I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 19 Sales volume broke the historical record in just half a month?

The next morning.

After washing up early, Jabami Rei and my wife Yumeko left the rental house hand in hand and headed straight for the subway station.

Last night, the two of them excitedly discussed "Hear the Wind Sing" for most of the night. They were sad about the endless loneliness in the novel and lamented the unsatisfactory ending.

In short, I didn't fall asleep until two or three in the morning.

Then Jabami Rei had a strange dream all night. In the dream, she became the girl with only four fingers on her left hand, and the male protagonist "I" had the face of the annoying Kitagawa Hide, which scared her so much that she woke up.

Fortunately, Kitagawa Hide had already left the rental house and went to the company, so she was not so embarrassed.

Along the way, Jabami Rei blamed herself for having such a ridiculous dream, while savoring the lingering fragrance of "Listen to the Wind Sing".

The sequel to this novel did not disappoint her, it started off very well and ended very well!
The further you watch, the more addictive it becomes.

No wonder seven literary giants have spoken highly of it.

Jabami Rei even felt that the mere Group Portrait Newcomer Award was not worthy of Mr. Kitagawa!

As expected, he will win this year's Akutagawa Prize.

It's this name and her acceptance speech that always distract her.

But on second thought, the acceptance speech just shattered her unrealistic guess.

I was cursing that annoying guy in late March. How could I possibly write a masterpiece and submit it to "Group Portrait" in just a few days?

If it was really him, Mengzi would not have been kept in the dark.

Realizing that the two were most likely unrelated, Jabami Rei felt inexplicably disappointed.

The two walked into the subway station hand in hand, and immediately attracted a lot of attention. Such a combination of a sweet girl and a cool sister was still relatively rare in Tokyo in 95. Sometimes when the two walked together, scouts would give them business cards and invite them to audition to be female idols or something.

Of course, that attention quickly faded.

Because many people in the carriage were holding the latest issue of "Group Portrait", the topic of discussion in whispers gradually shifted towards "Listen to the Wind Sing".

This is the hottest news in Tokyo right now.

"Yumeko-chan, let's go to Maruzen Marunouchi Bookstore and see if they still have "Gunzo" for sale?" Jabami Rei leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I want to buy a copy to keep as a treasure."

"Yeah, I also want to buy one for my collection!" My wife Yumeko nodded, her eyes shining.

The book they were reading last night was brought by Kitagawa Hide. He said he happened to be passing by a bookstore near Kodansha and remembered that Yumeko liked it, so he bought a copy.

When it comes to luck, Jabami Rei sometimes admires Kitagawa Hide.

With only a high school diploma, they can easily find a job in the post-bubble era;

He is obviously a bad guy, but there is a good girl like Yumeko Agatsuma who is willing to accompany him forever;

After learning foreign languages ​​for a few months, any translation I make can be picked up by the studio;

I bought the out-of-stock "Group Portrait" easily!
Should we say that good people don't live long, but evil deeds last for thousands of years?
She doesn’t really understand the idioms from the neighboring country, maybe that’s how it feels!
Then I hope that his good luck can continue into the future, so that her Mengzi-chan won’t be so miserable anymore.

As I was thinking this, we arrived at Tokyo Station.

Before the two of them could get off the car, they heard the crowd coming over complaining, "Damn it! We're just a few minutes late and Gunzo is sold out again! Is Kodansha so financially broke that it can't even afford paper? Can't they print more copies?"

Listening to the complaints of the high school students coming towards her, Jabami Rei's face suddenly turned dark.

In comparison, my luck is too bad!
The whole of Tokyo seemed to be wailing over the inability to buy "Gunzo".

There was even an outrageous phenomenon where someone bought the current issue of "Group Portrait" and then tore off the pages related to "Hear the Wind Sing" and sold them.

Other newspapers and magazines also published some reviews on "Hear the Wind Sing".

But what is different from the past is that these comments are all positive, and you will hardly find a single troll post among them.

Even Tetsutarou Mori, who was known for his criticism of others, wrote a long review full of praise for the first time, which surprised his followers.

This is an unprecedented event.

As word of mouth spreads, more and more people are captivated by "Hear the Wind Sing".

This era is unlike later generations, where we have the Internet as a publicity channel, which can make an event or a person become popular all over the country in an instant.

So Kitagawa Hide's fame was not fast, but it lasted for a long time.

As time went by, more and more people spontaneously recommended his award-winning work, and the sales of "Group Portrait" were increasing day by day, and the situation was very good!
But many problems also followed.

The first thing to be affected is the printing volume that can never meet the readers' needs.

On April 4, a total of 15 copies of "Group Portrait" were printed.

In the following two weeks, an average of 5 copies were printed every day, but demand still could not keep up with supply.

This cannot be blamed on Kodansha. After all, the highest monthly sales of Gunzo was only 78 copies, equivalent to about 2.6 copies per day. This was a record set more than 59 years ago when the special commemorative edition for the th anniversary was released. This year's highest monthly sales were about copies, and sales are declining month by month.

