I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 191 Brother, times have changed!
Ryutaro Hashimoto is the first prime minister of the "post-LDP era" and the fourth politician in the LDP who was not a faction leader but eventually served as the president of the LDP and the prime minister of Japan.

He was able to take office smoothly, firstly thanks to Tomiichi Murayama. This former big brother was really tough. He took the Socialist Party with him and wanted to eradicate the Aum Shinrikyo that was causing unrest in Japan.

First, it benefited from his passionate speeches during the campaign. Before taking office, he promised all citizens that he would lead Japan out of the depression after the bursting of the bubble economy during his term of office and significantly improve the three major systems of medical care, people's livelihood and law.

it's good now.

He had been in office as prime minister for less than half a year when the promise he had made came back to haunt him like a boomerang.

People are calling on Congress to amend the Juvenile Law because of the "Drunkard Rose Saint War" case, and many voters who support him are now questioning the Prime Minister's cabinet online.

It was you who said that the legal system should be changed, right?

Now that the opportunity has come, why have you become a coward?

Just when Ryutaro Hashimoto was having a headache about this matter, someone suddenly knocked on the office door.

Machimura Nobutaka, the current Vice Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, walked in.

"It's you, Nobutaka. You come here so late. Is there something urgent you want to say?" Hashimoto Ryutaro looked at him in confusion.

Since entering politics, Nobutaka Machimura has been an unwavering "Hashimoto faction". Therefore, as soon as Ryutaro Hashimoto took office, he promoted his brother-in-law Hara Fumie to be the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

As Machimura Nobutaka had little experience in politics, Hashimoto Ryutaro could not directly promote him to the position of Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, so he temporarily only appointed him as Vice Minister of State.

With this mid-year personnel reshuffle and the upcoming parliamentary election, it has been confirmed that Nobutaka Machimura will be promoted to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and member of the House of Representatives.

The twists and turns in Japanese politics can be glimpsed from their relationship and family.

Machimura Nobutaka's grandfather, Machimura Kinya, was the father of dairy farmers in Hokkaido, and his father, Machimura Kingo, was the former governor of Hokkaido. The Machimura family has controlled the economy and politics of Hokkaido for generations.

In the pre-war era, Ryutaro Hashimoto's father, Ryugo Hashimoto, received the favor of Machimura Kingo when he was serving in Hokkaido, and the two were also classmates at the Tokyo Imperial University.

Ryutaro Hashimoto's wife is Kumiko Nakamura, the daughter of Nakamura Hisaji, the president of Fuji Audio Company.

Hisaji Nakamura is the youngest son of former Chiba Prefecture governor and Yokohama Specie Bank director Kuro Nakamura. Kuro Nakamura and Kin'ya Machimura were college classmates and cousins, and they also served in the same Marine Corps.

This is how Japan's upper class society is.

Over the years, these financial groups, politicians, academic cliques and other families have intermarried with each other, which not only consolidates their monopoly in their respective fields, but also completely blocks the upward space for the lower classes.

These big families control every aspect of Japan. Their descendants are either related by blood or by marriage. It is simply an extremely large network of personal relationships.

"I heard from my wife that you were worried about the Juvenile Law, so I immediately came here to give you some advice."

Machimura Nobutaka sat down in front of Hashimoto Ryutaro without any hesitation, and casually took out a supplement of "Literature" and threw it in front of him.

"This is the last issue of Literature and Art, which was sold out almost all over the country. It contains the novel Confessions. Have you read it, brother?"

"Pure literary fiction?"

Ryutaro Hashimoto was not a person who liked reading. He took the "Literature and Art", flipped through a few pages casually, and soon lost interest.

However, the name of the author of "Confessions", Hide Kitagawa, sounds quite familiar.

Machimura Nobutaka knew that he neither paid attention to Internet public opinion nor understood the Japanese literary world, so he briefly told him the story of Kitagawa Hide from beginning to end.

Previously, the Tanizaki Prize and the Akutagawa Prize were not awarded to Kitagawa Hide, and the Ministry of Education split into two factions. Machimura Nobutaka's faction was the one that supported Kitagawa Hide.

His brother-in-law, Hara Bunbei, was also the first senior politician to suggest amending the Juvenile Law.

When he heard that Hide Kitagawa was the author of "No Longer Human", Ryutaro Hashimoto immediately remembered him.

It was this guy who caused Tomiichi Murayama to risk his life to destroy both himself and Aum Shinrikyo.

Although judging from the results, Ryutaro Hashimoto had to help his predecessor clean up the mess, in the long run, the demise of Aum Shinrikyo would be a good thing for both him and the Liberal Democratic Party.

Kitagawa Hideya indirectly helped him ascend to the prime ministership.

After listening to Machimura Nobutaka's words, Hashimoto Ryutaro seemed to be thinking about something. After a while, he asked, "So you also suggest amending the Juvenile Law?"

"It's not a suggestion, it's a must." Machimura Nobutaka shook his head and said to him solemnly, "Brother, have you forgotten how the Socialist Party took the prime minister's throne from our Liberal Democratic Party?"

Of course, Ryutaro Hashimoto will never forget this.

The then Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita resigned miserably due to the Liberal Democratic Party's bribery case. The reputation of the Liberal Democratic Party plummeted. At that time, several major parties were fighting each other, and the Socialist Party took the opportunity to win the favor of voters and rose to power, directly taking away the prime minister's throne that had not changed hands for decades.

