Tokyo's bubble economy: From literary giants to great entertainers

—This world is more like a fictional world with a distorted timeline, set in Tokyo in 1992.

Upon seeing the system notification and recalling the news articles he had read in the past two days, Shuichi Kambara was shaken, but he quickly calmed down and made a judgment. He took a deep breath, stood up, and bowed, "Aunt Suzuki, I'm sorry to bother you."

Seeing how polite and sensible he was, Suzuki Honami breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting. By the way, it's only past noon, have you had lunch yet...?"

She wanted to check on Kanbaru Shuichi, but just then, an old-fashioned cell phone beeped from her handbag.

"Moshi moshi, Hayakawa, why are you calling me now?"

"What! President Tsuburaya of Shoda Realty has agreed to an interview?! At 2 PM?! That's only a little over an hour left?! Quick! Get everyone ready, I'm heading back to the company right now!"

Honami Suzuki stuffed her phone into her handbag and hurried toward the entrance.

But as she took a step, she suddenly remembered that there were guests at her home, and looked up at Shuichi Kambara.

The company's affairs are urgent and important, so leaving Shuichi Kambara alone at home... Shuichi Kambara is, after all, an eighteen-year-old boy, and the two of them haven't had any concrete conversations, so she doesn't know whether he's a good or bad person.

According to her original plan, if Shuichi Kambara had a difficult personality and any bad habits, she would rent him a house outside, as a way of helping out her deceased friend's child.

If Shuichi Kanbara has a good personality, then he can stay at home for a few days, since school starts in a few days. Although Japanese universities do not provide dormitories for all students, students facing difficulties can apply for student dormitories, which are low-rent dormitories provided by the university.

But there's simply no time to chat for more than a few minutes now.

She frowned slightly and subconsciously bit her lower lip.

Shuichi Kambara slung his backpack over his shoulder. "If Auntie has something urgent, I can come later. I just saw a coffee shop nearby; I'll wait there."

"No... never mind, you can stay."

This child has a good personality, so there shouldn't be any problems.

Honami Suzuki stopped worrying, glanced at her watch again, and led Shuichi Kanbara to open the study door.

The study wasn't large, but it was tidied up in a compact and comfortable way. A dark brown bookcase stood against the wall, with professional books on journalism and communication neatly arranged behind the glass doors. Among them were several photos of her when she was young, with a bright and radiant smile.

Beneath the windowsill stood an old wooden desk, with a European-style table lamp on its right, its milky white lampshade tinged with a slight yellow tint. Several storage boxes were stacked in the corner, not appearing cluttered, but rather adding a touch of authentic life.

"You'll be staying here for the next few days."

"The bedding and pillows are in the closet; you can use them freely."

"If you're going to take a shower and change clothes, remember to use the blue towel; it's new and can be used in the washing machine."

"Alright, is there anything else you want to ask?"

Honami Suzuki was clearly in a hurry. She leaned against the door frame and glanced at her watch again, but her speech remained clear, concise, and efficient.

Shuichi Kanbara put down his schoolbag. "That's already very good, thank you, Auntie."

"You're welcome." She smiled. "I'll head out now. I might not be back tonight, so if you get hungry, just go buy something to eat."

With that, she gently placed a thousand-yuan bill on the desk, nodded, and quickly left. A moment later, the door closed, followed by the rapid, crisp tapping of high heels as they walked down the corridor.

"This kind of efficient, workaholic personality..."

"It's exactly the same as in the TV series."

The room fell completely quiet. Shinbara Shuichi smiled and shook his head, placed his backpack on the desk, and began to organize his personal belongings.

However, there wasn't much to organize. There were only a few blank notebooks, a knock-off black tracksuit and a change of clothes that he had bought from a roadside shop when he came here.

Shuichi Kanbara sniffed the scent on his arm and frowned. He had been living in an unfinished building, and although he would occasionally sneak into the public bathhouse, it had been two or three days since his last bath.

"Let me take a shower first, then we can think about what to do next."