Therefore, even though Muramatsu Tomoshi tried his best to persuade him, the director of the publishing department was unwilling to print too much in order to avoid the dilemma of having too much inventory.

Everyone also felt that printing 5 copies a day was enough.

The fact is that readers' enthusiasm and frenzy far exceeded their imagination.

5 copies are simply not enough to sell!
In the past two weeks, the mailbox of Kodansha's security office has been filled with letters from readers again and again, more than 90% of which are urging the editorial department to print more copies of "Gunzo".

The telephone hotline at Kodansha headquarters has been overwhelmed.

Even the editorial department of the neighboring Shonen Magazine was severely affected.

Because the phone to the editorial department of Gunxiang was also flooded with calls, readers took the opportunity to find the editors of Shonen Magazine and urge them to print more copies of Gunxiang.

This is also the most magical thing that happened in Kodansha this year.

After returning from lunch that day, Rena Saito walked upstairs from downstairs and saw all the customer service staff holding the phone and bowing to apologize, saying things like "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry."

Since readers can't find the editorial department, they can only vent their anger on customer service.

"Teacher Saito, new conference room! There is an urgent meeting regarding Teacher Kitagawa, please go there immediately!"

Just as she was about to get into the elevator, Saito Reina was grabbed by the arm by a male employee. She turned back subconsciously and found that the other party had already started to bow 90 degrees to apologize for her reckless behavior.

In the Japanese workplace, the rate of sexual harassment is very high, and once it is confirmed, the harasser will most likely be fired, so male employees rarely do things that can easily cause misunderstandings.

He must have been too anxious and nervous, so he hurriedly grabbed Saito Rena's arm.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, Mr. Saito," the male employee said with great fear, as if he had made a serious mistake.

Saito Reina waved her hand: "It's okay, please don't blame yourself so much. I'll go first then."

She glanced at the man before leaving. He looked to be at least 40 years old, so he should be a senior employee with a lot of experience.

If it had happened before, the other party probably wouldn’t even have the thought of apologizing for such a thing.

Women are not welcome in the workplace, let alone newcomers like her.

After a slight sigh, Saito Rena rushed to the new conference hall as quickly as possible.

At this time, the hall was already full, and many employees were standing on the paths and along the walls.

She walked along and greeted several colleagues she knew, and then she kept hearing people calling her "Saito Teacher" and no longer heard the title "Saito Editor".

"Saito-san, this way." It was Muramatsu Tomoshi who waved at her.

Next to Muramatsu Tomoshi was a middle-aged man sitting in a neat suit, looking extremely serious.

Seeing her coming, the middle-aged man glanced at her slightly. His powerful aura and condescending attitude made Saito Rena's heart tighten.

It felt like the first time I met the president at the University of Tokyo.

"Editor-in-Chief Muramatsu." Saito Rena bowed slightly and looked at the middle-aged man again.

Without waiting for Muramatsu Tomoshi to speak, the other party extended his hand and said to her calmly, "Hello, Editor Saito. My name is Sho Amuro, Director of the Cultural Supervision Division of the Agency for Cultural Affairs."

"Hello, Section Chief Amuro! It's our first meeting, thank you for your guidance." Saito Rena's outstretched hand was trembling slightly.

The government unit in Japan that oversees the cultural industry is called the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which is equivalent to the central Ministry of Culture next door. The Agency for Cultural Affairs under the Ministry of Education is similar to an integration of the Bureau of Cultural Affairs and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

Japan's agency-level units are subordinate to departments, and departments are subordinate to sections. The section chief is equivalent to the section-level cadre next door. In powerful units like the Agency for Culture, the section chief has a higher rank, equivalent to the powerful division-level cadre next door.

The powerful department-level officials next door are usually the top or second-in-command of counties, districts, and other cities!
In other words, the position of Section Chief Amuro in front of Rena Saito in the cultural industry is similar to that of the top leader of a district in Tokyo.

And he is from the Cultural Supervision Section, which is responsible for regulatory review!
"Well. I still have official business to attend to. I'll trouble Mr. Muramatsu to communicate with you about the details." After shaking hands with her gently, Amuro Sho immediately stood up, still with a serious expression, and left without looking back.

Wherever he passed, all the employees bowed 90 degrees to see him off, creating an extremely oppressive atmosphere.

After Amuro Sho left, Saito Rena clearly felt that Muramatsu Tomoshi breathed a sigh of relief.

"I didn't expect that the Ministry of Education would be alarmed. It seems that they are under a lot of pressure after the bubble economy burst."

Muramatsu Tomoshi sighed, then smiled and looked at her again.

"By the way, the main reason I called you here this time is to inform you that, thanks to Mr. Beichuan's "Hear the Wind Sing", the sales of "Group Portrait" broke the historical record in just half a month!"

Broke the record?

Saito Rena was confused and didn't react for a while.

“历史记录是1956年7月号创下的78万3667册，而今早统计部的同事过来告诉我，截止今天凌晨，1995年4月号《群像》累计销售78万4332册，成功打破尘封了39年的销量记录！”

(End of this chapter)