I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 291 Shocking Ichiro Tanizaki for a Hundred Years
1997 5 Month 8 Day.

"Who is the 'number one' in Japanese literary circles?" This topic has been hyped by media all over Japan for more than half a month.

And judging from the popularity of the topic, the possibility of escalating the situation is far greater than the possibility of it settling down.

More and more Japanese citizens have joined the discussion of this topic. Many of them actually do not read pure literature at all, and do not know who Ichiro Tanizaki and who Hide Kitagawa are.

Anyway, everyone is talking about this, just like during the bubble era, when even the dishwashers and sanitation workers on the street were buying and selling stocks. If you don't get involved, you will be left behind and eliminated by the times. Who would like that?
Major newspapers, magazines, and television stations have rushed to launch various voting and support activities, the momentum of which is even more terrifying than the fan clubs of idol stars, which shows how popular this matter is.

Various voting activities are essentially means for media groups to squeeze the wallets of the people. If they really care about the future of Japanese literature, they should not add fuel to the fire.

And everyone knows that the literary battle between Kitagawa Hide and Tanizaki Ichiro will ultimately end with the sales of the two pure literature magazines, the stance of authoritative figures in the industry, and the recognition of the government and other relevant departments.

If book fans really want to support their idols to defeat their idols, it would be better for them to spend their money on buying "Wenyi" and "Xinchao".

But now this matter is no longer just a simple competition for the "number one in the world" in the Japanese literary world, or a competition for the "number one" between the two major publishing houses, Kawaide Shobo and Shinchosha.

The six major Japanese conglomerates, led by the Mitsubishi Group, have all entered the market and have set their sights on this literary market.

When talking about Japan, the issue of conglomerates is an issue that cannot be avoided.

These conglomerates have been making their fortunes since the First and Second World Wars, and have risen rapidly by controlling various industries that are vital to the national economy.

Although the American father strongly urged his Japanese son to split up the major conglomerates after World War II, the six major conglomerates that exist today are still the real sky of Japan.

They control the economy, manipulate politics, enjoy everything, and enslave the people.

All industries, companies, and families in Japan will ultimately point to these six sources, without exception.

However, today's Japanese conglomerates are actually completely different from the lawless conglomerates that the public knows about.

Take the Mitsui Group, one of the six major conglomerates, as an example. It was established in 1961 and consists of 25 large companies.

Among them, Mitsui Bank, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Mitsui Fudosan Company are the three major pillar companies of the consortium.

The families that control the three pillar enterprises and several other large companies are the actual controllers of the consortium.

The agents of these families formed a managers' association that met on the second Thursday of every month. Because Thursday is called "Thursday" in Japanese, the managers' association was also called the Niki Association.

These top chaebol families have more subordinate families, and there are many other families that depend on them for survival.

Their circle of relationships and power structure are somewhat similar to the worldview of the fantasy novel next door.

The sects turned the imperial court into puppets, the big sects wrapped around the small sects, the small sects managed countless gangs, and they were linked to each other through marriage, sworn brotherhood, classmates, and working together. They had strict hierarchies and close relationships, thus forming an intricate complex of interests.

Such a complete sect system is the so-called consortium.

The real decision-maker of the consortium may change every year, and outstanding leaders will be selected from those big families to take the helm.

But no matter who is the leader in the coming years, our interests will always be the same and the core goal of our struggle will not change.

Such a power relationship is indeed much more stable than a monopoly of one family.

The neighboring Korean chaebols also wanted to move in this direction, but unfortunately due to various factors in the early years, the Korean chaebols were closer to the family-based model. After this situation was established, it was impossible to overthrow the dynasty and make a super family make concessions.

The largest shareholder behind Shinchosha is Japan's Sasakawa Peace Foundation, whose founder, Ryoichi Sasakawa, is a Class A war criminal and extreme rightist.

After Ryoichi Sasakawa's death, most of the assets of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation were controlled by the Mitsubishi Foundation. It can be said that Shinchosha is essentially the younger brother of the Mitsubishi Foundation.

The largest shareholder of Kawaide Shobo is Kawaide Shizuko and the Kawaide family she controls.

The rise of the Kawaide family is closely related to the well-known toy company Bandai and the well-known game company Namco. These two giants merged into the top entertainment company Bandai Namco after the millennium.

The real controller of Bandai Namco is the Mitsui Group.

The Mitsui Group and the Mitsubishi Group are the two oldest conglomerates in Japan and have been fighting endlessly over who is the top boss.

After the affairs of Kitagawa Hideka and Tanizaki Ichiro involved two top financial groups, things suddenly got out of control.

In just over half a month, the Mitsubishi Group and the Mitsui Group secretly invested a lot of money to support the writers they favored, causing the monthly sales of "Wenyi" and "Shincho" to rise to an incredible level.

After only 23 days of sales, Xinchao's monthly sales have now exceeded 500 million copies, of which an estimated 150 million are fake.

