National Tide 1980

Businessmen all over the world have a common experience - there is no life without business, and there is no stability without power.

This has been the case throughout the ages.

This is true even for regions or countries such as Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Japan, Europe and the United States that like to flaunt their good business environment with sound laws.

The only difference lies in the method and degree.

As the saying goes, "The tricks are all the same, but the variations are different."

Therefore, Ning Weimin's prediction was completely correct.

The efforts of the Kaga couple to hold a celebration for the opening of the beauty salon were not in vain. After the opening ceremony, the operation of Isako's beauty salon was far smoother than anyone expected, and the harvest was more generous.

Even Isako had no business experience at all before this and was not very familiar with business management.

Even if the souvenirs given by the couple to the guests who came to welcome them plus the banquet meal expenses, it would cost 50,000 yen per person.

It doesn't matter, Isako's beauty salon is still doing a prosperous business and making a lot of money.

Still the same truth, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Even though the Kaga couple spent a total of 15 million yen, or almost 150,000 US dollars, to hold the celebration, the money comes from the sheep, and the money will be recovered.

Except for those politicians who are like Pixiu, almost everyone invited to the banquet must register as a member and open an account in Isako's beauty salon.

Especially those artists who rely on TV stations for their livelihood, whether they are agencies or production companies, whether they are singers, actors or hosts, they must be more active.

It can range from hundreds of thousands of yen to millions of yen. Just like a certificate of declaration, you have to rely on this kind of real gold and silver support to show your loyalty.

Keiko Matsumoto and Teresa Teng are no exception. Regardless of whether they go or not, each of them has to top up one million yen, which means a lot.

This also represents their level and cannot drop their status.

And those in the financial world buy more.

Of course, it is not for their personal use, but for gift giving.

For example, Director Yoshimo of Sumitomo Bank used 15 million yen of public funds to purchase 50 gift cards worth 300,000 yen as a way to support Kaga, an old friend.

Correspondingly, the Kaga couple would use their beauty salon as collateral to borrow 100 million from Yoshimo's own son as a return gift.

To put it bluntly, this kind of nepotistic related-party transactions are ubiquitous regardless of country.

As a result, in just one week, Isako's beauty salon had more than 200 high-profile members in a very short period of time, and the total cash received was 180 million yen.

If you add in the 100 million yen loan that will be available soon, not to mention liquidity will not be a problem. Even if they open a branch elsewhere in Tokyo soon, the funds will be enough.

In addition, it was a wise move for Isako to choose Jiyugaoka as the location for her store. This place was chosen so well.

The so-called Jiyugaoka is actually a high-end residential area located in Meguro District, Tokyo.

The undulating hills, winding rivers, and chic and small bungalows here make the scenery here different from the Tokyo metropolis with many high-rise buildings. It is very quiet and peaceful.

At the same time, this is also the most popular petty bourgeoisie neighborhood on the Tokyu Toyoko Line.

It is known as Tokyo’s Little Venice, Dessert Forest, and Grocery Store Kingdom.

Because there are about a thousand unique small shops lined up along the streets here, with a wide range of products, enough to spend a day wandering around.

Almost every year, Jiyugaoka is voted the most ideal place for Japanese women to live, and Jiyugaoka is always on the list.

Therefore, the people who can gather here, in addition to the ladies and ladies in the nearby high-end residential areas, are the artistic young people who pay attention to their lifestyle, and the middle class who have decent jobs.

Those cash-strapped blue-collar workers who rely on physical strength to make a living will not appear here.

In other words, the quality of the customers is impeccable and the customer base is very good.

And don’t forget that since the Plaza Accord, the living standards of the Japanese have also improved rapidly due to the huge changes in the exchange rate.

According to relevant data, from 1985 to this year, in just one and a half years, Japanese household assets have tripled on average.

Therefore, although upper-class consciousness and class distinctions are still prevalent in Japanese minds today.

But in terms of consumption power, the disparity as before no longer exists.

Nowadays, it has become widely popular for Japanese people to consume high-end clothing and accessories, and ordinary people can also participate.

Almost every girl on the street has one or two pieces of world-class luxury brand clothing or bags, such as LV, Hermès, etc., which can be seen everywhere here just like street stalls.

There are also Chanel handbags that were worth 600,000 to 800,000 yen a few decades later, but at this time they were only 200,000 yen.

Even Japanese high school students can afford such luxuries with their income from part-time jobs.

In fact, in recent years, almost all the world's big-name products have come to Japan, and they feel very cheap.

In this environment, it seems that there are no poor people in Japan. Even ordinary people who look like ordinary people often have watches like Patek Philippe or Rolex on their wrists.

