I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 257: New year, new goals! The four masters and apprentices will work together to strive for higher awards!

A group of new-age literary critics, led by Tetsutaro Mori, have been criticizing the Tanizaki Prize online and offline, demanding that the organizers give an explanation to Mr. Kitagawa.

Most of these people actually don’t care who the Tanizaki Prize is awarded to. They only care about how much substantial benefits this wave of traffic can bring.

Seeing that the number of fans on their social media accounts would skyrocket as long as they followed suit and attacked Tanizaki Shang, these fence-sitters became even more excited and kept biting Tanizaki Shang like mad dogs, as if saying, "If you don't explain clearly, we will not let you go."

A stone stirred up a thousand waves.

People in the industry were eager to watch the fun, and other literary awards of similar status to the Tanizaki Prize also began to secretly buy traffic to attack it, making it impossible for this controversial incident to be settled.

Under such a fierce attack, Takeda Tsunekazu and his son could no longer remain deaf and dumb, and had to bite the bullet and hold a press conference on the first day of the new year, repeatedly assuring reporters and the public: There is absolutely no problem with our award selection mechanism, and the winning works and authors absolutely meet the award criteria.

As for the controversial incident that everyone has been clamoring about, Takeda Tsunekazu and his son continued to ignore it - they couldn't answer even if they wanted to, they couldn't say that we invited Mr. Kitagawa, but he just ignored us!
After saying this, the father and son bowed 90 degrees to apologize as per custom, trying to get away with the matter with this standard Japanese perfunctory apology.

But this time they miscalculated.

That evening, Tanizaki Prize winner Hiroshi Someya published a long self-testimony on the literature section of Yahoo Japan Forum.

In his certificate, he clearly stated that there was absolutely no foul play between him and the Tanizaki Prize jury, and from the beginning to the end, he never thought that he could defeat Kitagawa Hide to win the Tanizaki Prize.

All of this was directed and acted by Takeda Tsunekazu and his son!

He is also one of the victims!

In order to prove his innocence, Sometani Hiroshi even sent all the bonuses, prizes and trophies intact to Kawaide Shobo. He didn't want to keep this hot potato for even a moment!

If he had known that things would develop into this, Sometani Hiroshi would rather nail his butt to the chair than go on stage to receive the award!

This is just great.

Even the winner jumped out to refute the Tanizaki Prize, and the press conference that had just ended by Takeda Tsunekazu and his son immediately became the first big joke in the Japanese literary world in 1997.

The incident caused a huge uproar, and some people even raised the sharp question, "Is the Tanizaki Prize still a major award in the world of pure literature?"

Taking advantage of this good opportunity, the Yomiuri Shimbun awarded the Yomiuri Literary Prize to "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" with great fanfare, and called it the best war literature in the history of Japanese literature.

With this big brother taking the lead, many literary awards, big and small, such as the Asahi Shimbun Award, the Takeo Kuwahara Academic Award, the Waseda University Tsubouchi Shoyo Literature Award, and the Kobayashi Hideo Award, have extended olive branches to Kitagawa Hide.

By the time Kitagawa Hide, who was visiting Yumeko's hometown in Osaka, received a congratulatory call from Saito Rena, he had inexplicably been "forced" to receive the award seventy-fourth time.

Among them, South of the Border, West of the Sun won a total of six literary awards;
Paradise Lost won a total of nine literary awards;
“Confessions” won a total of twelve literary awards;

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle has won a total of fifteen literary awards;

The unfinished "Killing Commendatore" and "The Dancing Girl of Izu" won five and twenty-seven literary awards respectively.

".I asked the security guard in the mailroom to count carefully several times. Beichuan, all the novels you wrote last year won a total of 74 awards.

The total amount of prize money from the major juries is 2849 million yen. If you have no other use for this money, I will have the Finance Department transfer it to your bank account when you go back to work in the new year.

As for the prizes, I asked them to send them all to 'Peter Cat'. I heard that Mayumi and Higashino-san have helped put them in the honor display cabinet.

By the way, what are you going to do with the Tanizaki Award Plate that Someya Hiroshi sent me? It’s too valuable, no one dares to touch it, so now I have to keep it in my office.”

"Thank you for your hard work, Saito. I don't want the award plaque. You can have someone send it back to Someya Hiroshi or the Tanizaki Award Jury."

Kitagawa Hide has a gentle temperament and is too lazy to argue with others about many things, but once he makes a decision, no one can change his mind.

Tanizaki Award, if you say you don’t want it, then you don’t want it, no matter what anyone says, no one can persuade you!

Hearing the rustling sound of a pen writing and a printer printing on the phone receiver, Kitagawa Hide couldn't help but ask,
"Wait, you're not still working overtime at the company, are you?"

