I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 279: As a writer, a recorder of words, one must cross the border and enter the situation of the weak

As soon as Kitagawa Xiu arrived at the Kitagawa Network headquarters, the originally lifeless company became a large-scale offline star-chasing scene.

Many employees who are very shy in daily life and work, after seeing Kitagawa Hide, instantly turned into fans and came up to him with various books he wrote to ask for his autograph.

Kyohei Murabayashi was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, but he was helpless.

In the past, he only had to shout and these young people would immediately behave themselves.

But now, the big boss is also here, and he looks very happy. He gets along very well with the employees and they have obviously become close friends.

What if this shout ruins the boss's mood?
Murabayashi Kyohei had no choice but to stand aside with a sullen face. After the noisy atmosphere slowly dissipated, he walked up to Kitagawa Hide, bowed 90 degrees and said, "Welcome Mr. Kitagawa."

"Mr. Murayashi, there's no need to be so formal and nervous. I just came to see how everyone is working, that's all." Kitagawa Hide waved his hand. Through the simple communication just now, he had confirmed the general situation within the company.

It seems that excessive overtime work has made these young people who have just graduated feel a little depressed.

There is no way. Like Kitagawa Hide and Saito Rena, they are members of the baby boomer generation. They have not caught up with anything good, but have encountered many bad situations.

Therefore, this generation of young workers are quite aggressive and no longer agree with the old ideas of the past.

"Understood!"

Murabayashi Kyohei welcomed Kitagawa Hide back to his office, then locked the door, drew the blinds, and became serious again.

"Teacher Kitagawa, the soundproofing here is very good, you don't have to worry about being heard. Excuse me, are you really not here for the matter of 'Haruto'?"

"Haruto?" Kitagawa Hide was stunned. He hardly ever worked and almost forgot about this carnival season unique to Japanese workers.

Haruto, whose full name is "Spring Life Struggle" or "Spring Wage Struggle", is a struggle organized by the Japan Confederation of Trade Unions every spring to increase workers' wages. To put it bluntly, it is an organized and disciplined "labor-management negotiation."

The labor-capital issue has always been the biggest contradiction between capitalists and workers. If this issue is not handled properly, it may lead to major incidents and even loss of life in some developed countries!

For example, the NBA in the United States was once suspended due to labor-capital issues. Many stars went to play in many other leagues during the suspension period and almost never came back!

The same is true in Japan.

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions collects opinions from workers across the country in February every year, and then draws up a draft, which is sent to various companies in March, requiring them to increase the basic salary of their employees. The draft basically covers all workers, even those who do odd jobs on an hourly basis.

Thanks to such step-by-step pressure, Japan's minimum hourly wage was 635 yen last year. According to the current exchange rate, it is equivalent to 63 yuan in RMB. Any company that employs employees with an hourly wage lower than this number is illegal.

Of course, the reality is that companies will adjust hours and other things to make your minimum wage less outrageous.

But this also greatly guarantees the income level of the lowest-level people.

By the way, in 2024, before Kitagawa Hide traveled through time, the minimum hourly wage in Japan was 930 yen, equivalent to 46.5 yuan, and the minimum hourly wage in Tokyo was 1163 yen, equivalent to 55.3 yuan. The minimum hourly wage in the neighboring capital was the highest in the country, at about 26.4 yuan.

Considering that the price level in Japan is higher than that in its neighboring countries, after conversion, although there is still a certain gap, it is actually not as exaggerated as rumored on the Internet.

In other words, no matter which country it is, as long as you are a member of the lower class, your life will definitely not be comfortable.

Therefore, Japanese workers are very keen to participate in the "Spring Fight". Even if they can only get 1,000 yen a month in salary in the end, it is better than nothing!

Kyohei Murabayashi, who has extensive experience in the workplace, is well aware of the bosses' dislike for "Haruto".

When Mr. Beichuan hired this team, he offered a salary that was three times higher than the market average.

The salary of new employees is much higher than that of their counterparts in other companies.

Not to mention the welfare benefits, they are all maxed out.

Moreover, due to the nature of Kitagawa Hide's personal work, Kitagawa Network has collaborated a lot with the entertainment and literary circles, satisfying the star-chasing dreams of many young employees.

Kyohei Murabayashi didn't know whether the employees in the company had secretly contacted the Federation of Trade Unions to report the company's involvement. If they had really received a "battle letter" from the Federation of Trade Unions this month, he was afraid that Mr. Kitagawa would be disheartened.

