novelraw Chapter 129: The Changed Japanese Ethos! Meeting High-Level Japanese Officials! Gaining Recognition!
Chapter 129: The Changed Japanese Ethos! Meeting High-Level Japanese Officials! Gaining Recognition!
This hurricane named "National Carnival" stirred up by Kasou Taishou Season 2, on the afternoon of that Saturday, with a posture exceeding the speed of light, through phone lines, radio waves, and the most primitive word-of-mouth between people, instantly swept across every corner of the entire Japanese archipelago.
Tokyo, Chiyoda Ward, the top floor of a heavily guarded major trading company building.
"Section Chief! I'm begging you! Just one vote! Cast a vote for our Hokkaido!"
An employee from Sapporo who had been with the company for a very long time, was currently facing his Section Chief who was usually as majestic as King Yama, making a request full of courage and hometown honor.
That Section Chief frowned, originally wanting to reprimand him for this unseemly behavior. But when he saw the subordinates in the office from Osaka, Fukuoka, and Hiroshima also looking over with gazes full of "camaraderie of fellow townsmen", that reprimand that had reached his lips unexpectedly transformed into a sigh of helplessness.
"Got it, got it. This is not to be set as a precedent."
...
Osaka, a certain Showa-era style detached single-family home.
"Hello? Is it Dad? It's me, Miyuki!" A girl attending university in Tokyo pinched the phone receiver and spoke in a coquettish tone: "Dad, quickly turn on the television and watch that Kasou Taishou! Our Tokyo team is too amazing! Quickly help us cast a vote!"
From the other end of the phone came a roar full of Kansai accent, full of vigor: "Bakayaro! You unfilial daughter! Turning your elbow outward (favoring outsiders over your own)! Your old man is from Osaka! Will be an Osakan for this entire lifetime! Let me tell you, not only will I myself vote for the Osaka team, I will also make your mom, your eldest uncle, your second maternal uncle, and all your relatives in Osaka vote for our 'Soul of Naniwa'! You just wait and see! Our Osaka's creativity is number one under the heavens!"The phone was hung up with a "smack." The girl stared blankly for a moment, then subsequently curled her lips and said: "Hateful old dad! In the future, I'm going to find a rich Tokyoite to marry! I definitely don't want to be a country bumpkin!"
...
Inside a train running on the Yamanote Line, a space that should have been as crowded and silent as canned sardines, was currently ignited by an unprecedentedly enthusiastic atmosphere.
"Hey, brother, which district are you from? Have you watched Kasou Taishou?"
"Me? I'm from Fukuoka! Our Hakata's ramen creativity is absolute!"
"Tch, what does that count for? Our Nagoya's castle keep ninja, that is what's called art!"
"Stop arguing, all of you! Our Tokyo's Yuki-onna is the true masterpiece!"
People who had never met each other before, because of a common topic, broke that invisible barrier of apathy.
They argued, they flaunted, like a group of fanatical football fans waving flags and shouting for their respective teams. That sense of belonging and honor toward their hometown stemming from the heart, within this tiny train carriage, with an unprecedented posture, burned fiercely.
This was already no longer a simple variety show.
This was a National-level holy war with the entirety of Japan as the stage and regional honor as the stakes!
And the flames of this war were very quickly thoroughly detonated by those media outlets with a sense of smell sharper than hunting dogs!
Early morning of the second day, when the first ray of sunlight pierced the clouds, a public opinion storm that had long been premeditated, with an unrivaled posture, swept across the entirety of Japan.
The society section of the Toyo Keizai Shinbun (The Oriental Economist), using brushstrokes bordering on exclamation, elevated last night's national carnival to an entirely new economic height.
[The Dawn of the New Variety Show Era: Nohara Hiroshi, a Man Who Used "Sense of Participation" to Pry Open a Market of Hundreds of Millions!]
"...We must admit that all of us underestimated the ambition of that young man. When the entire industry was still trembling for that terrifying 39.8% Viewership Rating, he had already, at a higher dimension, laid out an earth-shattering scheme sufficient to subvert the entire consumer market. What he sells is not a program, but a 'Sense of Participation'. What he constructs is not a television station, but a platform. A massive Emotional Consumption vortex capable of sweeping all 120 million Japanese citizens into it. This will perhaps be the entirely new wealth code belonging to our era following the 'idol economy'."
While the commentary section of the Asahi Shimbun interpreted this phenomenal cultural event from a more grand, and also more humanistically caring perspective.
[An Icy Era, Is Quietly Being Melted by a Young Man's Creativity.]
