I am a literary giant in Japan

"This is it."

The driver followed Yumiko and Meggie's instructions and stopped the car near a residential area in Asakusa.

It was also his first time to come to such a place, so he was a little unsure. He looked back at Gongzi and the other man, and when he saw them nodded, he unlocked the car door with confidence.

"Excuse me, Kuroki-san. Please wait here for a moment. We will be back as soon as we are done."

Kitagawa Hide opened the car door and smiled at the driver Kuroki.

Hei Mu quickly unbuckled his seat belt, got out of the car and opened the door for them, and bowed 90 degrees in return, saying, "Teacher Beichuan, you are too kind! I feel very honored to work for you!

I will be waiting here for you, please don't be too anxious, come back after you finish your work!"

"Yeah." Kitagawa Hide bowed slightly to him, then turned his gaze back to the nearby residential area.

Although Asakusa belongs to Shinjuku District, the sense of poverty is even more serious than that of Kitaizu where he had been.

A luxury car arrived here and immediately became the focus of attention of countless residents around.

Kitagawa Hide looked around and saw only old single-family houses with mottled walls and a lot of ivy and creepers growing on them.

There was a damp smell around the single-family house, and the classified trash cans were filled with all kinds of household garbage. There was absolutely no such refreshing sense of cleanliness as that of the city center.

Some people say that if you want to know the true economic situation of a country's people, look at the minimum wage in their best cities;
If you want to know the true living conditions of a country's people, you should look at the sanitary environment and conditions in their rural areas.

Shinjuku District is considered wealthy and well-known among all the districts in Tokyo. Walking in any area in the center of the district, you can feel the atmosphere similar to that of the neighboring Magic City.

But only by coming to an urban village like Asakusa can you truly experience the living conditions of ordinary people in Shinjuku.

Living in this kind of residential area, let alone living, Kitagawa Xiu feels that it is a problem whether they can have enough food.

But even in this deserted slum, people can still see the "election manifesto" written in paint on the wall.

Ryutaro Hashimoto had previously promised the people that he would bring Japan's economy back to its heyday, and his subordinates traveled around Tokyo and wrote similar slogans in various places.

Times have changed, Ryutaro Hashimoto's election manifesto is still on the wall, but the new prime minister is already ready to go.

From this point of view, Japanese politics is also quite ridiculous.

Of course, people living in Asakusa don’t care at all who is elected prime minister or which party will stay in power for a long time.

They only look at when the community and town will distribute relief food, and which political party and prime minister are willing to guarantee their bottom-level lives, and they will support whoever they want.

"Teacher Kitagawa, are we really going to walk around here for a few rounds?"

Yumiko, who was born and raised in Asakusa, has absolutely no fondness or sense of belonging to this place.

She followed Shin and the others to Kabukicho to work, just to save enough money one day and get away from this hellhole completely.

Meggie also had a bad impression of this place.

As far as he can remember, his family has never been harmonious since moving here.

Asakusa is the memory of countless people, but also the nightmare of countless people.

Especially the younger generation like them.

The two really couldn't understand why Teacher Beichuan had to come to this damn place to collect folk songs.

Are all rich people's habits so weird?

"Just walk around a few times and take a look."

Kitagawa Hide waved to them and pulled Kaoru towards the residential area.

The two had no choice but to follow quickly behind.

Asakusa is the gathering place of Japan's Beat Generation, as stated in Yasunari Kawabata's original novel.

When he came to the pond and saw an inexplicable madman scooping up fish food from the pond and eating it in big mouthfuls, Kitagawa Hide could feel the absurdity of the original novel of "Asakusa Red Group".

"This guy's name is Hidetsuke. It is said that he took the entrance exam to the University of Tokyo twelve times but failed to get in. Later, he became like this." Yumiko walked to the front and secretly protected the editor Kaoru behind him.

She didn't want anything to happen to her "boss" who would be in control of her destiny in the future.

"Ten, twelve times!" Kaoru opened her eyes wide, stunned.

Japan also has the so-called "repeating a grade", but here, repeating a grade is called "reselection" and repeaters are called "ronin".

Ronin originally referred to a samurai who had lost his master, that is, an unemployed samurai.

In ancient times, samurai who became ronin would generally wander around various territories, using various means such as murder and robbery to prove their military worth, in the hope of being noticed by the local daimyo or nobles and becoming a registered samurai again.

In modern times, the term is used to refer to students who did not get into their ideal university and are preparing to continue the challenge next year.

These repeaters have different names in Japan: those who repeat once are called "one wave", those who repeat twice are called "two waves", and those who repeat multiple times are called "multiple waves".

