Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 353 World Literature is Losing Tokyo
Zhang Chao stood on the podium of the cultural activity center on the top floor of the "Sanai Building". Below the stage were more than 20 young writers from different countries and reporters from more than news media.

This "Tokyo in World Literature" is one of the more important annual events in Japanese culture, so it has received a lot of attention.

Zhang Chao was the special guest of this event and was the third to speak on stage. The theme of his speech was "World Literature is Losing Tokyo"

There was a bit of a commotion among the reporters in the audience because Zhang Chao compared Ishihara to a "male host". Even the other young writers looked at each other in confusion, wondering why this famous peer suddenly started attacking the rulers of Tokyo.

Zhang Chao was not surprised by everyone's reaction - or rather, this reaction was exactly what he wanted - the person standing next to him was a translator specially hired by Kadokawa. The interpreting level was very high and very professional, so Zhang Chao was not worried that he would misinterpret his speech.

After the commotion in the audience subsided a little, he continued, "Some people may wonder why we are talking about a politician when we are having a literary forum today - of course, it's not just because he is a novelist who has published many works.

A city is a collection of people. Tens of millions of people live in Tokyo, shaping the city's unique style and temperament - but it is undeniable that different people have different influences on the city.

Governor Ishihara has been re-elected as the governor of Tokyo since the late 90s, which is of course a remarkable achievement. As a literary figure, he holds the greatest power in the world's most prosperous city, so when discussing "Tokyo in world literature", he is not a character that can be easily bypassed. "

Zhang Chao's reasons won the approval of many people, and he could clearly see many people nodding on the stage.

After the translator finished translating this paragraph, Zhang Chao suddenly laughed: "Of course, the reason why I pay attention to Governor Ishihara is indeed because we have a 'personal grudge', but everyone rest assured, I will definitely stick to the theme of today's event and make this speech far from a 'personal grudge'.

However, if the organizers of the event feel that I cannot publicly comment on a local politician or writer at such an event, they can cut off my microphone at any time. "

After saying that, he spread his hands in the direction of the organizer's seat, meaning: "It's up to you..."

Following the direction of Zhang Chao's gesture, the eyes of reporters, participating writers and live cameras were all focused on several middle-aged and elderly people in the seats who were at least 50 years old. Some of them looked unhappy, some were gloating, and some were calm as water.

Zhang Chao naturally did not wait for these people to express their opinions or respond, but went straight to the point: "Governor Ishihara won the Akutagawa Prize at the age of 24, has published 37 works to date, and has controlled the city of Tokyo for nearly 10 years with his personal style of governance.

This may be the deepest mark that literature has left on this city.

So when we talk about "Tokyo in world literature", what are we talking about? Is it the metaphor of loneliness in Haruki Murakami's jazz bar? Or is it the last glimpse of Yukio Mishima before he committed seppuku?
No, it was a "political gigolo" who used his fantasies and roars to make Tokyo a 'homeland' that the Japanese could never reach, nor leave."

Another commotion swept through the venue like an electric current. The Asahi Shimbun reporter in the back row looked up suddenly, and the German writer whispered to his companion: "Is this guy crazy? Provoking Ishihara on his territory?"

Zhang Chao caught a glimpse of the organizer's seats out of the corner of his eye - among the white-haired old men, some were clenching their teacups, some had twitching mouth corners, and Kadokawa Lehiko was rubbing his temples with his eyes closed.

He continued: "Don't get me wrong - last night a new friend of mine, a famous "free guide" in Kabukicho, told me that "gigolos", or "male host" in Japanese -

Oh, maybe friends from other countries don’t know what “male host” is. It refers to men who work in custom shops that specialize in entertaining female customers, earning lucrative commissions by serving drinks and providing emotional companionship services.

The foreign writers in the audience burst into laughter, and one of them shouted in English: "Oh, He is a Gigolo?" Gigolo was originally a French word, and is often borrowed in English to refer to male prostitutes who maintain intimate relationships with wealthy women for economic benefits.

The air at the scene became lively.

Zhang Chao said in a serious tone on the stage: "My friend said that in today's Tokyo, "male escorts" are not discriminated against, and many people even envy their high income and free, luxurious life.

So using this word to describe Mr. Ishihara doesn't seem to be a derogatory term? Of course, since Mr. Ishihara has always loved using sex and violence as the basic rhetoric of his language, he probably wouldn't mind others using these words to describe him. "

There was a chuckle from the audience, mainly from Japanese reporters. Ishihara is known for his foul language and his love of belittling women, even saying that "it is a sin for women who have lost their fertility to live."

Now being labeled as a "male PR" by Zhang Chao is obviously retribution. However, this kind of thing can only be done by Zhang Chao. Although many people in the Japanese literary world also hate Ishihara, they are usually only able to talk about him in private due to his influence.