Although many of them were bought by working-class lickers with small loans!

But as long as you can get the money to afford it, it itself shows the public's spending power.

So once Isako's beauty salon opens, even if the charges are higher, there will definitely be no shortage of customers.

Instead, because of the correct location selection, it quickly gained a reputation and attracted the attention of a large number of customers.

The next step is how to satisfy those who are pretentious.

However, this cannot be achieved simply by relying on good technology. The key trick lies in how to satisfy the vanity of customers.

Not to mention, Isako's beauty salon has a very special advantage in this regard.

First, in addition to the foreign technicians and first-class facilities that Isako publicly announced at the opening ceremony.

In order to receive noble guests, her beauty room also has a first-class service department.

Isako, who is a rich wife herself, actually understands the psychology of special people very well.

She made such an arrangement that is different from most stores, which not only protects the privacy of customers, but also allows them to feel considerate and humanized service.

The second is the membership group of many celebrities and artists, who will come over from time to time because of Isako's invitation.

Even if they are not doing hair or beauty treatments here, as long as they show up in public and drink a cup of tea, the general public can easily get spiritual satisfaction when visiting Isako's beauty salon.

Precisely because any customer has a very high probability of meeting his idol here, many tabloid reporters also regard this place as a place to hang out.

So even though many people know that this is the store's business method, they can't resist the charm of celebrities, and they come here one after another to spend and give money in order to chase stars.

In this way, it is inevitable that Isako's beauty salon will be prosperous, and it is impossible not to be popular.

Naturally, this joy and the relief of having a piece of Futian Yuji in their pocket will be transformed into gratitude to Ning Weimin in the minds of the couple.

Finally, through the hands of Director Kaga, it became the resource support of TBS.

Take the TV series "Dream of Red Mansions" as an example. According to category classification, it should be included in Dahe dramas.

This audience group is generally older middle-aged and elderly people, with an average age of over forty-five.

So Ning Weimin took this into consideration and discussed with Shinichiro Kaga how to get better broadcast results.

In the end, Shinichiro Kaga made the decision and got the morning drama slot every Monday from April to December.

Yes, TV stations also broadcast programs in time slots.

For example, morning drama theaters that specialize in housewives and the elderly are usually held from 7 to 9 o'clock in the morning.

During this period, housewives have just sent their husbands and children out and have relatively free time.

The elderly sleep much less and are accustomed to going to bed early and getting up early. They also like to watch TV at this time.

And you also need to know that Japanese dramas are generally divided into four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter, with a season lasting three months and a season of about twelve episodes.

That is, one episode a week, filmed and broadcast at the same time.

Because "A Dream of Red Mansions" sold by Ning Weimin to TBS has thirty-six episodes, it will be released at the end of the year.

As for why it is Monday morning instead of other times, there are also unique considerations.

The explanation given by Shinichiro Kaga is that NHK TV station will broadcast Taiga drama every Sunday at 9 p.m., and what is currently being broadcast is the "Spring Wave" that Keiko Matsumoto missed.

Then these viewers may not get out of the historical atmosphere so quickly the next morning. If they watch a historical drama at this time, because of the time connection, they may have more patience and tolerance.

Ning Weimin also deeply agrees with this.

It should be said that for a TV drama from China, it is very interesting that Shinichiro Kaga can arrange this time slot for him.

If the ratings of "Dream of Red Mansions" are too poor, he will have to take certain risks.

Fortunately, Ning Weimin is very wealthy and doesn't care about money at all.

So Kaga Shinichiro not only received 30 million yen in advertising fees from Ning Weimin, but also specially inserted a thirty-second spot for "Dream of Red Mansions" after the morning dramas that are now broadcast every day, and after the prime-time Japanese dramas on Tuesday nights. Film advertisement.

In this way, the upcoming broadcast time of this big river drama from China is announced in advance, in order to attract more viewers by then.

And after getting Ning Weimin's assurance that if any advertisers withdraw, he will pay for the advertising losses of the morning drama himself.

Kaga Shinichiro even fought for ten minutes for Ning Weimin so that he could record a brief explanation of the TV series "A Dream of Red Mansions" and broadcast it before the official content on the day when "A Dream of Red Mansions" was officially broadcast.

It can be said that Kaga Shinichiro did his best and gave Ning Weimin the greatest care within his own capabilities.

Although the friendship between them was based on naked interests, to be honest, even if the final result was really unsatisfactory, Ning Weimin couldn't blame Director Kaga and could only find reasons from other aspects.

But having said that, Ning Weimin is not an idiot.

Through the text translation and dubbing production of the TV series "Dream of Red Mansions", he also had many exchanges with Japan's "famous fan" Professor Sohei Ito of the University of Tokyo.