These repeaters usually do not have jobs and attend various cram schools or simply study on their own.

They need to arrange registration and obtain examination information on their own, usually through private cram schools (sishu).

This group of people are marginalized in the student community, and most of the "wanderers" are ultimately unable to make it ashore, and live a "rereading life" day after day.

Therefore, when Yumiko said that Hidezawa had failed the Tokyo University exams twelve times in a row, everyone could understand his current situation.

"But my mother once said that Hidetsuke was pretending to be crazy on purpose. Otherwise, if he still kept his sanity but still failed to get into university, he would be laughed at by other people in Asakusa."

Gongzi lowered his voice and walked in front to lead the way.
"In Asakusa, if you are still looked down upon by the lowest class of people, you will go crazy."

The Japanese pay attention to social etiquette and the so-called "not causing trouble to others", so they are more concerned about face than people from other countries.

On the surface, they are not vain and never compare with others, but in fact, from schools to society, every corner is full of people who compare with each other.

If even the lowest people look down on you, then you are the lowest kind of trash.

In Japan, no one can stand this kind of sight.

Even though those bankrupt homeless people always hang around in parks and Internet cafes, at least they look decent, speak elegantly, and don't seem to be troubled by their current predicament.

"Acting crazy and stupid." Beichuan Xiu turned his head to look at the fool Xiu Ze who was still eating fish food, and suddenly a feeling of sadness surged in his heart.

Not only in Japan, there are also many such crazy test takers in our neighboring countries.

In the eyes of others, they were stupid enough to waste their entire lives on an exam.

But who can easily get out of such a huge sunk cost?

Following in Yumiko's footsteps, Kitagawa Hide and Kaoru witnessed everything in Asakusa.

The girl playing the piano, the cool crazy woman, the boat boy, the young couple riding old bicycles, the homeless man, the couple running with the baby in their arms
The "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" depicted by Yasunari Kawabata comes to life on paper, and the real scene of the Asakusa community is much more impactful than the words in the novel.

As she watched, Kaoru couldn't help but immerse herself in the atmosphere of the Asakusa community.

Yumiko and Meggie discovered that Mr. Kitagawa was not just wandering around casually, and the residents who stopped to observe him were not just random people.

He was getting to know Asakusa with a purpose. Not only that, as they walked, Mr. Kitagawa asked questions and expressed his own judgments and opinions.

Through Mr. Kitagawa's words, Yumiko and Meggie seemed to see a brand new Asakusa.

The Asakusa he mentioned is not only a low-level community where countless poor people gather, but also a small microcosm of Japan in the current era.

After the Plaza Accord, the bubble economy made everyone lost. Everyone seemed to have become very rich, and thus ignored the existence of places like Asakusa in Japan.

No matter how the economy fluctuates, how housing prices change, or how commodity prices rise and fall, the people living here seem to be isolated from the world and are not affected at all.

Tao Yuanming, who lived next door, once wrote a poem called "Peach Blossom Spring". Asakusa is definitely not the Peach Blossom Spring, but for the people who have lived here for a long time, it is the "Peach Blossom Spring". "Asakusa is the heart of Tokyo."

“Asakusa is a marketplace for people.”

“Asakusa is the Asakusa of everyone. In Asakusa, everything is displayed in its original state.

All human desires are dancing nakedly.

All classes and races were mixed together into a huge trend.

From morning to night, it flows endlessly and bottomlessly.

Asakusa is alive—the people are moving forward step by step.

The public Asakusa is a melting pot that melts the old forms of everything and makes them into a new form. "

Kitagawa Hide wrote down some seemingly scattered words in his notebook, and he handed the notes to Kaoru.

After reading these words, Xunzi was completely confused.

These words from Kitagawa-sensei accurately describe the essence of Asakusa!
In the eyes of ordinary people, such as high school girls like her.

Asakusa is chaotic, pornographic, vulgar, even dirty and ugly.

But as Asakusa continues to prosper, these are precisely what make it full of vitality.

All of these make Asakusa still prosperous and charming, just like a raging fire that never stops.

“I saw people being beaten to death with iron bars, and twins being born on the avenue.

The dead bodies of horses and people were floating on the river.

I didn’t eat anything for three days and took it for granted.

Love? That’s different from ordinary love.”

Kitagawa Hide continued to write on the draft paper with a pen. Some of the images were exaggerated by him, while others were what he saw with his own eyes.

In Asakusa, you never know what you might see next.

The shock this place brought him far exceeded all the previous places!

In this way, Kitagawa Hide and his companions walked around the not-so-big Asakusa for most of the way until they were close to the corner of the community, and then they stopped again.

