The literary era since 1979

Chapter 296 Akutagawa Ryunosuke Award
December 10, Tokyo.

When the Chinese delegation arrived in Japan, the Japanese side held a welcoming ceremony at the Akasaka State Guest House Square.

Senior leaders from both sides walked along the red carpet to the reviewing stand.

Fang Yan sat in the Chinese representatives' area and witnessed the entire high-level foreign affairs event with his own eyes, during which he stood up and applauded twice.

"Hua Hua Hua."

The applause was like a tide, surging.

Afterwards, a grand welcome banquet was held in the huge banquet hall of the Akasaka State Guest House.

The attendees included celebrities from all walks of life in Japan's politics, economy, and culture, such as Konosuke Matsushita of Panasonic, Akio Morita of Sony, Soichiro Honda of Honda, Kazuo Inamori of Kyocera, and even people from chaebols such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, and Fuji.

As for dialects, people mainly speak them among people in the Japanese publishing, literary, media, and film industries.

Seeing him chatting and laughing with Suzuki Shunjiro, Matsuzaka Keiko, who was dressed in gorgeous clothes, was surprised and happy and said:
"Fangyan-kun is here too!"

"How could he not come?"

Kurihara Komaki is now famous in the literary circles of the United States, Japan and other countries for speaking dialects, so how could he be missing from this visit to Japan?

Keiko Matsuzaka couldn't help but sigh: "I never thought that Fangyan-kun would achieve such great success in just over a year."

Seeing the light flashing in her best friend's eyes and her eagerness to try, Kurihara Komaki couldn't help but narrow her eyes into slits.

"Xiao Juan, let's go find Fang Yan and reminisce about the past."

Keiko Matsuzaka waved the red wine glass between her fingers.

"Qingzi, I'm afraid it's not convenient for him now."

Kurihara Komaki pointed at the people that Suzuki Shunjiro had met with Fangyan, and listed them one by one:

"That's the manga artist who created "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Iron Man 28", Mr. Mitsuteru Yokoyama."

"The one next to him is Mr. Oe Kenzaburo."

"........."

After listening to the introduction, Keiko Matsuzaka set her eyes on a short-haired woman wearing a kimono and said in surprise:

"That's Teacher Yamazaki Toyoko?"

"Yes, that's her!"

Kurihara Komaki's eyes were full of admiration and worship.

She is an outstanding representative and idol of Japanese women, and the author of works such as "White Tower" and "Gorgeous Family".

She is not only a great Japanese writer, but also one of the few female writers in Japan!
"Eh!"

Keiko Matsuzaka was immediately filled with awe and stared closely at Fangyan who was talking and laughing with Toyoko Yamazaki.

He smiled and said while toasting, "You really are too kind."

Yamazaki Toyoko said kindly: "In our traditional patriarchal concept, the father, as the head of the family, has absolute say. Therefore, there is a widely circulated saying in Japan that why sons give their parents advice is like asking monks to grow hair, because no matter how you think about it, it is absolutely impossible to do it."

"I've heard a little bit about it too."

Fangyan glanced at Suzuki Yoko and said that the entire East Asian region has a similar patriarchal structure to a greater or lesser extent.

After all, East Asia is basically within the pan-Confucian cultural circle, and is naturally a patriarchal society constructed mainly by the Confucian system.

"You are absolutely right."

Yamazaki Toyoko said seriously: "To this day, this kind of father-son relationship still exists in Japanese society, whether in novels or movies, and your "Village Postman" also fits the patriarchal theory in traditional Japanese ethical concepts."

“But the final kernel is still different.”

When Fangyan heard the word “village postman”, he felt strange.

"That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" was translated by Yuhikaku into "The Mountain Village Postman", so the movie had to be named this.

"Yes, Fang Yanjun used a postal journey to resolve the years of estrangement and conflict between father and son, breaking through the relationship of domination and being dominated between father and son."

Kenzaburo Oe, the future Nobel Prize winner in Literature, cast an approving look.

“This is one of the reasons why “The Village Postman” was awarded the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Award!”

Suzuki Shunjiro looked as if he was pleased with the honor.

"I think the most important thing is that it has brought reflection to Japanese society."

Fangyan gave a meaningful smile.

The Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize is an award given by the organizer Bungeishunju to new pure literature writers. The selection of the award is not an open audition, but the selection committee decides the candidates and the winners according to the agreement.

