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

The opening of the original novel of "The White Tower" is actually quite bland.

In the TV series, Goro Zaizen stands with his eyes closed in a dimly lit office, gesturing with his hands in the air to simulate surgery. The scene then quickly cuts to a hospital setting, showing a complex esophageal cancer surgery.

The hospital's doctors observed the scene. During this process, Professor Higashi and the Pelicans' captain appeared one after the other, whispering behind the observation window and quickly revealing the underlying conflict through their conversation. Finally, Goro Zaizen appeared, his blade flashing, displaying both competence and arrogance.

The whole process took only about ten minutes in the TV series, which was very fast-paced.

However, in the original novel, the opening scene shows Goro Zaizen walking out of the clinic with a cigarette in his mouth, having his usual conversations with doctors and patients, and then heading to the construction site of the new building of Naniwa University Hospital to look to the future.

This entire passage, which is nearly three thousand words long, is full of detailed descriptions and psychological undercurrents. There is basically no plot progression; it simply lays out the workplace ecology at a leisurely pace, gradually dissecting the core of Zaizen Goro's character. The pace is extremely slow.

However, once the groundwork of about 10,000 words is laid, and characters such as Professor Higashi, Minister Ukai, Zaizen's father-in-law, and Iwata, the president of the medical association, appear one after another, and the character portrait and historical background are fully established, the tension of the entire plot suddenly rises!

At the 20,000-word mark, Professor Azuma, seeing Zaizen Goro's growing reputation and envious of his youthful confidence, finally tore off his veil of sentimentality. He not only delayed Zaizen's letter of recommendation but also secretly contacted an old-fashioned doctor to isolate Zaizen.

Zaizen returns home late at night and secretly plots with his father-in-law and the president of the medical association, Iwata, to figure out how to break Professor Higashi's encirclement. That understated yet tense atmosphere immediately puts the reader on edge.

Then, after another 30,000 to 40,000 words, Goro Zaizen finally knocks on the door of Minister Ukai's residence and leaves a valuable ukiyo-e masterpiece, "Unintentionally," next to the alcove in the tea room. Minister Ukai tacitly accepts it, and the reader's anticipation is completely aroused—the game has been played, and the storm is coming!

I'm really looking forward to it!

What's even more terrifying is that even though the plot has entered the pre-climax stage, the overall pacing of "The White Tower" remains as steady as a pendulum because the character development and conflict setup in the early stages are extremely solid. It pushes forward little by little and builds up bit by bit!

"Really? The skill in depicting society and characters, the depth of their portrayal of the era and workplace..."

"Slow to warm up, yet constantly generating anticipation, even building up the sense of anticipation!"

"This feels like a social epic!"

The manuscript was spread out on the table. Tokiwa Takako's beautiful almond-shaped eyes widened, and she was so excited that she almost screamed!

She became an editor at the "Literary Weekly" for two reasons. First, her mother, on her deathbed, hoped that she could join a respectable company and live a normal life. Second, she had loved reading novels since childhood and had a wide range of interests.

From delicate and gentle pure literature like Banana Yoshimoto's "Kitchen" to cold and sharp popular novels like Ryo Takasugi's "Financial Corrosion Islands".

From Edogawa Ranpo's unconventional mystery novels to the orthodox and neo-orthodox schools that emphasize trickery and logic, she has read quite a few, even the light novels that have quietly gained popularity among students in the last two years.

However, if we're talking about the genre she's been most interested in and has read the most in the past two years, it has to be social realist novels.

That's why, although she's still a new editor, her readership is enormous, even far exceeding that of senior editors. She wasn't sure what the specific readership of the article in front of her would be, but she could sense that its quality was absolutely top-notch!

In fact, her excitement at this moment was not only because she was going to sign a great book, but also because she had finally found a good social novel!

Thinking of this, she excitedly peeked forward, her big eyes sparkling, "Kanbara-san, this work is truly amazing! Please, our publishing house must publish it!"

Only in this way can I see the latest chapter sooner!