"...For a long time, 'apathy' and 'alienation', like two invisible massive mountains, have suppressed this seemingly prosperous society of ours. We live in the same city, ride the same train, yet act like Robinson Crusoes living on our respective isolated islands. However, last night, this solid ice was miraculously cracked open by a variety show named Kasou Taishou."
"We saw people who had never met before shouting together for the honor of their hometown;
we saw relatives separated by thousands of miles laughing and talking cheerfully because of a common topic. That young man named Nohara Hiroshi, using the simplest, purest creativity, once again found for this nation of ours that had long grown accustomed to apathy, a reason to connect with each other, to warm each other. What he changed was perhaps not merely the Viewership Rating of a program;
what he changed, is the distance between people in this era of ours."
This argument full of idealistic colors pushed Nohara Hiroshi's personal reputation to an unprecedented, almost "social reformer"-like holy height!
Even Shukan Bunshun, known for its sharp tongue and gossip, this time rarely laid down their pen full of unkindness and ridicule.
That veteran Film Critic "Spicy Kara-Jishi", on his column, using brushstrokes bordering on confession, wrote down that entirely new headline sufficient to make the entire Japanese television industry sweat from shame.
[God, Is Indeed the God of Variety Shows!]
"...I must extend my most sincere apologies to Sensei Nohara Hiroshi for my previous shallowness and ignorance. I once thought he was merely a genius at telling stories. But I was wrong, utterly wrong. He simply isn't producing a program. He is making rules. An entirely new set of entertainment rules belonging solely to him alone, named 'Nohara Hiroshi'!"
"He rewrote the entertainment attributes of variety shows! Endowed them with the attributes of strengthening connections among citizens, rejecting apathy, and rejecting numbness! Nohara Hiroshi is currently using his style to change the era! Change Japan!"
"Using the simplest, purest creativity, he injected a most potent cardiac stimulant named 'happiness' into this era of ours that has long been eroded by boredom and numbness! Starting tonight, please allow me, in the capacity of a most devout follower, to offer my highest respect to this true deity who has long stood at the pinnacle of the era."
"He, changed Japan!"
For a time, praises surged like a tide.
The name Nohara Hiroshi was no longer merely the creator of a Viewership Rating myth. He was jointly pushed up by the media, critics, and countless fanatical fans onto an altar named "Symbol of the Era."
...
[Nohara Hiroshi - Independent Production Department].
Within the massive office, the air seemed to become scorching hot due to the snowflake-like Viewership Rating reports and public sentiment analyses faxed over from all over the country.
"Department Manager! Department Manager! Take a look quickly!"
Tanaka Kei, this variety show Section Chief who had long since been Reborn, was currently holding the report forms in his hands with a face full of excitement. Written all over them was the latest data regarding Kasou Taishou from all over the country.
"Our premium phone voting channel, within twelve hours after the program's broadcast, the total number of votes has... has officially broken through the three million major barrier! Based on the fee standard of fifty yen per vote, the income from just this single item has already exceeded 150 million yen!"
"And this!"
He flipped to another report form. On it, densely packed, almost filling the entire screen, were letters of intent for cooperation from major advertisers: "From last night until now, the cooperation hotline in our department hasn't stopped! From automobiles to home appliances, from food to beverages, leading enterprises in almost all industries have sent requests for naming rights and product placement! Over at the advertising department, they are almost going crazy! They said the exclusive naming rights for season two has already... has already been speculated to a sky-high price of five hundred million!"
Five hundred million!
This number exploded with a bang in the office!
"Five hundred million?! Oh my god!"
"Just the exclusive naming rights alone is almost going to recoup the production costs?!"
"This is too terrifying!"
Everyone present subconsciously inhaled a breath of cold air. Those faces one by one were written full of unbelievable horror.
They knew this program would be popular, but they never, absolutely never imagined it would actually be popular to this degree bordering on madness!
"Department Manager... we... we have... created a monster that lays golden eggs ah..." Tanaka Kei's voice carried a trace of irrepressible shuddering.
However, Nohara Hiroshi merely calmly looked at those numbers one by one sufficient to make anyone go crazy. Those clear eyes were like a bottomless pool of lake water, without a single ripple.
He smiled with a calm voice: "This is only the beginning."
At the same time, Nohara Hiroshi turned around and looked at that group of subordinates who had long been thoroughly convinced by him, the corners of his lips hooking into a confident smile: "The true grand banquet, is only just now, drawing open the curtains. We need to work even harder!"
He knew, this raging fire named "National Carnival" personally ignited by him, was only just beginning.
And what he needed to do, was to continuously add the best firewood sufficient to let it burn away all the rules of the old era for this cluster of raging fire.
