I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 187 Breaking records is like drinking water, appearing on TV is like eating

The June 1996 issue of "Wenyi" sold a total of 6 copies on the first day of printing.

Although it cannot be compared with the 8.3 copies of the previous issue and the 6 copies of the June 10 supplement, it has maintained its momentum, proving that even without Kitagawa Hide's new book serialization, "Wenyi" can still attract readers with some of its well-known writers.

Just a year ago, when Kitagawa Hide and Saito Rena had not yet come to Kawaide Shobo, the monthly sales of "Bungei" had always hovered around 20 copies, which once caused Kawaide Shizuko, who had just become the acting president, a lot of headaches.

In addition, the second issue of the "Literature and Art" supplement, which was released on June 6 and contains the latest "Confessions" chapter, also achieved brilliant results.

On June 6, the second issue of the "Wenyi" supplement sold a terrifying total of 20 copies, breaking the record set by the first issue of the supplement just 10.4 days ago!

"Confessions" also became the first pure literary novel to appear repeatedly on TSB News 7 programs.

In order to introduce Kitagawa Hide's novel about juvenile offenders, News 7 specially asked the host to spend a full three minutes in the prime time at 7:15 p.m. to elaborate in detail on the breakthrough in writing techniques and creativity of "Confessions."

After finishing the novel, the host spent two minutes introducing Kitagawa Hide, a rising star in the Japanese literary world, to the national audience in front of the TV.

This is also the first time that News 7 has gone to great lengths to introduce a writer during a live broadcast since Ichiro Tanizaki was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Breaking records is like drinking water, and appearing on TV is like eating.
If someone had told Shizuko Kawaide a year ago that one of the writers working with Kawaide Shobo could achieve such an achievement, she would have thought that person was crazy.

At this moment, she was sitting in the living room of her home, wearing pajamas, holding red bean soup and watching News 7. Her emotions were rising and falling, and she could hardly control herself.

She really wanted to put down the red bean soup in her hand, and roll around on the sofa hugging the pillow given by Yumeko to celebrate!

But her grandmother Keiko Kimura was sitting next to her, and her grandfather Kentaro Nishioka, who had just returned from the United States, was also in the living room, so she had to maintain her dignified ladylike demeanor.

"What an amazing young man." Keiko Kimura couldn't help but sigh as she watched the "Wenyi" supplement flashing repeatedly on the TV.

She watched step by step as Shizuko Kawaide went against all odds to invite Kitagawa Hide, and then, despite everyone's disapproval, she published books such as "No Longer Human", "I Am a Cat", "Border", and opened up a whole new haiku track.

In addition, Takeuchi Osamu's two most talented students had a close relationship with Kitagawa Hide, so it can be said that Kimura Keiko witnessed the revival of Kawaide Shobo and the rise of Kitagawa Hide with her own eyes.

I guess no one feels these things more than she does.

Kentaro Nishioka, who had been paying attention to the domestic literary scene while in the United States, was also impressed by Kitagawa Hide's endless literary talent.

He looked at the handsome young man on TV who was as handsome as a star and asked curiously, "So why wasn't the Akutagawa Prize or the Tanizaki Prize awarded to him? It's too strange that a newcomer who debuted and became famous for pure literature won the Naoki Prize."

"Grandpa, this is what happened" Japan's number one Kitagawa fan, Shizuko Kawaide, loves to explain to others why Kitagawa Hide didn't win a major domestic award.

When she heard her grandfather mention these old stories, she immediately moved over and sat down, enthusiastically starting to talk about the first and second place prizes in the Japanese pure literature world.

Kentaro Nishioka's doubts are also the doubts in the minds of countless ordinary people who don't know much about Kitagawa Hidekazu and the Japanese literary world.

Since Mr. Kitagawa is so outstanding, why isn't he awarded the first or second place prize in the country?
When this issue comes up, "Agaragar" and the movie remade from it will naturally be brought to the table.

Now it is impossible to cut ties with Kitagawa Hideki for the Akutagawa Prize and the Tanizaki Prize.

It is foreseeable that in the long years to come, as long as Kitagawa Hide creates hot topics and writes phenomenal works, these two brothers in distress will be mentioned together and their corpses will be repeatedly criticized.

It really means being nailed to the pillar of shame forever!
6 month 25 day.

Five days have passed since the second issue of "Confessions" was serialized.

There are three things that have been hotly debated in society recently.

The first is the "Drunken Rose Saint War" case that was about to be settled and the autobiographical novel "Juege" by the boy A published in Ota, Japan.

The case is still stuck at the frustrating step. The presiding judge of the Family Court refuses to bring criminal charges against the boy A and is even mobilizing various people to do ideological work on Shinichiro Higashi.

Perhaps it was due to the flop of "Jue Ge" and the huge hit of "Confessions".

Shinichiro Azuma, who had been looking down on all this with arrogance and watching the show, began to become irritable and uneasy.

He asked Ochiai Misa to come and see him in person, and planned to terminate his contract with Nippon Ota - he believed that the sales of "Zetsuka" were not as good as "Confessions" because Nippon Ota did not do a good job of publicity and promotion for him.

He wants to work with a better publishing house!
Misa Ochiai had already boarded the train to Izu, and the Japanese Ota headquarters now only wanted to cut ties with him, so no one paid any attention to Shinichiro Azuma's roar.

Some staff members also quietly revealed that boy A might have been influenced by the plot of "Confessions" and began to worry that he would be treated similarly to the protagonists in the book.