Considering that inflating sales data cannot be done without directly leaving the factory, it is not enough to just make false accounts, or to sell them symbolically and then take them away in a truckload.

Therefore, for this kind of brush, the consortium uses all kinds of strange marketing methods to get people to buy it home.

For example, the local government can distribute "cultural product consumption coupons" to the public, which can only be used to offset the purchase and sale of cultural products. In this way, people will buy more magazines and newspapers.

Another example is to let the celebrities of their entertainment companies canvass for votes and trick their die-hard fans into buying magazines - buying 100 copies will allow them to shake hands with their beloved idols.

In short, judging from this momentum, the April 1997 issue of "Shincho" is likely to break the historical record of 4 million copies set by Ichiro Tanizaki himself.

The performance of "Wenyi", which sold for 20 days, was not much different. After selling 67.2 copies on the first day, its monthly sales reached a staggering 497.1 million copies. What's even more exaggerated is that it now has a real sales volume of about 20 copies per day.

Shizuko Kawaide had no idea how much sales the Mitsui Group had achieved.

She only knew that if sales continued like this, this issue of "Wenyi" would have to reach the terrifying record of 700 million copies in monthly sales!

A month ago, when she was having dinner with Saito Rena and Kitagawa Hide, she also jokingly said that she didn't know whether she could break the historical record of 580 million copies of "Devil's Tattoo" with Mr. Kitagawa in her lifetime.

it's good now.

What’s 580 million copies?
Seven million copies are coming.

When Hechu Shobo was in its most difficult time, its monthly sales could barely break 20 copies, and its total sales for the whole year were less than 250 million copies.

Now, it easily sells millions of copies a month, which may have siphoned off half of Japan's pure literature market.

Sales volume increased, but the total market volume did not increase significantly, which further strengthened Shizuko Kawaide's determination to "go overseas."

Improving the reading quality of the entire population and cultivating reading habits are large-scale projects that will take decades to complete.

Publishing houses such as Kawade Shobo are working hard for this cause, but no one can wait for it to give back to them.

In addition to the efforts of the consortium, members of Congress could no longer sit still and began to cheer for the two.

Originally, Congress and the literary world had nothing to do with each other.

Only the departments related to the Ministry of Education will have a headache about this matter.

But next year, 1998, is the Senate election, which is held every three years.

In last year's House of Representatives election, Machimura Nobutaka, who bet on the right horse, rose like a rocket to become the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. This is a real case.

The members of the Senate are basically the elite of Japan. They support Ichiro Tanizaki, who is leaning towards them. A very small number of people took a gamble and placed their chips on Kitagawa Hide.

When Shizuko Kawaide told Kitagawa Hide and others about these things over the phone, Rena Saito was the first to express her doubts.

In her opinion, as word of mouth improves and the story unfolds, the popularity of "The World's End and Hard-Boiled Wonderland" has gradually surpassed "The Devil Wears Prada".

This is a reflection of hard power.

No matter how many powerful people support Ichiro Tanizaki behind the scenes, the people always have sharp eyes.

These elites are not fools. They can see the advantages and disadvantages at a glance, so why do they still cling to Ichiro Tanizaki?
Kitagawa Hideya was also confused.

Am I not favored just because I look younger, more handsome, speak more arrogantly, and don't respect the elderly and love the young as they expect?

It took Shizuko Kawaide several hours to explain it to them from beginning to end, and only then did the two of them roughly understand it.

This is not just a battle for who is the best in the world in Japanese literature.

It is also, as Kato Shuichi said, a dispute over the future development of Japanese literature.

In the future, who will decide everything? Will it be the new-school writers represented by Kitagawa Hide or the conservative writers represented by Tanizaki Ichiro?

It all depends on this competition!
"Mr. Kitagawa, I know that even if you win, you won't care about these things. Just like what you said to Mr. Kato Shuichi, you only have to do those things, 'that's all'. But we, there are many people who depend on you, it's different.

You win, just like the old saying next door, the one about chickens and dogs"

"When one person attains enlightenment, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven?"

"Yes, yes, yes! That's it! If you win, we all win.

And after we win, am I going to continue to watch Shinchosha enjoy so much market share?
Do they think they can continue to hide the dirty things that many of them have done?

Do you still want to just laugh it off or brush it off when they hurt, slandered, and abused you before?"

Liquidation!

What they fear is liquidation!

It is like the election of leaders that was once hotly debated in later generations.

Countless celebrities and dignitaries publicly support someone and even help canvass for votes on the spot.

Don’t they know that the people are the majority?

No, it's not.

They know it better than anyone else.

The thing is, you don't have a choice.

The enemy has come to power, and you will be the first to be liquidated!

You have no way to escape!
In a complex system of conflicting interests, if you have the opportunity to take sides, it means you have already taken sides.

You have come step by step, and to reach that position, it is by standing in line step by step.

At this moment, you are just stating your position.

"It's because he has a dirty bottom and is afraid of being liquidated, of losing everything and falling off the altar." Kitagawa Hide suddenly realized.

