I am a literary giant in Japan

January 1999, 1 was the second day that ordinary office workers officially returned to work.

Early this morning, Naoto Kan called his driver and bodyguards to escort him from his home to the crowded Maruzen Marunouchi Bookstore.

The day before yesterday, Seiji Maehara went to Stockholm alone and was detained by people from the Swedish Ministry of Defense. I heard that he was almost shot.

Although Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonsson later called and told Kan that it was just a misunderstanding, he still worried about his own safety.

From that day on, Naoto Kan had to be accompanied by five to eight professional bodyguards whenever he went out, to help him keep an eye on his surroundings at all times to prevent assassinations by criminals.

After all, as long as he proceeds steadily now, he will have a great chance to compete for the post of prime minister after Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi retires.

After the bubble era, the Liberal Democratic Party is no longer the only dominant party in Japanese politics. Previously there was the Socialist Party and now there is the New Democratic Party. The position of prime minister has long been a situation where "fortunes have changed, and it's my turn this year."

Of course, no matter who is the prime minister or who controls the Japanese political arena, they cannot avoid the "number one in the world" in Japanese literary world, Mr. Hide Kitagawa.

"Fortunately, the LDP's attitude towards Mr. Kitagawa is the same as ours."

Surrounded by bodyguards, Naoto Kan squeezed through the crowd and entered Maruzen Marunouchi Bookstore.

Previously, he almost lost his position as leader of the New Democratic Party because of the scandal with his secretary. Fortunately, he got the strong support of Beichuan Entertainment and escaped the disaster.

After that, Naoto Kan made many attempts to repay Mr. Kitagawa for saving his life.

This included helping Toshiyuki Tang Ze, the current full professor of the First Department of Surgery at the Tokyo University Hospital, to resolve a medical dispute case.

In this regard, Toshiyuki Karasawa has been expressing his gratitude to him. The two of them had a drink in an izakaya a few days ago and discussed Mr. Kitagawa's new book.

After learning that Mr. Kitagawa's new book was a popular literature novel about the deaf and mute, Naoto Kan instantly became interested and was looking forward to the specific content of the novel.

Because his grandfather Suga Mitsuhiro was a deaf-mute, he was often ridiculed and bullied by his peers when he was young, and his life was very unhappy.

It was such a disabled person who raised his father single-handedly and helped his father successfully become a "Tokyo citizen".

Naoto Kan was also raised by his grandfather when he was a child, so most of his way of thinking was inherited from his grandfather.

In his eyes, his grandfather is much stronger than those guys who are not physically disabled!
After entering politics, Naoto Kan has always been concerned about the social status and welfare benefits of the deaf and mute. Previously, when Ryutaro Hashimoto ordered a reduction in welfare for the deaf and mute, he was the first cabinet minister to take the lead in opposing it.

Unfortunately, his Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare did not have as much say as the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice. In the end, Ryutaro Hashimoto still did his own thing and carried out the decree.

He is very happy that such an influential figure is now speaking for the deaf community again, and he also wants to lend a helping hand to Teacher Beichuan!
Of course, he also wanted to use this incident to attack his internal party enemy Seiji Maehara, making it impossible for this rising star, who was only 36 years old, to make a comeback!

"He refused to let go of the Ci Ai Group and even went all the way to Sweden to seek help. It seems that Maehara Seiji has been too successful and has lost his mind."

As Naoto Kan walked in the hall of the bookstore, curious glances came from all around.

The Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, a big shot who can basically only be seen on TV, actually came to buy a magazine!

A group of people who were also readers of Kitagawa Hide looked at Naoto Kan, wanting to know what this young and energetic politician thought of "The Crucible".

After all, this novel pointed out in the early stages of its promotion that it was a "challenge" to certain people in the political arena and certain politicians who targeted the deaf and dumb.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is in charge of universal welfare, and it was Naoto Kan who cancelled the high compensation for the deaf-mute.

The public does not understand the twists and turns involved; they only care about who is implementing the policy.

They will criticize anyone who does something!
Fortunately, Naoto Kan had accumulated a good reputation among the public in the early days, so he was not forced to take the blame and step down because of this incident.

Now that he appeared here and picked up a brand new copy of "Mass", he naturally attracted countless eyes.

“The title of the book is The Crucible, which implies that a cruel society is a huge melting pot for ordinary people and certain special groups.

We are forced to be smelted in it, trying our best to stay alive, but in the end we can only turn into endless ashes.