Because in the latest serialized plot of "Confessions", although Yuko Moriguchi has resigned, her classmates are worried that the two juvenile offenders who may be infected with HIV will infect them, and they have begun to bully them in the name of "sanctions and justice."

The boy A Watanabe is obviously based on Shinichiro Azuma.

Watanabe's inner monologue written by Kitagawa Hide deeply stimulated Shinichiro Azuma's sensitive heart.

Everything he felt he had hidden so well was exposed in front of Kitagawa Hide!

Facing the man who is praised by everyone.

Shinichiro Azuma felt like he was completely naked and couldn't hide anything!
He hates this feeling!
Moreover, at the end of this episode, another juvenile offender B has suffered a mental breakdown and even accidentally killed his own mother!
Yuko Moriguchi left the school, but her revenge and punishment had just begun.

Kitagawa Hide did not break his promise.

He delights readers with one bloody but very satisfying revenge plot after another.

Shinichiro Tou, who was in the family court, was in agony!
It was also during these few days that it was rumored that senior officials from the Metropolitan Police Department found some lawmakers and high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Justice and began to discuss amending the Juvenile Law.

No one knows whether this is a false rumor or a well-founded gossip.

However, these things came into Shinichiro Tou's ears one after another, making him gradually become anxious.

There won’t be any accidents, right?

The second thing that the public was discussing hotly was the new book written by Mayumi Aso and three others.

Among them, "The Wandering Blade" has the highest level of discussion. After "The Secret" became a hit, Keigo Higashino officially entered the public eye and seemed to be on the road to becoming a "middle-stream writer".

The three extremely vicious juvenile delinquents described in "The Wandering Blade" also made people grit their teeth and pushed the case of Shinichiro Tou to a higher climax.

"Everything About Lily Chou-Chou" attracted many young readers with its youth literature characteristics and delicate writing style. It was soon noticed by Toho Co., Ltd. and the film adaptation project has been put on track.

Mayumi Aso's "First Love" is the least discussed, but because it is sandwiched between the depressing novels of Kitagawa Hide and the other two, it has become a safe haven for countless people.

The title of the Healing Queen slowly spread in the Japanese literary world and then spread to society.

Mayumi Aso's own experience as a single mother, and the fact that she became a disciple of Kitagawa Hide in order to write a book without fear of worldly views, were also dug up by some newspapers and reported in great detail. Not only did it not become a scandal between the two, but it was praised as an inspirational event!

The third thing is closely related to Hide Kitagawa.

The total box office of the movie "No Longer Human" exceeded 15 billion yen 35 days after its release, surpassing "Godzilla VS Destoroyah" in one fell swoop and temporarily topping the 1996 Japanese domestic animation film box office rankings.

The box office of 35 billion yen also made "No Longer Human" enter the top of Japan's film box office history rankings!
Apart from anything else, the box office revenue alone gave Toho, whose fiscal expenditure had been in an embarrassing situation since the bubble burst, a sigh of relief.

I heard that Toho specially hired a craftsman to erect a small bronze statue of Kitagawa Hide at the company headquarters, so that employees passing by could worship it every day.

Kitagawa Hide, who got out of Kawaide Shizuko's private business car, was at a loss whether to laugh or cry after learning about this from the boss.

Isn't it just a relatively popular movie?
Why does he act like the savior?

Kitagawa Hide didn't understand this.

The Japanese always surprise him in some strange ways.

Shizuko Kawaide could understand the Toho president's feelings very well.

She had long had the idea of ​​erecting a sculpture of Mr. Kitagawa at the headquarters of Kawaide Shobo, but had been hesitating whether to use a bronze statue or a more realistic wax figure, and where to place it in the company was also a problem.

Unexpectedly, this hesitation allowed other companies to do it first!
For some reason, Shizuko Kawaide felt uncomfortable as if she was being NTrated by someone.

Never mind, after today’s morning meeting, I’ll find a craftsman to make a statue for Kitagawa Hide!
She, Shizuko Kawaide, has never been inferior to others in her life, so how could she lag behind others in praising Mr. Kitagawa?

Speaking of morning meetings.

This time, Kitagawa Hide actually took the initiative to propose to accompany him to the company to attend the board of directors' morning meeting.

This made Shizuko Kawaide surprised and astonished.

Strictly speaking, Kitagawa Hide, who holds a 3% stake in Kawaide Shobo, does have the right to convene and participate in extraordinary board meetings.

But before that, let alone convening a board meeting, Mr. Kitagawa was too lazy to even come to the company!
The directors who were called over were also confused and had been waiting in the conference room for a long time.

Kitagawa Hide and the other person walked into the conference room one after the other.

The directors were delighted and immediately stood up and gave the warmest applause to Kawaide Shizuko, Kitagawa Hide, and the Saito Rena team who worked silently behind the scenes.

Now no one dares to mention the fact that Shizuko Kawaide gave away 3% of the shares in order to keep Hide Kitagawa.

The director who had cursed and demanded an explanation from Shizuko Kawaide about giving away the shares also sadly withdrew from the board of directors.

After the applause, Shizuko Kawaide asked everyone to sit down, and then the female secretary beside her reported and handled various trivial matters according to the usual procedures.

At present, it seems that the process of this impromptu board meeting is not much different from previous morning meetings.

However, all the directors were very energetic today. Although Shizuko Kawaide was speaking, they kept unconsciously turning their eyes to the last figure.

What exactly does Mr. Kitagawa want to do when he suddenly proposes to hold a board meeting?

(End of this chapter)