So he racked his brains for the past few hours and finally "understood" the purpose of Teacher Beichuan's visit!
Seeing Kitagawa Hide's stunned expression, Murabayashi Kyohei began to feel unconfident again.

Isn't it?
It seems like there isn't anything recently that requires Mr. Kitagawa to come and handle it personally?

He scratched his head.

"As for the 'Spring Fight', if the General Labor Union really sends a 'battle letter', then we can raise the salary again. It's not a big deal."

Beichuan Xiuneng understood the suffering of workers and said with a smile,

"Raising wages is what the company should do. There's nothing wrong with that."

"I understand! I will take care of it." Murabayashi Kyohei looked at Kitagawa Hide, and at this moment he finally understood why those famous generals in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" were willing to follow their lords to death.

A scholar will die for his confidant!
Generally speaking, when the Federation of Trade Unions sends a "battle letter" for the first time, the requirements in it will be quite harsh and most bosses will not agree to it.

Then the workers will start a "strike" protest.

But the strike in Japan is very interesting.

They adhere to the philosophy of not causing trouble to others. Even if they participate in a strike, they will still work but will no longer receive any pay.

For example, taxi drivers will continue to pick up passengers but will not collect payment;
Programmers will continue to write code, but will no longer receive remuneration from downstream merchants.

An investor has to continue to incur costs, but don’t expect to continue to make profits!

In this way, the employers will soon be unable to bear it, and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions will issue a second "battle letter", and this time the requirements will be very reasonable, so the employers will back down.

However, this model is quite harmful to investors, who will generally transfer the conflicts to the company's middle and senior management.

So in the end, the ones who will suffer the most will definitely be senior managers like Kyohei Murabayashi.

Kitagawa Hide said he was willing to accept the first labor-management mediation, which was equivalent to helping Murayashi Kyohei breathe a sigh of relief.

In his opinion, this boss is really good!
If it were in ancient times, it would surely be a famous name known far and wide!
"By the way, Mr. Murayashi. I want to have a casual chat with the company's employees. Can you help me arrange it now?" Kitagawa Hide asked again.

He really didn't feel much about the "Spring Fight" and salary increase.

Mainly compared with Kitagawa Hide's personal assets, the size of Kitagawa Network is actually not large and not worth mentioning.

Kyohei Murabayashi probably didn't expect that his boss would become a billionaire at such a young age.

"Okay! I'll get you the employee list right away!" Kyohei Murabayashi ran quickly to the desk, handed the employee list to Kitagawa Hide.

Kitagawa Hide pretended to flip it several times, and then "randomly" checked ten employees.

Ikezawa, Kawagoe and others who had complained on his personal website were on the list.

After a while, the employees who were selected were terrified and tiptoed into the office one by one.

Just now they were just chasing stars, but that was when they interacted with Mr. Kitagawa as readers.

Now, as company employees being randomly checked, several people suddenly became nervous. The first person to be picked was Chi Ze.

He no longer cares about not being able to date his girlfriend.

He just hoped that after this conversation, the company would not fire him!

Ikezawa sat down tremblingly, not daring to even look Kitagawa Hide in the eye. He was just lowering his head to think about a strategy when he suddenly heard Teacher Kitagawa ask a question.

"Ikezawa-san, can you tell me about your daily life? How do you spend your day?"

"My day?" Chi Ze raised his head slightly and asked in confusion, "Do you mean my day in the company?"

"No, just a normal day. Of course, it would be better if you could tell me about your life on the holidays," added Kitagawa Hide.

The moment he saw these young employees, he suddenly realized what was missing from "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland".

He needs to truly understand the daily life of contemporary workers.

The carefree computer scientists described in the book are actually a metaphor for programmers.

No matter how realistic Murakami's original work is, it is his understanding of these people and contains too many of his personal opinions.

Kitagawa Hide needs his own understanding and needs to conform to the "daily life of calculators" of this social group in Japan.

"Yes." Ikezawa didn't understand why Mr. Kitagawa asked this, but he still told him everything.

After saying this, he realized that his life was so monotonous and barren.

Apart from his girlfriend, his life seemed to be nothing but making money and computers.

At this moment, Chi Ze was completely confused.

Is this the life he wants?
When I was in college, I was full of energy and fantasized about all kinds of lives.