In front of a dilapidated bungalow, someone was crying, and the heavy funeral music made people tremble.

This is the third time that Hide Kitagawa has faced death and funeral since coming to this world.

The first time was when I visited my good friend Takuya Yanjing’s family, the second time was when I went to Izu to attend the funeral of an unknown man, and the third time was this time.

"He Ye? How could it be?!"

Meggie was the first to rush over, looking at the boy's remains in the black and white photo in disbelief.

There were many young boys and girls of similar age sitting in the mourning hall.

At first glance, they are obviously biker gang members and psychotic girls.

"Gongzi, why are you here too?" Axin and Ajiu were wearing simple clothes that were rarely seen, and they were surrounded by several boys and girls with vague expressions.

"I should be the one asking you this! Why didn't you call us when He died?"

Gongzi walked up quickly and had a low conversation with a few friends.

Kitagawa Hidekazu was standing at the door.

He probably understood that these boys and girls in front of him should be the "Red Falcon Group" that he wanted to write into the book to replace the "Red Group", an organization of bad boys and girls in Yasunari Kawabata's book.

After chatting for a while, Yumiko first comforted Meggie with a few words, then quickly ran to Kitagawa Hide, whispered the whole story, and then tactfully expressed that they had to keep vigil here and probably could not accompany Kitagawa Hide and the others back.

"The dead are the greatest. There is nothing to be sorry about."

Kitagawa Hide asked Kaoruko to buy two white envelopes to put the "pawn money" in them, which could be considered as some comfort to this poor boy who died young.

"I'm so sorry!" Yumiko had changed into plain clothes and kept bowing to Kitagawa Hide to apologize.

"It's really nothing." Kitagawa Hide waved his hand. Just as Kaoru came back, he sealed 10,000 yen in a white envelope and asked Meggie and Yumiko to hand it over to the bereaved family.

When the young people saw the 10,000 yen bill, they immediately looked at Kitagawa Hide in disbelief.

In 1998, the average monthly wage for Japanese people was 12 yen. In the Asakusa community, this figure had to be cut in half.

And what Kitagawa Hideichi spent was one-third of their monthly income!

Compared to the common 1,000 yen "pawn money", this is extremely generous!

After a while, the owner of the bereaved family also ran out crying and thanking Beichuan Xiu, which made him even more at a loss as to what to do for a moment.

"He Ye has been muddle-headed all his life for seventeen years. I never expected that he would meet a great man like you.
Woohoo. This is really"

The boy's mother couldn't stop crying, and Kitagawa Hideya had no choice but to nod along with her and whisper a few words of comfort.

After finally seeing off the bereaved family, Kitagawa Hide and Kaoru declined the invitation to stay for dinner and prepared to leave and return to Tokyo before nightfall.

Seeing them leaving, Yumiko and Meggie hurried out to see them off, and bowed several times at the intersection to express their apologies for this sudden incident.

They really cherish this signing opportunity and are also very worried about the impact this unexpected situation will have on their writing career.

But after repeated consideration, they chose the latter between their future and their friend's funeral.

Kitagawa Hide comforted them and once again expressed his indifferent attitude, which made them feel a little more at ease.

I finally got back to the car and just sat down in the back seat when someone suddenly knocked on the car window.

The driver in the front seat glanced at Kitagawa Hide's expression and saw him nod. Then he rolled down the window and looked at the girl who was running towards him and knocking on the window, panting.

When Ashin saw this luxury car and came face to face with Kitagawa Hidema, the courage he had just mustered up instantly disappeared.

She was stunned for a long time. Seeing that the driver in front was getting impatient, she said in a panic, "Please don't blame Gongzi and the others! Please!"

"Blame what?" Kitagawa Hide looked at her. He remembered that this girl was Ashin, the leader of the "Red Falcon Group".

"It's just that. It's about being friends with scumbags like us."

Ashin gritted his teeth and still said it.

After learning that Meggie and Yumiko were selected by "Kitagawa", she was happy for her two friends from the bottom of her heart.

There is no Asakusa resident who doesn't really want to leave Asakusa.

Now that her friends have this opportunity, she doesn’t want them to lose this once-in-a-lifetime chance to turn things around because of her social circle!

This is why she stopped everyone from notifying the two of them when He Ye died suddenly.

She didn't want her past social circle to affect the two of them.

Their lives do not belong to Asakusa, nor to her small, hopeless "Red Falcon Group".

But today, this big shot might be unhappy.

So no matter what Gongzi thinks, she will come and try her best to help explain! (End of this chapter)