He, his disciples, and the writers and readers who support him are all upright and honest. At least they always write positive things and do not have so many petty and despicable thoughts in their hearts.

But Ichiro Tanizaki and the others are different.

The rottenness of the Japanese Literature Society is just the tip of the iceberg.

Just as Shizuko Kawaide said, if they successfully take up the banner, will they be allowed to spend their old age in peace?
The chips were constantly being brought to the table, and Ichiro Tanizaki, who was truly in a difficult situation, was exhausted.

Recently he suddenly cut off all social interactions, gave up all activities, and locked himself in his study.

About half of "The Love of a Fool" has not been completed, but he is now mainly busy with various trivial matters and has no time to conceive and create.

His advanced age of eighty did not allow him to be as energetic as a young man.

But now he is a god who is forced onto the altar.

You can no longer come down whenever you want.

Ichiro Tanizaki also bought these two issues of "Wenyi".

"The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland" is a completely new subject matter, and the difficulty of writing the dual-line narrative is obviously greater than that of "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland".

Even Kitagawa Hide couldn't handle this kind of high-intensity writing, right?
From the fact that the quality of the first ten chapters fluctuates, it can be seen that Kitagawa Hide's creation is not stable.

After reading the book carefully, Ichiro Tanizaki became more and more convinced that in order to continue to maintain such high-quality creations, Kitagawa Hide would have to spend a lot of time and energy on writing books.

Once he gets distracted, the quality will fall behind.

With the writing style of "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland", the plot will collapse in the later part, which will be very difficult for readers to accept.

So I still have a chance.

As long as you concentrate and put all your energy into "Foolish Love".

The balance of victory will definitely tilt towards you!

Ichiro Tanizaki has not left his study for three days, and has been working hard on writing books and creating works all day long.

Only at this point did he regret it deeply.

I regret that after writing "The Devil's Tattoo" and being shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature, I became complacent and stopped striving for progress.

If he had continued to improve himself efficiently over the past 30 years, like Kitagawa Hide, he might not have to risk his life now.

Tanizaki Ichiro believed that Kitagawa Hide, who is now in high spirits, would not be able to understand the truth that it took him thirty years to realize, and even if he could, he would not be able to do it.

Just as he was thinking, there was a sudden knock on the door.

Ichiro Tanizaki walked to open the door with a sullen look on his face.

Hadn't I already told my wife and the servants at home that even if they were delivering food and wine, they should place them gently at the door. He would naturally go and eat when he was hungry and thirsty.

Once a writer's train of thought is interrupted, it is difficult to continue!

When the door of the study opened, the person who came into view was not his wife or the servant, but the anxious-looking Tsunekazu Takeda.

"Teacher Tanizaki, the University of Tokyo will have a literary exchange meeting with the University of Paris tomorrow. I hope you can go," said Takeda Tsunekazu.

"What's the point of this kind of communication? Don't you know what I'm busy with recently?" Ichiro Tanizaki interrupted him angrily.

This idiot really can't tell the situation clearly!

"I understand, I understand, but this time it's the Iwasaki family who asks you to go over there." Takeda Tsunekazu also knew that Tanizaki Ichiro was under a lot of pressure and didn't want to disturb him.

Unfortunately, it was the Iwasaki family who came forward.

The Iwasaki family is one of the families that actually controls the Mitsubishi Group, and they hold major assets such as Mitsubishi Bank.

"Why the Iwasaki family?" Ichiro Tanizaki was puzzled.

"Because the students and professors from the University of Paris this time brought another serialized novel by Kitagawa Hide." Takeda Tsunekazu mentioned this with an expression of disbelief, "I think the title of the book is 'Remembrance of Things Past', a novel set in France?

In short, they hope to have some exchanges and discussions with our top writers. They came here on the orders of the French President and the Ministry of Culture. Considering political issues, the Iwasaki family does not want to make them unhappy because we are too confusing.

The only people who can discuss this with them are you and Kitagawa Hide."

"Isn't Kitagawa Hide the original author? If he's gone, why should I go?" Tanizaki Ichiro was shocked and angry, and then he became confused. "Wait, you said he was writing another novel at the same time? Recently?"

"Yes. Because Kitagawa Hide explicitly refused to attend this exchange meeting."

"why?"

"Because he said that he has to be busy with the proposal and marriage this month and has no time for any exchange meeting. He can do it next month."

"Proposal and marriage? What about his 'The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland'? He doesn't have to spend time writing it? The new issue of 'Wenyi' will be on sale on the 18th." Ichiro Tanizaki's eyes widened even more.

Is Kitagawa Hide crazy?

When he first heard the news, Takeda Tsunekazu was shocked at first, and then surprised.

It seemed like Kitagawa Hide suddenly became love-minded. Instead of staying at home to create in May, he went out to propose.

But when they inquired later, they were all dumbfounded.

"Because, because he has already finished writing the entire book "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland"

(End of this chapter)