And we learned from it that the spread of "Dream of Red Mansions" in Japan can be described as "ice and fire" - it has been both "favored" and "cold".

The so-called "favorable treatment" refers to the prosperity of translation.

Japanese translation of "A Dream of Red Mansions" began in 1892 with the first chapter of Mori Huainan's excerpt.

In the following 125 years, as far as Sohei Ito knows, a total of 12 excerpted versions, 12 compiled versions, 3 abridged versions, 1 transliterated version, and 10 full translations were produced, for a total of 38 kinds of translations.

And because of the strong support of large publishing houses such as Iwanami Shoten and Pingheshasha, a group of loyal "red fans" were born among many Japanese intellectuals who like Chinese culture. Although they are not large in number, they are extremely obsessed with it.

The so-called "cold reception" refers to the fact that "A Dream of Red Mansions" is less well-known, has fewer readers, and has a narrower readership than the other three of the Four Great Classics.

Most ordinary readers in Japan know "Water Margin", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (called "Three Kingdoms" in Japan), and "Journey to the West", but very few know about "A Dream of Red Mansions". Most of those who know it have Chinese learning or research experience. intellectual class.

Even fewer continue to study this book.

The ups and downs of the other three masterpieces can easily attract ordinary readers, but "A Dream of Red Mansions" does not win with its plot.

In addition, "A Dream of Red Mansions" uses the beauty of Chinese language and characters to the extreme, with a large number of superb uses of the sounds, shapes, and meanings of Chinese characters such as homophones, puns, and word splits, as well as various styles and styles of rhymes, etc., even the most sophisticated ones. Even with a good translation, it would be difficult for a Japanese “red chamber master” like Ito Sohei to restore its effect.

The readers' aesthetic enjoyment will be greatly reduced.

But the most important thing is that there is a Japanese classic work "The Tale of Genji" that is very similar to "A Dream of Red Mansions".

This novel describes the aristocratic life of the Heian period, and also alludes to the imperial power and political struggles in Japan at that time. It was written earlier than The Red Chamber.

So just like how many Chinese people watch "A Dream of Red Mansions", they don't have much interest in "The Tale of Genji" which is of a similar type.

In Japan, there are many people who read "The Tale of Genji" but don't know about "A Dream of Red Mansions".

Because of this, although Ito Sohei is responsible for the Japanese translation of "Dream of Red Mansions", he also welcomes this TV series to be broadcast on Japan's national television stations.

But from his point of view, he also objectively realized that it was not easy to promote this TV series, and he vaccinated Ning Weimin in advance.

As for what he believes is most acceptable to Japanese people in "Dream of Red Mansions", it is that the idea of ​​impermanence in "Dream of Red Mansions" is consistent with the aesthetic consciousness deeply rooted in Japanese traditional concepts - the concept of impermanence.

Ning Weimin was not only very grateful for the scholar's advice, but he also finally had time to make some adjustments before the TV station promoted it.

First of all, the advertisement for the "Dream of Red Mansions" trailer had to be changed. It could not use "Four Masterpieces" as a gimmick to promote the Chinese aesthetics in this TV series as he originally planned.

Instead, we have to pull up "The Tale of Genji" and tell the Japanese that this is China's "The Tale of Genji", a love story about a love triangle.

Try to make it easier for Japanese people to accept it through the similarities between the two works.

Secondly, for the same reason, the ten-minute introductory video that Director Kaga fought for had to be changed in this way. Ning Weimin decided to invite Ito Shuhei as a translator to share the common experience of "The Tale of Genji" and "A Dream of Red Mansions". , recording a popular science program in different places.

Finally, in order to win more Japanese audiences in a more targeted manner with higher efficiency.

In order to have as many people as possible say good things and write favorable reviews of the drama after it is aired.

Ning Weimin also decided that from now on until the show is finished by the end of the year, in addition to using Sohei Ito's connections, he will organize Japan's "Red Mansion fans" in the name of Ebuntang Bookstore and have a social gathering at Dangu. meeting.

In addition, he also plans to visit Japanese national universities that offer Chinese courses and related history majors to hold cultural exchange activities with the theme of "Dream of Red Mansions".

At that time, in addition to bringing the video tape of "A Dream of Red Mansions" to the university for interested students to watch, he will also invite professional Japanese "red fans" to comment.

He will also take people from Tan Palace to make sugar paintings, make dough figures, perform folk music performances, and even give cake gift boxes and cook a few dishes from "Dream of Red Mansions".

He didn't believe it.

After eating and taking it, these people still dare to say that "Dream of Red Mansions" is not good-looking!