The members of these juries will select the best piece of pure literary short story published in newspapers and magazines by new or unknown writers and give it a reward. Usually there are more than 250 works by new writers every year.

But later, the criteria for defining newcomers changed.

In 1958, the 39th Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize was awarded to Kenzaburo Oe, who was sweeping the literary world and gaining fame. This triggered a major earthquake in the Japanese literary world. From then on, the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize was no longer a so-called "newcomer award".

Rather, it is an award that recognizes the status of emerging writers in the Japanese literary world!
Taking this into consideration, the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize will be held twice a year in the future, in the first half and the second half of the year.

For the first half of the year, the selection will start in mid-July, and the awards will be presented in mid-August. For the second half of the year, the selection will be conducted in mid-January of the following year, and the awards will be presented in mid-February of the same year.

Fang Xiaojiang's "The Village Postman" won the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Award for the first half of 1983!

"Morimura-san told me that he voted for you for this reason."

Kenzaburo Oe directly stated the results and reasons of the jury's vote.

"Morimura?"

Fangyan cast a questioning look.

Suzuki Shunjiro explained, "It's Mr. Morimura Seiichi."

"Proof of Humanity", "Proof of Wildness" and "Proof of Youth", this "Proof Trilogy" established his status as a master of social mystery novels, and he is on par with other mystery novel masters such as Matsumoto Seicho, Edogawa Ranpo and Yokomizo Seishi.

“Is ‘Witness’ adapted from his novel?”

Fangyan raised his eyebrows.

Suzuki Shunjiro nodded and said, "Yes, it is a movie adapted from his "Proof of Humanity."

The reason why the dialect is still fresh in my memory is that when the movie "The Human Witness" was introduced to China, it set off a "The Human Witness" craze. Together with the movie "The Chase" starring Ken Takakura, it can be said to be the "twin peaks" of Japanese mystery movies introduced to China.

"It's a pity that he was recently hospitalized and missed the feast."

Oe Kenzaburo sighed and said, "In fact, as a judge of this year's Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize, he has always wanted to meet you, a Chinese writer."

"That's really a shame."

Fangyan could not leave the visiting group without permission and act alone this time, otherwise he would have to carry a basket and go to the hospital to visit.

If it weren't for the strong support of Morimura Seiichi, I might not have been able to stand out among a group of Japanese writers and win the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize, nor would I have been able to get the 100 million yen prize, and it would have been impossible to boost the sales of my novels across Japan.

Of course, this is not the most important thing.

During a chat with Oe Kenzaburo and others, Suzuki Shunjiro toasted and whispered:

"Mr. Fangyan, the major literary awards in Japan have some unspoken rules to a greater or lesser extent."

"What's the unspoken rule?"

Fangyan narrowed his eyes.

Suzuki Shunjiro lowered his voice and said that various literary awards in Japan are sponsored and awarded by different publishing houses.

There are differences in status among various awards.

For example, if a writer does not win this award, then another award of the same or even higher level will not be given to this writer. Therefore, the winner of the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize can usually win the Naokawa Prize more easily.

Because the Naokawa Prize is known as one of the two highest honors in Japanese literature, along with the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize.

For example, writers who have won the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize will generally not be selected for the list of lower-level literary awards.

“I didn’t expect there were so many ways to win a Japanese literary award.”

After Suzuki Yoko's translation, Fang Yan half-jokingly said: "So, what other awards can I win in the future?"

"Well, the Yoshikawa Eiji Literature Award and the Edogawa Ranpo Award..."

Suzuki Shunjiro said in a serious tone: "Of course, I think the Kikuchi Kan Award is another major award that "The Village Postman" has the best chance of winning. It is mainly awarded to literature, film, journalism, and especially film scripts."

“That depends on how the movie goes.”

Fangyan took a sip of wine.

The novel already had the added fame of the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize, and sales have been climbing since the award ceremony. If the movie box office is stronger, we can't expect to break one million copies, but if nothing unexpected happens, we estimate the result will be in the hundreds of thousands.

"It all depends on how Shochiku operates."

Suzuki Shunjiro turned his head and gave him an intriguing look.

Fangyan followed his gaze and looked at the Shochiku Film delegation where Keiko Matsuzaka, Komaki Kurihara and others were.

(End of this chapter)