Such a desperate title, such a desperate introduction, such a desperate feeling. "

Naoto Kan asked his bodyguard to pay the money, then he found an open space, sat down in full view of everyone, tore off the transparent film, and started reading directly.

The words he was muttering were exactly what Rena Saito said from the bottom of her heart into the microphone when Tokyo Broadcasting System TBS interviewed her that day.

These words have now been used as personal signatures by countless netizens, and the word "melting pot" has become the most popular buzzword at the beginning of 1999.

At this moment, there should be millions of Japanese citizens reading "The Crucible". If this scope is expanded to the world, perhaps the number of people reading the novel will exceed 10 million!
Even in the era of electronic reading after the millennium, this is a rare spectacle!

"Kitahara Hiroshi loaded his simple luggage into his car and set off from Tokyo. At this time, sea fog had already begun to rise in Kiritsu City.

A huge white creature rose from the sea, stretched out its feet covered with wet, soft hair, and marched towards the land.

Things surrounded by fog, like soldiers realizing they are losing, gradually become blurred by the subtle moisture.

On the cliff by the sea, the four-story stone building of the Charity School for the Deaf and Mute began to be shrouded in fog.

The gleaming yellow lights of the restaurant on the first floor became a blur like mayonnaise, and somewhere a bell rang, the sound of the bell reaching far into the distance.

It was Sunday, and it was probably the church bells that announced the early morning service.

However, the only thing that can penetrate the thick fog is sound.

A teenager walks on the railway tracks near the Ci Ai School for the Deaf and Mute.

The fog had not yet completely conquered the land, but it was like a long net being cast, slowly obliterating things.

The cosmos flowers that had bloomed early beside the railway were trembling palely and uneasily in the big net of fog.

The boy was twelve years old and was noticeably shorter and thinner than other children of the same age.

The light blue striped T-shirt he was wearing was soaked by the moisture from the fog.

The boy was limping and something seemed to be wrong with his body.

After a while, the fog coming from the sea obscured his expression, making it almost impossible to see his face.

The boy's feet touched the rails, and there were regular, slight vibrations under his feet, and the boy felt it."

"Hiss - what a depressing atmosphere."

Naoto Kan has read most of Mr. Kitagawa's works, and his favorites are those novels with a strong "Kitagawa style".

For example, "Youth Trilogy", "Norwegian Wood", and "1Q1" which just finished serializing BOOK84 recently.

But among all Mr. Kitagawa's works, none is like this "The Crucible", which is filled with the strong "Kitagawa style" and exudes such a desperate atmosphere to the readers.

Without watching the sequel, Naoto Kan knew that the unknown boy was going to commit suicide by lying on the railway tracks.

She was only twelve years old, most likely a graduate of a charity school for the deaf and dumb. She was clearly at a blooming age, yet she chose the most cruel way of suicide.

For an adult, it is hard to imagine what he went through in school that would lead him to make such a choice.

“By the way, Kitagawa-sensei used Kiritsu City instead of Yamanashi Prefecture. Was he worried that the novel would have a negative impact on Yamanashi Prefecture?

Teacher Beichuan really pays attention to these details."

Naoto Kan continued to turn the pages while admiring the reading.

Don't underestimate this writing technique of using fictional cities to refer to real cities.

In the later era of widespread electronic reading, this method can be seen everywhere, basically to avoid the review of special departments.

But in 1999, in this era of unrestrained writing, few people would do so. This is obviously due to the consideration of the influence of the novel and its subsequent development.

These detailed techniques that are integrated into the novel are regarded as classics by countless fans of Hideo Kitagawa.

This is also the reason why everyone recognizes Kitagawa Hide as the "best in the world" in the literary world.

Not only has he created one astonishing masterpiece after another, he has also been constantly raising the upper limit of world literature and striving towards a higher ceiling.

Writers all over the world are now eyeing his books, hoping to learn some details and writing techniques from them.

Readers like Naoto Kan can always find something new in Kitagawa Hide's novels, which encourages them to continue reading and loving it!

“The 10 a.m. service at the Glorious First Church in downtown Wujin began.

The church courtyard was also shrouded in fog.

The latecomer parked his car in the parking lot, and a slight collision made a scraping sound.

Even turning on the high beams was useless, the fog swallowed everything.

When people read the words in the Bible, 'Darkness has never overcome light', the fog also mercilessly swallowed up the beam of high beam.

The administrator who was helping to direct the parking lot bent down with difficulty to search for a key ring that had accidentally fallen to the ground.