All of this.
Would be in episode one of season two, publishing the list of award winners from the previous episode, thereby raising the curtain!
...
The first Saturday of October, when the Viewership Rating report for the first episode of Kasou Taishou Season 2, sufficient to be recorded in the annals of history, descended upon TV Tokyo like a divine oracle spanning heaven and earth, the entire Japanese television industry lost its voice over it.
The name Nohara Hiroshi was no longer merely a symbol;
it seemed to transform into a towering divine mountain, stretching across the long river of the era, making all latecomers only able to Give Up Ambition upon seeing the peak and giving rise to a feeling of High Mountain Respect.
However, right amidst this boiling ocean full of carnival and shock personally forged by him, the young man standing in the center of the storm seemed to be situated in another dimension of space-time, Turning a Deaf Ear to everything in the outside world.
On Saturday afternoon, the autumn sunlight shone through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows on the seventeenth floor, casting a warm and tranquil patch of golden light in his overly spacious Department Manager's office.
The air permeated with the mellow aroma of top-tier Blue Mountain Coffee, interweaving with the fresh ink scent of brand-new paper, forming a reassuring scent.
Nohara Hiroshi didn't immerse himself in the joy of victory. He merely sat quietly behind that massive desk, the pencil in his hand winding across the snow-white drawing paper like Floating Clouds and Flowing Water.
He was constructing another world, a warm harbor uniquely belonging to the deep night, full of gourmet food and human warmth.
Ring, ring, ring—
The red internal phone on the desk abruptly pierced this tranquility.
"Department Manager." Over the phone came Kitagawa Yao's increasingly capable and composed voice, "A call from Bureau Chief Sakata's office secretary, the Bureau Chief requests you to head over for a moment."
"En." Nohara Hiroshi set down the drawing pencil. In those clear eyes, there wasn't the slightest ripple.
He knew, when a person's power was strong enough to alter the rules, the rule-maker would inevitably descend personally.
Sakata Nobuhiko's office, rather than calling it an office, was more like a silent throne overlooking the entire Production Bureau kingdom.
There were no excessive decorations here, only a set of heavy ebony office furniture, and a piece of calligraphy on the wall with the four characters "Immovable Like a Mountain" written with vigorous brushstrokes, manifesting the owner's absolute authority in a silent place.
When Nohara Hiroshi pushed the door and entered, Sakata Nobuhiko was facing away from him, standing in front of that massive floor-to-ceiling window.
This man who controlled TV Tokyo's content lifeline was currently not wearing his signature high-end suit, but a loose dark blue Kimono. That posture lacked a bit of the majesty belonging to a Bureau Chief, yet possessed an additional bit of profoundness like returning to original simplicity.
"You're here?" Sakata Nobuhiko didn't turn his head. His voice was plain, joy or anger unable to be discerned.
"Bureau Chief." Nohara Hiroshi bowed slightly, his posture neither servile nor overbearing.
Sakata Nobuhiko slowly turned around. On that chubby face that was always smiling, all smiles were completely withdrawn at this moment, leaving only a bottomless calmness, sizing up this young man before him.
That gaze was no longer a superior's scrutiny of a subordinate.
More like an experienced old hunter, observing a young fierce beast that had intruded into his territory, yet was strong enough to make even him feel a trace of heart palpitation.
After a long time, he finally exhaled a breath slowly. In that breath carried an emotion as if wanting to exhale the weight of the entire era.
"Hiroshi-kun, do you know? This morning, I received twenty-seven phone calls."
He extended three fingers, his voice carrying helplessness:
"From Osaka to Fukuoka, from Nagoya to Sapporo, the Station Chiefs of almost all local stations personally called me. The content, was surprisingly unanimous. First it was to congratulate our Tokyo station on producing another god-tier program, and then, they started beating around the bush to complain about your 'national auditions', completely destroying the mood to work for the young people in their entire region, pondering every day how to get on television and take that one hundred million yen Bonus."
"They say, you are... disrupting the local economic order."
Nohara Hiroshi knew this was merely an excuse, so he merely smiled calmly: "Then how did you reply, Bureau Chief?"
"Me?" Hearing this, Sakata Nobuhiko, on that chubby face, finally couldn't hold back and blossomed a smug smile resembling an old fox: "I told them, this is the market's choice, the audience's choice. If they have the ability, they can also come up with one. If they can't come up with it, then watch honestly for me."