Tokiwa Takako added a sentence in her mind.

Shuichi Kanbara hadn't thought that much about it; the other party's reaction after reading "The White Tower" was within his expectations. After all, for a manuscript of this caliber, even if the other party was unsure because he was a newcomer and didn't offer an exorbitant fee on the spot, there was no reason for him to refuse to give it a try.

If you really refuse...

Then there's no need for Bungei Asahi Publishing House to submit the paper.

He nodded. "Of course, that's why I'm here."

"That's wonderful!"

While carefully organizing the manuscript in her hands, Tokiwa Takako suppressed her excitement and spoke up, "As for the payment, I need to go back and report to the editor-in-chief and editor-in-chief, but rest assured, I will do my best to get you a higher payment. I believe they will immediately see the potential of this work!"

Shuichi Kanbara smiled and nodded. "Thank you then."

"Don't mention it! I'll be keeping an eye on your writing every day from now on... no, I might even benefit from your influence~ hehe~"

Almost letting it slip, Tokiwa Takako quickly and carefully put the manuscript into her briefcase, her cheeks slightly flushed, and she secretly stuck out her little tongue.

Clearly, her excitement stemmed less from signing a high-quality manuscript and more from finally having a legitimate reason to urge her favorite author to write every day.

She's an interesting senior student.

Shuichi Kambara smiled and shook his head.

.

These days, editors don't have the authority to sign contracts for manuscripts on their own.

Generally, if the editor thinks a manuscript is good, they will submit it to the department's topic selection meeting. The manuscript will be copied and given to the editor-in-chief and editor-in-chief, who will then convene several senior editors to review and discuss it, decide whether to use it, and finally arrange the schedule and finalize the payment standard.

Ultimately, it's because print weekly magazine space is in very short supply.

Each weekly novel magazine has around 300 pages, and industry regulations stipulate that each page can only hold 400 words, so 300 pages can only hold a maximum of 120,000 words.

Therefore, each issue typically only serializes about six to eight novels, each with 10,000 words, which consume more than 200 pages of the weekly magazine. Then, it is supplemented with dozens of pages of short stories, author interviews, book reviews, industry anecdotes, and the like. Any more than that would be too much to fit.

In this situation, the editor-in-chief must make the decision on whether to sign a new novel.

As for the editor, their main responsibilities are initial review and follow-up coordination and communication with the author.

However, it's not a big problem.

According to Takako Tokiwa, their editor-in-chief happened to be at the company today, and the contract and payment details would be finalized that afternoon. So the two of them had a quick bite to eat at a coffee shop and then returned together to the Asahi Publishing Group building.

While there is indeed a tradition in the Japanese literary world for editors and writers to discuss manuscripts in cafes, this usually happens after a work has been formally signed and a long-term collaborative relationship has been established.

Normally, when new authors submit their work, publishers only accept submissions via email, and editors only reply when they decide to accept it, usually only by phone or a short email. If the manuscript is not selected, there is usually not even a polite "We're sorry, your work does not fit our publishing direction."

This explains why in many Japanese dramas and anime, the protagonist aspires to be a novelist or manga artist, but after submitting their work, they wait at home for months without receiving a reply.

As a complete newcomer, Shuichi Kambara was able to meet the editor directly, which was entirely due to his status as a "connected" person.

Even if he had connections, he couldn't participate in the editors' internal discussions about the manuscript.

.

"I'll go show the manuscript to the editor-in-chief now. Please wait here for a moment. If you didn't eat enough, you can help yourself to the desserts here."

"OK, thanks."

Watching Takako Tokiwa enter the elevator, Shuichi Kambara turned and walked towards the open-plan restaurant next door.

As a large media group, it is common for employees of Asahi Shimbun to be on call 24 hours a day in shifts.

Therefore, this 16-story building has specially set up an open-plan staff restaurant on the middle floors, so that employees working overtime can grab a bite to eat and catch their breath.

However, at this time, only a few lonely desserts and a few cans of herbal tea remained in the cupboard.