Zhang Chao was the first person who could openly make sarcastic remarks in such a formal occasion.

Moreover, Zhang Chao's words of "defense" for Ishihara are full of language art - "In today's Tokyo, 'male escorts' are not discriminated against" - does that mean they were discriminated against in the past? How long ago, before Ishihara became the governor of Tokyo?
The Japanese reporters certainly knew that this was not the case, but it was clear that the foreign writers at the scene had misunderstood, and now there was no way to explain it to them.

So I could only listen to Zhang Chao on the stage continue: "Why do I describe it this way? Because Ishihara's attitude towards the United States and China is too similar to the hospitality of the Ginza cowherd described by my friend -

They appear to be cold and tough on the outside, but are in fact dependent by nature; they shout "independence" with their mouths, but their bodies honestly curl up at the knees of their hegemonic financial backers.

Governor Ishihara's literary career can be described as a carefully planned kitsch performance. At the age of 24, he won the Akutagawa Prize, the highest honor in Japanese literature, for his book Season of the Sun.

This "customs novel" filled with violence, promiscuity and nihilism was criticized by judge Haruo Sato as "the lowest level of literary garbage" - because it neither explores human nature nor reflects on war, but simply packages the depravity of post-war youth into "sun tribe" to cater to the market's curiosity.

From "Challenge" to "Japan Year Zero", the "pioneers" in Ishihara's works always repeat the same narrative: conquering women with the body, conquering Asia with guns, and wrapping colonial atrocities with the aesthetics of death.

This kind of writing that uses sexual violence to cover up the ambition of military expansion is more of an aphrodisiac to summon the spirit of militarism than a literary creation. "

The commotion spread like a plague. An Italian writer covered his mouth, a NHK reporter nearly knocked over his camera, everyone was moving and whispering, and several elderly people in the organizer's seat were eager to do something.

But Kadokawa Toyohiko whispered something to one of them, and the old man reached out to stop the others. It seems that what Kadokawa Toyohiko said about Ishihara having many opponents was indeed true.

Zhang Chao then went on to say: "He has long used words as a tool for political flirting. When the Sankei Shimbun needed a gunman to attack China, he immediately offered the 'China Threat Theory'; when the militarist veterans needed to glorify the history of aggression, he immediately threw out the 'Asian Liberation Theory'.

This kind of professionalism in accurately catering to the needs of the sponsors makes even the top gigolos feel ashamed.”

At this time, a reporter could not help asking: "Excuse me, what does this have to do with 'Tokyo'? This is a personal attack on you!" Zhang Chao laughed and said: "Of course it is related - if we don't analyze in depth this politician who controls Tokyo as a 'poet', how can we explain what kind of Tokyo he has shaped in the past ten years, and what kind of appearance Tokyo will present in world literature in the future?"

The reporter was speechless and could only sit back in his seat. At this time, the writers in the audience became excited. This event was just a formality, and everyone on stage just said some polite words.

Zhang Chao's appearance immediately aroused everyone's interest in watching the fun - the sharper Zhang Chao's attack on Ishihara, the more lively and exciting the scene became.

Seeing that the reporter stopped talking, Zhang Chao continued his analysis: "Now let's get back to the point. Why is Governor Ishihara the top 'political gigolo' in Tokyo? The first rule of a gigolo is to create an illusion - to make the client believe that he is the only one who is loved. Governor Ishihara is very good at this.

While he used the word "Shina" to derogatorily refer to China, he also likened the normal Sino-Japanese literary exchanges to the Japanese literary world becoming China's "little wife";
On the one hand, they have to play the tough guy who keeps saying "no to the United States", while on the other hand, their bodies are always closely attached to the "muscles" of the United States;
On the one hand, they advocate that "Japan should have nuclear weapons", while on the other hand, they turn a blind eye to the US military bases in Japan.

This schizophrenic performance is just like a gigolo saying to his customers, "I don't care about your money," while secretly calculating the commission from the drinks.

What's even more ridiculous is that when he claimed that 'Japan will build a nuclear bomb within a year', even the Ministry of Defense didn't bother to respond - after all, who would take the drunken talk of a hostess seriously? "

There was another round of laughter from the audience. Whether it was a personal attack or not was another matter, but Zhang Chao's words were really too hurtful - but this was the most newsworthy speech, unlike the previous ones, which made people sleepy.

Zhang Chao's witty remarks on the stage have not yet ended: "This is the 'sense of exclusivity' that all gigolos know how to create, and Ishihara is even a master at it. This trick of deliberately creating a sense of crisis is very similar to the gigolos threatening their customers, 'If you don't come to the shop again, I will be snatched away by other customers'!
In fact, all of this can be traced back to his literary creations—"

Zhang Chao took out a copy of Season of the Sun and showed it to the audience, saying, "Many people have read this book, and I believe they can read what the 'masculinity' that Governor Ishihara is obsessed with is - he did not hide it very deeply.