"Huh? How did you know?" Saito Rena is currently preparing the publishing plan for "Killing Commendatore" as well as the self-recommendation letter for "The Dancing Girl of Izu" which will be submitted to the Japan Literary Society in January this year for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Especially the latter, that was the achievement she and Kitagawa Hide had been working hard for nearly two years!

It is the most important thing of all her work since the beginning of the year!
If she doesn’t get it done in these few days, Rena Saito feels like she won’t be able to sleep well!

"You bastard, today is the first day of the New Year. If you don't go to the temple to pay your respects to the gods, be careful that the gods will punish you!"

Kitagawa Hide teased Saito Reina while putting on the brand new coat handed to him by Yumeko.

In fact, if he hadn't come to Osaka, he would probably have been like Saito Rena, hiding away in a place and working day and night - the second half of "The Dancing Girl of Izu" will be published on the 18th of this month, but he still has three chapters to write!

But it’s different in Osaka.

He was accompanying Mengzi to visit relatives. If he failed to leave a good impression on his father-in-law and mother-in-law at this time, then his wish to bring his little wife, his only daughter, home as soon as possible might be ruined!
He can still tell the difference between having one meal full and having two meals full.

"If gods really exist, I hope they can bless your novel, Beichuan, to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature."

Saito Rena, who was still writing furiously, smiled and replied to him.

"Then go to the temple and explain things to the gods, you idiot!"

Beichuan Xiu scolded her with a bad smile, and then said jokingly,
"If 'The Dancing Girl of Izu' is not nominated, then you, Saito, will be fully responsible."

"Yes, yes, my great writer, once I finish the work at hand, I will go to Meiji Shrine to pray for you. Is that okay?"

Saito Rena also laughed out loud. She knew that Kitagawa Hide said this to persuade her not to work so hard. Although his tone was bad, his heart was well meant and it made her feel warm in her heart.

The two of them talked about the Nobel Prize in Literature. At this time, Yumeko and my wife had already arrived at the entrance, so Kitagawa Hide stopped talking, said a simple goodbye to Saito Rena, and followed her to a nearby temple.

Japanese temples hold various large and small temple fairs during the New Year, and the entire street is filled with various small stalls, stretching as far as the eye can see.

In previous years, my wife, Eikichi and his wife always went home early to rest after the first day of the wedding, but this year, with an extra couple, their interest in shopping was instantly high. Before going out, they specially made a detailed family plan for the first day of the wedding, insisting that Kitagawa Hide experience the completely different customs and people in Osaka and Tokyo. Kitagawa Hide felt the long-lost family love from the elders in the Eikichi couple, and the two elders doted on him as the "future son-in-law" so much, which meant that they had already decided in their hearts to entrust their baby daughter to him.

In fact, my wife Rongji and his wife had met Kitagawa Hide a long time ago, but at that time Kitagawa Hide was still a half-grown kid who knew nothing, and they never thought that he would be their daughter's future lover.

Later, the Kitagawa couple made money in their business and moved to Tokyo. We never had any contact with them again when we heard from Kitagawa Hide again. Both children were in high school.

At that time, the Beichuan family was at its peak, and the two families had not had any contact for a long time, so they did not take the initiative to visit, for fear of being considered by the other party as deliberately trying to climb the social ladder.

In this way, when my wife Rongji thought of Kitagawa Hide again, the child had become a lonely person without a father or a mother, which was heartbreaking.

As for his relationship with his daughter, both of them were adults now, and my wife, Eikichi and his wife, who were always open-minded, had never thought of interfering in Yumeko's marriage, so apart from some "details" that had to be explained, the two basically never asked about their lives.

It was only after Kitagawa Hide became gradually famous that they really began to consider the issue of equal status.

Unexpectedly, before they could figure it out, their daughter brought the great writer home.

What satisfied my wife Rongji the most and what finally made him make up his mind were Kitagawa Hide's reactions and attitudes after he entered the room.

Just like what my daughter said on the phone.

Kitagawa Hide bears the daunting title of "the best in the world", but he has no airs of a writer at all. He not only takes great care and love for his daughter, but also respects both of them very much.

After a few days of observation, the couple even felt that their daughter was not worthy of this rich son-in-law. My wife Yuan secretly said this to Mengzi last night, and Mengzi was depressed for a long time!

In short, before this trip to Osaka, Kitagawa Hide was extremely worried, fearing that any step he took would anger his parents-in-law. He didn't even bring the typewriter that he always carried with him, and focused on pleasing the two elderly people.

After arriving, within a few days, he relaxed, and everyone relaxed, and the whole New Year was spent in harmony. It also allowed Kitagawa Hide to get rid of the fatigue accumulated from writing novels throughout the previous year, and he was revived to full energy!

After the first day of marriage, my wife Eikichi and his wife took Kitagawa Hide and his wife to visit various famous tourist attractions in Osaka.