As he spoke, he walked up to Nohara Hiroshi. In those narrowed eyes flashed undisguised admiration:
"Beautifully done! Hiroshi-kun! Your move was simply a stroke of genius! Without shedding a drop of blood (winning without fighting), it let our Tokyo station's brand influence penetrate the most core hinterlands of those local despots with an unprecedented posture! This effect is ten times better than us spending tens of billions of yen to broadcast advertisements!"
He heavily patted Nohara Hiroshi's shoulder. In that voice, took on a trace of genuine solemnity belonging to an ally.
"However, I didn't seek you out today to say these."
He turned around and picked up a gold-stamped invitation from the desk and handed it over: "Change into your best suit. Tonight, attend a cocktail party with me."
Nohara Hiroshi accepted the invitation. On it, printed in elegant Song typeface, were a few large characters that made his pupils shrink slightly——[Japan Film and Television Culture Promotion Association · Autumn Exchange Cocktail Party].
Organizer: Japan Film and Television Association.
Co-organizer: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Publicity Department.
This was already no longer a simple industry gathering.
This was a true feast of power, organized by the official authorities, bringing together all the top film and television forces of the entire nation of Japan.
...
When night fell, the evening lights were lit.
Imperial Hotel, this legendary hall that had witnessed Japan's changing winds and clouds for nearly a century, was shrouded tonight by an unprecedented dazzling light full of power and glory.
Black high-end sedans with special license plates one by one, like silent rivers, quietly merged into the open plaza in front of the hotel.
Stepping down from the cars were names one by one sufficient to make the entirety of Japan look at them with respect.
President of Toho Pictures, Chairman of Shochiku Pictures, Founder of Toei Animation...
Station Chief of Fuji TV, Bureau Chief of TBS TV, Chief Producer of TV Asahi...
They were the leading figures of this country's cultural industry, the behind-the-scenes titans controlling the fates of countless stars and Directors.
Usually they were like divine dragons whose heads could be seen but not their tails, yet currently they all gathered here together like attending a sacred pilgrimage.
When Nohara Hiroshi followed behind Sakata Nobuhiko, stepping onto that red carpet sufficient to reflect human figures, he could clearly feel countless gazes full of inquiry, curiosity, jealousy, and awe, instantly shrouding him like invisible spotlights.
"That's... Nohara Hiroshi?"
"So young... looks even younger than in the newspapers."
"It's him who used three works to turn the entire television industry upside down?"
Whispers, like the tide, surged from all directions.
Sakata Nobuhiko, however, seemed as if he was in his own backyard garden. A genial smile hanging on his face, he familiarly shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with every major figure who came up to greet him, that posture like a monarch showing off his most favored collection to his guests.
"Hahaha! Chairman Matsuoka, long time no see! Come, come, come, let me introduce to you, this one is that useless little fellow from our station, Nohara Hiroshi."
"Oh? This is the legendary Hiroshi-kun? Indeed Heroes Emerge from Youth ah!"
"Director Gosha! You also came! I practically watched your movies growing up! This is a newcomer from our station, Nohara Hiroshi. I hope you will support and guide him more in the future."
"Hmph, Sakata, you fellow, obtained such a treasure yet kept it hidden. Hiroshi-kun, your works, I've watched them, very interesting."
Nohara Hiroshi was like a marionette led onto the stage, smiling, bowing, mechanically repeating the action of exchanging business cards.
Those gold-stamped business cards one by one, like tickets one by one to a brand-new world of power, heavily accumulated in his hands.
He could sense the complex emotions contained within the gazes one by one behind those business cards.
There was genuine appreciation, there were perfunctory pleasantries, and even more so, there lay schemes akin to venomous snakes hidden beneath smiles.
He knew, starting tonight, he would no longer be a simple creator.
He was a piece of fat meat coveted by countless hungry wolves.
Right in this social vortex full of hypocrisy and probing, Sakata Nobuhiko suddenly leaned down and, at a volume only the two of them could hear, spoke softly beside his ear:
"Let's go, taking you to meet a true major figure."
Nohara Hiroshi's heart stirred. He calmly followed behind Sakata Nobuhiko, passing through the clamor of clinking glasses, arriving at the doorway of a secluded lounge guarded strictly by two bodyguards in black suits located in the deepest part of the banquet hall.
The room was very quiet. There were no luxurious decorations, only a set of simple and elegant mahogany sofas, and a landscape painting with lingering charm on the wall.
A man was currently facing away from them, standing in front of the window.
He was wearing a simple set of dark gray suit, of medium build, looking exactly like the most ordinary, ubiquitous elderly civil servant.
But when he slowly turned around, Nohara Hiroshi's heart uncontrollably shrank fiercely.
That was a face without any distinguishing features, ordinary to the point of being somewhat bland.