In Ishihara's value system, sexism, gender oppression and nationalism have always been two sides of the same coin. This morbid obsession is like a gigolo who must wear an Armani suit to cover up his true nature of smiling and playing along. He also tries to pretend to be strong by discriminating against the weak.

In essence, this is selling a kind of spiritual Viagra: using historical nihilism to stimulate national inferiority complex, and then using extreme remarks to create a false erection.

Unfortunately, no amount of political aphrodisiacs can cure his inherently dependent personality - after all, a real man never needs to deny the massacre to prove his masculinity. "

Zhang Chao suddenly pounded the table, shocking the audience. He turned his gaze to the Japanese reporters and said sadly, "Don't you see through his tricks now?

This is the technique that gigolos use to win over female customers! First they create panic, "Your soul is dirty," and then they sell indulgences, "Buy my book or listen to my words and you will be purified!"

He always said that he was a "manly man", but once the slightest threat appeared in front of him - for example, when he was the Minister of the Environment in 1973, a patient with "Minamata disease" wanted to see him, he not only refused, but also flew to Kanagawa to play golf by helicopter that day.

They ran faster than the illegal gigolos and prostitutes in Kabukicho when they saw the police!"

The audience finally burst into laughter, which lasted for more than a minute. A Latin American writer choked with laughter, and a reporter nearby took the opportunity to capture this absurd scene.

After everyone quieted down, Zhang Chao spoke, his tone still heavy: "Now let me formally answer that question - what does this have to do with "Tokyo in World Literature" -

Any metropolis not only belongs to itself, but also to the whole world. Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty, Rome in the ancient Roman Empire, Paris in the era of the Sun King, New York in the United States today...

And the former Tokyo.

When a "political gigolo" who started out as a writer becomes the controller of this city, he is using his will to turn this cosmopolitan city into a brothel for ambitious people.

He funded the filming of "I Die for You" and other films, which beautified the death scene of the Kamikaze Special Attack Force as "cherry blossom martyrdom", erasing the value of the American victims of World War II; he pushed the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education to revise history textbooks, downplaying the facts of the invasion, ignoring the roar of tens of millions of innocent souls in Asia;
He also used his political power to force writers such as Yoshida Shuichi who were concerned about social issues to turn to private writing, which indirectly led to the emergence of a "depoliticization" trend in Japanese literature in the early 21st century.

This kind of Tokyo at least makes me "daunted". I don't dislike the people here, but this city has been deeply "branded by Ishihara", which I don't like.

——So, do you like it?” When Zhang Chao said this, he looked at the other young writers in the audience, causing another round of whispers.

Zhang Chao said: "Tokyo described by Haruki Murakami was a labyrinth for lonely people to find themselves; Mishima regarded Tokyo as a 'worldly symbol that must be burned' through the monologue of the arsonist Mizoguchi in The Temple of the Golden Pavilion; Shuichi Yoshida dissected the class faults in Tokyo in The Villain, which is a vivid report on the pathology of modern cities.

Of course, for young Chinese people born in 85, Tokyo is still the romantic Tokyo in "Tokyo Love Story", the Tokyo where Eikichi Onizuka rode his motorcycle to save students in "GTO" - oh, and the Tokyo in Shinkai Makoto's animation "Your Name" where the sky is as blue as a dream.

The Tokyo in these literary works, whether good or bad, has an unstoppable vitality. Even Mishima, who hated it the most, had to think of it as a "growing abscess".

But Tokyo during Governor Ishihara's era was gradually portrayed as a "giant installation where the ghost of militarism roams" - this transformation caused Tokyo to lose its universal value as a metaphor for modernity, becoming dull, boring and chaotic.

The topic of today's discussion is "Tokyo in World Literature", and I think that "World Literature is losing Tokyo."

Having said this, Zhang Chao paused. He glanced and saw that the door on the side of the cultural center had opened. An old man with thick eyebrows and gray hair walked in, surrounded by several people. The reporters also noticed him and stood up to point their cameras at him.

Zhang Chao recognized who the person was at a glance. Although he was a little surprised, he was not afraid at all. Instead, he turned sideways and faced the man intentionally and said, "Finally, please allow me to tamper with Governor Ishihara's famous saying -

It’s not that Japan can say no (Ishihara has published a book called “Japan Can Say No”), but that literature must say no—no to the aesthetics of whitewashing violence, no to the ghosts that parasitize in words, and no to the power game that turns the city into a giant host parlor—”

He casually threw the speech in front of him and said, "--Say no."

The papers fell like large snowflakes, forming a cracked lake on the ground.

(End of this chapter)