He finally picked up the key and said to himself helplessly in the fog: "This fog is really powerful!"

His voice was drowned out by the choir singing accompanied by the organ.

The tracks began to rumble again.

The boy looked back and saw the train coming along the winding railway.

He opened his arms towards the speeding train, his face showing an expression that was unclear whether it was a smile or a frown, and then immediately twisted into a crying voice, but there were no vowels or consonants in the voice, and it was quite strange and vague.

The whistle sounded!

The boy's body hit the train and flew out like popcorn, and bright red blood continued to flow onto the wet ground.

The fog quickly covered the red color.

The train sped past and the surroundings became silent, as if we were in deep water.

His eyelids trembled, and finally froze in the milky white void occupied by fog.

Kitahara Hiroshi arrived at the rest stop.

When he parked the car, his cell phone rang. It was his wife calling.

It was less than an hour before they left home, and although it was his wife's own decision to let him go to Kiritsu alone while she and the children stayed in Tokyo, her voice was full of resentment.

He went to Wujin because he received a temporary job offer to be a teacher.

For him, a guy who is nearly middle-aged and has achieved nothing and is heavily in debt due to the bursting of the bubble economy, it doesn't matter what kind of job he does, as long as he has a job.

However, when he heard about the special nature of this job, Kitahara Hiroshi was still stunned.

"Teacher? A teacher in a special education school? And a teacher for deaf and mute children." He thought it was ridiculous.

'I only got a general teaching certificate after graduating from college, and that was a long time ago. Can I really teach? '"

When Naoto Kan finished reading the first chapter, he felt as if he was really surrounded by thick white fog.

How long has it been since Tokyo had such thick fog?
He can't remember.

However, his hometown, Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, often has thick fog that blocks out the sky.

For foreign tourists, such a rich atmosphere means a sense of atmosphere and mystery, which can arouse their desire to explore.

But for those who live in Ube City all year round, the thick fog is like bad weather. It will affect their farming and lead to poor harvests, and many people will starve to death.

Ube City is just like Kiritsu City in "The Crucible". Few people mention it. Except for the locals, probably even other Chinese people don't know that there is such a place in Japan.

In fact, this is the real Japan.

To outsiders, Japan is equal to bustling Tokyo, quaint Kyoto, and Osaka, which is in no way inferior to these two places.

It seems like there are only six or seven cities in the whole of Japan.

In fact, there are many small places like Ube City in Japan.

The people there are just like the confused protagonist Kitahara Hiroshi in the book, living a precarious life.

"Developed countries are nothing more than places where class structures are rigidly stratified."

Naoto Kan sighed and realized that the thick fog in the book and the male protagonist "Kitahara Hiroshi" gave him unlimited room for imagination.

Realizing that people around him were still waiting for his reaction after reading the book, Naoto Kan quickly put aside the distracting thoughts in his mind and continued to focus on the main text of the novel.

He had a vague feeling that the writing style he was presenting now was Mr. Kitagawa's true "personal style".

It is not as extreme as the pure "Kitagawa Hidefu" nor as realistic as writing non-fiction.

The mixture of reality and illusion is like a thick fog, which immediately arouses and attracts people's interest.

The title of the second chapter is very interesting——

《There is a dense fog area ahead, please drive carefully! 》

".After seeing the road sign for Wujin, Kitahara Hiroshi turned the steering wheel at the fork in the road, and when he looked up, he found that he had arrived in Wujin City.

However, he saw a huge sea of ​​clouds condensed into white masses above his head, and the fog covering Wujin looked like beautiful white seaweed.

His car drove into a tunnel formed by white fog, and the fog began to slowly surround his car like the white-haired witch's ferocious hair.

Why is this so?
He recalled the memory of falling into the water at the fishing grounds in a summer long ago.

In order to pick up his dropped fishing rod, he fell into the reservoir, and the water plants entangled his feet, which felt smooth and sticky.

At that time, he gave up swimming and asked for help from his friends who were fishing with him.

The touch of the tangled water plants seemed to devour him, and he felt weak all over.

He is obviously a good swimmer, but he can't put his skills to good use.

He had a bad feeling about the memory that suddenly emerged from seeing the fog.

In short, if you are not careful, this journey will come to an end.

The back of his head became tight and stiff with this paralyzing fear.

He swallowed and turned on the automatic navigation system. The automatic navigation system issued him a command in the fog:

'There is a heavy fog area ahead. Please drive carefully! '" (End of this chapter)