"His Excellency Fujiwara."
Sakata Nobuhiko, this television station local emperor who summoned the wind and called the rain outside, currently acted like the most respectful student, deeply bending his waist toward that man.
It was directly the etiquette of bowing with a lowered head.
"Disturbing your peace. This one, is that Nohara Hiroshi I mentioned to you."
Excellency.
Nohara Hiroshi's heart was instantly clear.
In Japan, only when facing Cabinet members, or top-tier bureaucrats possessing an equivalent level of power, would this term of address full of awe be used.
Without any hesitation, he similarly performed a standard ninety-degree bow toward that man.
"His Excellency Fujiwara, nice to meet you for the first time. This junior is Nohara Hiroshi."
"En."
Fujiwara Hideaki, the Deputy Director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Publicity Department, facing the bow of Sakata Nobuhiko who was older than himself, merely nodded calmly. That gaze instead lingered on Nohara Hiroshi's body for a moment.
"Have a seat."
His voice carried the imposing aura of someone who had occupied a high position for a long time.
"Your works, I have watched all of them." He cut straight to the point: "Yamishibai, Tales of the Unusual... very interesting. Using the theory of ghosts and gods to narrate the evil of human nature. Although the methods are somewhat... extreme, the core conception is considered quite good."
This evaluation, neither praising nor disparaging, was like the sharpest scalpel, precisely dissecting the core of all of Nohara Hiroshi's works.
"However, I didn't seek you out today to say these."
Fujiwara Hideaki's gaze became somewhat sharper, like two drawn sharp swords, piercing straight into the depths of Nohara Hiroshi's soul.
"Kasou Taishou."
He slowly spat out these words.
"This proposal, who asked you to make it?"
This question, like a clap of thunder, detonated in the hearts of Sakata Nobuhiko and Nohara Hiroshi simultaneously!
A fine layer of cold sweat instantly popped out on Sakata Nobuhiko's face.
He hadn't imagined His Excellency Fujiwara would actually ask so... directly.
However, Nohara Hiroshi merely calmly met that gaze sufficient to make anyone break down, replying neither servilely nor overbearingly:
"It was myself."
"Oh?" The corners of Fujiwara Hideaki's lips hooked into a meaningful curve, "Yourself? A young man who just entered the industry less than a year ago, could think of a National-level proposal sufficient to alter the entire society's ethos?"
"I merely... happened to grasp the thing this era needs the most." Nohara Hiroshi's voice remained calm.
"The thing it needs the most?"
"Yes." Nohara Hiroshi nodded and said: "It's 'connection'."
"This country of ours, after experiencing decades of high-speed development, seemingly blooming like a piece of brocade, is actually, in reality, already surging with dark undercurrents. The relationships between people have become increasingly apathetic, increasingly alienated. The estrangement between regions has also become increasingly deep."
"And Kasou Taishou, all it does is merely provide a stage for these individuals who have long grown accustomed to loneliness to reconnect and find their sense of belonging again."
"It lets people know that, as it turns out, aside from work and family, we still have 'hometown', this shared identity."
"It lets people know that, as it turns out, aside from apathy and competition, we can also laugh, shout, and unite as one for the sake of a common goal."
"This, is the true purpose of me producing this program."
These words were loud and clear, carrying weight.
Like a lightning bolt tearing through chaos, instantly illuminating the entire room!
Sakata Nobuhiko stared blankly at this young man beside him. That chubby face was written full of unbelievable horror.
He had never imagined that behind a seemingly simple variety show, actually still concealed such... grand scale, bordering on political ambition-like vision!
And Fujiwara Hideaki, on that face that was consistently calm like water, finally surfaced an undisguised shock!
He looked at this young man before him. In those calm eyes seemed to be contained a vast universe sufficient to accommodate the entire era.
After a long time, he finally exhaled a breath slowly: "Good... what a good 'connection'."
He slowly stood up, walked to Nohara Hiroshi, extended his hand, and patted him on the shoulder.
"Hiroshi-kun."
His voice was no longer icy, no longer scrutinizing, but rather full of heartfelt recognition.
"You, are very interesting."
"This country needs an interesting person like you."
"Go ahead and do it freely."
"If you have any needs, you can come find me anytime."
While Sakata Nobuhiko beside them opened his eyes wide in astonishment.
Even swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
In his heart, he understood that starting tonight, that young man named Nohara Hiroshi, behind his back, would no longer merely be the Kanto Faction, no longer merely be TV Tokyo.
What stood behind his back now had an addition of the top-level will of this country.
This, was the true descent of a God.