Disliking the dirty feeling, he carried his change of clothes and headed towards the bathroom.

But as he passed through the living room, his gaze, which inadvertently swept over the coffee table, paused slightly—the black fountain pen with the system frame was lying quietly on the glass tabletop.

.

Twenty minutes later, in the study.

After showering and changing into clean clothes, Shuichi Kanbara sat at his desk, his gaze fixed on the black fountain pen in his hand. After midday, Tokyo cleared up, and the clear sunlight slanted through the window, falling on the pen and giving it a slightly cool and soft sheen.

However, his focus was naturally not on the pen's design.

[The spare pen of a top reporter]

[Quality: White]

[Effect Attribute: Slightly improves the ability to convert images into text]

[Introduction: It was the sword that pierced her towards the truth, and also the black knife that led her into hell.]

"This ability suits me quite well."

Shuichi Kambara blinked and muttered to himself.

In his previous life, he graduated from the Directing Department of the Shanghai Theatre Academy. After transmigrating, his physical talents and memory were enhanced to an unprecedented degree.

For example, when he first transmigrated, his body was so weak that he would be out of breath climbing stairs. But after two or three weeks of training, he was able to run several kilometers every day, running from the unfinished building to work at the convenience store.

For example, many movies and entertainment works that I watched in my childhood, which I could hardly remember before I traveled through time, I can now clearly recall every frame and every line of dialogue.

Becoming a director seemed like a good career path, especially since he'd been following the news and knew many classic works from his previous life had disappeared. But... in Tokyo in 1992, for a soon-to-be college student with no connections or funds to want to make a film was nothing short of a pipe dream.

"I'll just be a plagiarist for now."

Shuichi Kambara picked up his pen, gently unscrewed the cap, and wrote the title of the book, "The White Tower," stroke by stroke, on the first page of his open notebook.

Yes, the White Tower.

This novel, written in 1963 by Toyoko Yamazaki, one of the "three great female writers of contemporary Japanese literature," is undoubtedly a shining pearl in the history of Japanese literature.

Ambitious and brilliant surgeon Zaizen Goro, upright and pure idealist Satomi Shuji, incorruptible academic giant Professor Okouchi, cunning and power-hungry bureaucrat Minister Ukai, and stern and rigid academic authority Professor Higashi Teizo...

Under Toyoko Yamazaki's simple and unpretentious writing style, vivid, complex, and realistic characters leap off the page. It can be said that this is a work that you will never forget once you have seen it. The ambition, struggle, beliefs, and downfall of each character are worth savoring again and again.

only...

In his previous life, Shuichi Kanbara had read the Chinese version.

Although inheriting the original owner's memories and language abilities, transcribing it completely into Japanese is not difficult. However, demonstrating writing skill and capturing the original's cool and restrained tone is still quite challenging.

Fortunately, he now has the "spare pen of a top reporter".

This pen isn't one of Doraemon's automatic exam pens, but it can awaken the language sense and phrasing that lie dormant deep within the mind.

Throughout our lives, we encounter countless beautiful words and phrases through novels, textbooks, television, newspapers, and other channels. Yet, very few people can truly remember them and use them fluently—most people struggle even to write an 800-word essay.

But after using this pen, everything changed.

Whenever he sketches a picture in his mind based on the original text and then translates it into Japanese, his thoughts are as if they are lit up. Words and phrases that are buried deep in his memory and that he can never recall on ordinary days can be retrieved smoothly and accurately.

In this state, his writing gradually became closer to the cool and restrained spirit of the original work. As his pen slid across the paper, leaving behind lines of captivating plot, Shuichi Kanbara gradually realized something.

This ability is not entirely contained within this pen.

At first, he still needed the guidance of a fountain pen to write neat and fluent sentences. But as the ink ran out one tube after another and time passed by, he found that his mastery of Japanese words and phrases became more and more natural, and his attention became more and more focused.

This feeling is similar to copying calligraphy from a model.

At first, you just imitate famous artists, but as you copy more and more, what you learn will gradually turn into your own strength.