"How could I forget?" He curled his lips.

Machimura Nobutaka continued: "In our country, the largest number of people are ordinary people who have no ability to change the current social situation.

They only know how to yell and call on the government to take care of those things every day. Ten years ago, or even five years ago, we could have ignored these people's ideas and just arrested and killed those who didn't obey.

If we don’t want them to hear something, we can just block it directly; if we want them to hear something, we can let the official media continue to publicize it.

But it's different now.

They have new channels to vent, speak out, and communicate, and they can completely ignore the channels through which we instill information and just entertain themselves on the Internet.”

"So?" Hashimoto Ryutaro looked at him in confusion, "So what?"

"Brother, fifty years ago, if your father wanted to contact my father who settled in Hokkaido, he would either have to travel a long way to come to my house to communicate face to face, or communicate by phone or letter. No matter which method was used, the cost in terms of money and time was huge.

Our family doesn’t really have to worry about this cost, but most Japanese families couldn’t even afford a car or a phone fifty years ago.”

Machimura Nobutaka pointed at the magazine in front of him and said word by word,
"Now, even ordinary people can speak freely on the Internet as long as they have a computer and an Internet cable at home. It doesn't matter if you are in Tokyo or I am in Hokkaido. You can see the words I send in the next second and reply to me immediately."

"Brother, Japan elects its government after all, and the people hold the votes. Public opinion is everything. If we can't satisfy these people, then we will be in big trouble in the next election!
If things continue like this, when the House of Representatives is re-elected in October, and a large number of people hold signs and march in front of the Capitol, how many seats will we be able to get?

Brother, times have changed, and we can no longer manipulate their minds at will."

This is why Nobutaka Machimura insisted on having a showdown with Ryutaro Hashimoto tonight.

He is an unchangeable "Hashimoto faction". Whether he will have the opportunity to become the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology or Speaker of the House of Representatives in the future depends entirely on how Ryutaro Hashimoto handles this case.

After hearing his words, Ryutaro Hashimoto fell into deep thought.

He doesn't understand the Internet or the Japanese literary world, but that doesn't mean he is unwilling to accept new things.

The fact that he can become prime minister shows that he is obedient enough.

"This guy is called Kitagawa Hide," asked Ryutaro Hashimoto.

"We've checked. He has a clean background and has no connection with any consortium." Machimura Nobutaka knew that something was up, and he said with a smile.

"It is a very good template for a 'national idol'."

"Yes. Regarding the revision of the Juvenile Law, I will hold a cabinet meeting to discuss it. If it is confirmed, we will proceed based on the suggestions we received from the general public and this article."

"Confessions."

"Yes, and the social impact of this Confession eventually led to the decision to amend the legal details."

"I understand. The Ministry of Education will fully cooperate with the actions of the Prime Minister's Cabinet." Machimura Nobutaka nodded with a smile.

At 7:28 on the evening of August 6th.

"Peter Cat" Hall.

Mayumi Aso and the other two were typing away at their computers. Their novel will come to an end next month, so they have been busy with the finishing work and making final revisions in recent days.

Aso Aiko and several other kindergarten girls were running around happily holding Pete.

Pete, who was forced to work every day, was fed fatter and fatter, like a little pig. Usually, when these little ancestors didn't come, he was too lazy to move. But when they came, Pete changed his behavior and rolled around with them, very enthusiastic.

Kitagawa Hide looked at this stupid cat and couldn't help but sigh that cats are indeed the cutest and most understanding animals in the world.

Like a scumbag, Pete coaxed a few little girls to revolve around him. Since then, the cat has been constantly supplied with cat snacks, and its life has reached its peak.

Recently, Kitagawa Hide has been paying close attention to the developments in online forums. He has called many times to inquire about the progress of the Hikigaya Nako case, and also looked for inspiration for his new book in major news sections.

"Confessions" has finally come to an end.

Afterwards, Yumeko will be busy with the adaptations of two major IPs, the TV series "Lost Paradise" and the movie "Confessions", and he also has to publish a new hit as soon as possible, taking advantage of this wave of popularity to further enhance his position in the Japanese literary world!
By the way, he still had to book a flight and hotel to France with Rena Saito tonight, so that they wouldn’t have nowhere to sleep when they landed - the French were inexplicably stingy in this regard, inviting them to the award ceremony but didn’t even help them book a decent hotel!
Kitagawa Hidemasa picked up the phone and was about to ask Saito Rena when suddenly a scream came from not far away.

The one who exclaimed was Tuanki Shirou.

He pointed at the TV and stuttered, "Master, Master! You are on TV!"

"What's wrong with being on TV? It's not the first time."

Kitagawa Hide was about to say that he was making a fuss, but when he looked up, he saw that TBS was broadcasting News 7, and three big men appeared on the TV at this time:

The current Prime Minister is Ryutaro Hashimoto, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner General Bunbei Hara, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives Takako Doi.

These three people each held a "Literature and Art" supplement in their hands, placed it in front of their chests, and talked to the camera. They looked very much like the live broadcast anchors who sell goods in later generations!

They all mentioned Teacher Kitagawa, and their words were full of admiration. No wonder Shirou had such a big reaction!
(End of this chapter)