I drank a lot of coffee recently, and my throat feels a bit sticky.

Shuichi Kanbara took out a cup of brewed herbal tea, sat on the sofa, and took a sip. But as he read a magazine for a while and aimlessly glanced around, a familiar figure suddenly entered his field of vision.

Honami Suzuki and an elderly woman with a refined, intellectual air were walking towards the sofa in front of the huge French windows, talking in hushed tones along the way.

A large group of interview team members followed behind, each with a camera and large headphones around their necks, wolfing down their food as they walked. It seemed they were taking a quick break during the interview.

"Aunt Suzuki?"

Shuichi Kambara's pupils dilated slightly.

After a long while, he lowered his head, took a sip of tea, and murmured, "So it was she who helped me."

A smile played at the corners of his lips, and a warm smile quietly appeared in his usually calm and gentle black eyes. Just then, a series of hurried footsteps came from the elevator entrance.

"Kanbara-san! Congratulations—your manuscript has been approved!"

Takako Tokiwa walked briskly over, her face beaming with joy. Perhaps because she was excited, her voice was slightly loud, startling Honami Suzuki, who was chatting nearby.

She turned her head, and her gaze met that of Shuichi Kanbara.

Their eyes met, and both were slightly taken aback. But they tacitly remained silent, only a smile appearing on their lips before they looked away and continued with what they were doing.

Shuichi Kambara didn't say hello, naturally because there were many Asahi employees here.

It's rare for a new writer to be directly signed by a mainstream weekly magazine, let alone a long novel.

Once their relationship is discovered, rumors are bound to circulate before the results of "The White Tower" are in. He himself doesn't care, but there are quite a few competitors eyeing Suzuki Honami's prime-time host position.

As for Honami Suzuki...

"It was actually accepted?"

"This kid's got some skills."

While Suzuki Honami continued chatting and laughing with the old woman in front of her, she couldn't help but secretly glance in the direction of Kanbara Shuichi out of the corner of her eye.

The editorial department did take the initiative to look at Shuichi's manuscripts because she had asked someone for a favor, but she did not explicitly require the editor-in-chief of Bungei Asahi to sign Shuichi Kanbara's manuscripts.

It wasn't that she was unwilling to do favors, nor that she lacked the ability; the main reason was that she had interviewed many famous novelists. She understood that the novel industry couldn't rely on others; if the work wasn't good, readers wouldn't buy it, and putting in a lot of effort in other areas would be futile.

She never expected that Kanbaru Shuichi's first submission would be a success.

"However... TV dramas always say that boys this age are particularly sensitive about their self-esteem."

"If he knew I secretly gave him a heads-up, he'd probably think, 'This isn't my doing,' and it would spoil his fun. Hmm... if we meet later, I should act like it's the first time I'm meeting him today."

"Speaking of which, he's been preparing late-night snacks for me lately, but I didn't realize he had something to tell me..."

Remembering what the security guard had said about how much trouble Kanbara Shuichi had suffered over the past three days, Suzuki Honami frowned slightly. Just then, her gaze fell on Kanbara Shuichi's collar.

Because of financial constraints, Shuichi Kanbara had been alternating between two sets of knock-off sportswear lately. Perhaps it was due to the poor quality of the material, or perhaps it was because of his daily running workouts. The clothes started pilling and the collar was coming undone after only a few days of wear.

"I can leave work early today."

"Hmm... I'll sneakily pick out some clothes for him later, as a way of repaying him and as a surprise to celebrate our success."

Thinking about these things, Honami Suzuki felt inexplicably happy, and a faint smile appeared on her face.

But the next second, her assistant squeezed in and whispered in her ear, "Suzuki-san, the front desk just called. The parents' representatives from the 'Shinjuku children's mass food poisoning incident' have agreed to be interviewed!"

Upon hearing this, Honami Suzuki's smile vanished instantly. She glanced at her watch and said crisply, "This interview is almost over. Notify headquarters to prepare the interview room immediately—we'll be there promptly at four o'clock this afternoon!"