In this way, the family of four had a great time together, and at the end, before they even decided on the specific date of the wedding, they had already started discussing how many children Kitagawa Hidezou should have in the future!
By January 1th, three days had passed since the New Year holiday, and Kitagawa Hidemoto wanted to stay in Osaka for a few more days with Yumeko to accompany my wife Eikichi and his wife.

But after the New Year holiday, urgent calls came in from Kawade's study room one after another.

The restless Shizuko Kawaide suddenly had an idea. She wanted to take advantage of the popularity of "The Dancing Girl of Izu" to completely revise the old version of "Wenyi" to make it more in line with current market trends.

At the same time, under the pretext of revision, the original 80-page main publication was expanded to 120 pages, and the price was raised to increase the volume, taking the opportunity to occupy more market share in pure literature.

Unable to withstand the boss's repeated pleas, Kitagawa Hide had to bid farewell to his father-in-law and mother-in-law with Yumeko reluctantly, and returned to Tokyo with a truckload of local specialties under the watchful eyes of the two elders.

My wife Yuan said goodbye to her daughter in tears and secretly told her many things behind her husband and son-in-law's back. The most important point was that her daughter must wholeheartedly support her son-in-law's literary career and not let him be distracted by family affairs and love.

If one day Kitagawa Hide's literary career conflicts with Yumeko's career, Agatsuma Gen hopes that her daughter will decisively give up her career and devote herself to her husband and children.

This situation is rare in the neighborhood. Usually, when a daughter is getting married, the mother-in-law will teach her a few tricks to ensure that she will not be bullied in her husband's family. It would be even better if she can control the son-in-law!
But in Japan, under the constraints of traditional concepts since ancient times, no matter whether a woman is successful in her career or not, once she gets married, she will immediately adjust her mindset and transform herself into a good wife and mother who devotes herself to taking care of her husband and children.

They never think about how to seize power from their husbands and mothers-in-law, but only focus on raising their children well and handling the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, so that their husbands who work outside and are responsible for the family's livelihood can have no worries.

Therefore, in the minds of Japanese housewives, the most important job is to assist their husbands in developing their careers, and everything else is secondary!

My wife Rongji also talked to Kitagawa Hide for a long time before they left, but he didn't have much life experience to pass on to this rich son-in-law, and all he talked about was things related to his daughter.

For example, what Mengzi has liked since childhood, what she is taboo to eat, what she wants very much, etc.

What the father-in-law said was very fragmentary, and he repeated a lot of it later, but Kitagawa Hide deeply felt the love a father has for his daughter.

Therefore, even though he knew almost all of these things, he still took out his notebook and recorded these knowledge points again.

At 1 pm on January 6, Hideka Kitagawa and Yumeko returned to the long-lost "Peter Cat".

As soon as he entered the room, Kitagawa Hide saw Aso Mayumi, who was wearing new clothes, and the other two were discussing something around the computer. They didn't even hear them come in.

"What are you discussing? Aren't you off work yet so late?" Kitagawa Hide came closer to take a curious look, and distributed the souvenirs he brought back from Osaka to them one by one.

Upon hearing his voice, Mayumi Aso was the most excited. She turned straight around and shouted excitedly: "Master, you are back from Osaka?!"

"Good evening, Master and Madam." Keigo Higashino and Shirou Dango also turned around and greeted them.

The four of them exchanged greetings, and then Mayumi Aso and the others surrounded Kitagawa Hide and came to the computer.

He sat down and listened and watched, only to find out that the three disciples were giving each other suggestions on their new book.

When talking about their new book, Kitagawa Hide suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

Mayumi Aso and the other two were his formal disciples. In Japan, such disciples have the obligation to show filial piety to their master and mistress and to keep vigil at their graves, which is not much different from his own children.

The master also has the obligation to teach them and ensure that they can earn a living with the skills they have learned.

But ever since he went to Izu for vacation and got into a fight with Arima Yoshiyoshi and the others, Kitagawa Hide hasn't taken care of his three disciples for a long time. It can be said that he is a terrible master.

Thinking that Shizuko Kawaide was preparing to expand the "Literature and Art" magazine, she let the three disciples' new books fill it in as a "good start", which could be regarded as a small compensation for their losses during this period.

But since it is intended to be a "good start", the quality of the novel cannot be too bad.

Kitagawa Hide took a quick look at the new book they wrote and found the content mediocre. If it had been published together with his own serialized novels before the revision, it would have been acceptable, but if it was to be used in the first issue of the new edition of "Wenyi", the quality was not up to standard.

After reading the three new novels, he first made comments and offered suggestions, and then expressed his idea of ​​publishing their new books in the new edition of "Literature and Art".

Mayumi Aso and the other two happily agreed, and seeing their confidence, Hideya Kitagawa took the opportunity to give them better ideas for the novel.

In this brand new year of 1997, he hopes that three new humanists who can stir up the Japanese literary world will appear again, and let those guys who are eyeing him covetously understand that he, Kitagawa Hide, is not fighting alone!
(End of this chapter)