used to Kitagawa Hide's shocking remarks and his ability to debate with many scholars. Now that he had changed his style, it immediately aroused the curiosity of celebrities.

While everyone was attracted by him, Kitagawa Hide immediately began to promote his new book: "Actually, I am busy writing a new novel recently."

"New novel? Mr. Beichuan, could you please tell us the title of the book?" A reporter immediately raised his hand and asked.

(End of this chapter)