Why has life become like this now?
Seeing Ikezawa fall into deep thought, Kitagawa Hide was also moved.

He knew that the daily life of a worker was boring, but he didn't expect it to be this boring.

Ikezawa left in despair, and Kawagoe walked in happily.

He is different from Ikezawa. Although he likes to complain, he is still very motivated at work. Moreover, he doesn't have a girlfriend and doesn't have parents who need urgent care, so his life is relatively easy.

Then the same problem again.

After answering, Kawagoe, who was smiling happily just now, was also confused.

He thought his life was quite colorful.
that's it.

Kitagawa Hide asked ten young employees in succession, and then simply went to ask the more familiar Murabayashi Kyohei.

Kyohei Murabayashi is a typical Japanese man, who is a hands-off husband at home and works hard at the company to make money to support his family.

His salary is not low, but he bought three houses during the bubble era, which have now become a huge mountain that is crushing him.

He had to struggle with the horrific mortgage and huge household expenses.

After talking about all this, Kitagawa Hide suddenly felt fortunate that he was a plagiarist, a time traveler, and a chosen one who was stuck in a world bug.

He once worried about money and debt, but with the help of "Youth Trilogy", he easily solved all these problems.

He is constantly moving forward, heading towards a better life.

However, in the process, he gradually lost the ability to empathize with the people at the bottom of society.

I used to think “Why not eat meat porridge” was a joke.

Looking back now, I can spend tens of thousands of yen on food without feeling anything. Am I not just a youthful version of “Why not eat meat?”

“The reality of the society we live in cannot be accurately captured by so-called calm and objective observation alone.

As writers and recorders, we must cross the border and enter the situation of the weak. Only by observing the world completely from the standpoint and perspective of the weak can we get close to the essence of the situation.

We must be aware of the fictional nature of common sense such as 'neutrality, fairness, and objectivity', so that novels can be more deeply rooted in people's hearts. "

Kitagawa Hideaki understood.

No wonder he felt so uncomfortable when he wrote "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland".

After all, "Remembrance of Things Past" is set in France during the First and Second World Wars, and can only rely on documentary materials to supplement the texture, while "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland" is the background of the era in which he lived. If he transcends beyond that, it would not be real enough.

Mr. Murakami writes about the current state of capitalist society in Japan based on his observations.

Kitagawa Hideya should have written about what he observed!

If he just copies the book, with his current status in the literary world and readership base, it will certainly be easy to sell well and make money.

But this was contrary to his love for literature.

He no longer needs the money.

Before leaving Kitagawa Network, Kitagawa Hide suddenly made a request to Murabayashi Kyohei.

He wanted to follow the employees through their daily work life for a week.

At first, Kyohei Murabayashi thought that this was another way for the boss to inspect, but when he heard him say with certainty that it was for collecting folk songs, he believed it.

Mr. Kitagawa’s essential job is indeed writing novels, and it seems like he hasn’t published a book for quite some time since “The Dancing Girl of Izu”?
The two hit it off immediately, and Kitagawa Hide got a small workstation between Ikezawa and Kawagoe that same day.

In order to make him more like a programmer, Kyohei Murabayashi also provided a full set of equipment and worksheets, treating him completely as an intern.

When the news that Mr. Kitagawa would be working with everyone spread, the employees became excited again!
They couldn't help but wonder, could it be that Mr. Beichuan's new book was related to them?

Ikezawa, who escaped from the jaws of death, was also very excited.

Mr. Kitagawa did not have the oppressive feeling of a big boss as he had imagined. He was very easy-going. No wonder he could write a novel that his girlfriend raved about!

If only I could be lucky enough to become a passing character in Kitagawa's new book.
Ignoring the thoughts of these fanatical book fans, Kitagawa Hide drove back home, mentioned the matter to Mengzi, and then began to prepare his work clothes and the lunch box he would bring to the company tomorrow - Kitagawa Network was in the downtown area of ​​Shinjuku District, and the restaurants around it were very expensive, so no one went there often.

After dealing with these things, Kitagawa Hide, who was clear-minded, hugged Yumeko and watched TV on the sofa. Tokyo Broadcasting System TBS was broadcasting News 7.

On TV, Ryutaro Hashimoto appeared.

With a gloomy face, he solemnly announced a new policy - he will officially increase the domestic consumption tax in April to quickly pull Japan out of the economic depression!
(End of this chapter)