Chapter 338: Japanese Culture (Revised)

After Masayoshi Kishimoto and Kyoko Fukada had a simple lunch, they resumed their seats in front of the computers in the other room. They once again logged in to play in the beautiful virtual world of the online game Paradise.

Kyoko Fukada’s mind was not much in the game, “My dream since I was a child was to become a star. Wasn’t your original ideal to be a plutocrat?”

“Wrong. My initial ideal was to be completely satisfied as long as I had Coke to drink, instant noodles to eat, and online games to play.” Masayoshi Kishimoto spoke in a serious manner.

Kyoko Fukada was instantly dumbfounded. In her thinking world, anyone who had great deeds would have had great ambitions as a child.

After Kyouko Fukada came back to her senses, she simply blurted out in disbelief, “You must be lying.”

Masayoshi Kishimoto took his hands off the keyboard and mouse and looked at her properly and said, “I’ll vouch for my own personality, I’m definitely not lying to you.”

Fukada Kyouko said with interest, “Did you suddenly start to completely awaken one day, thinking that it’s not good to live such a negative and decadent life.

Thus, you took the initiative and began to fight desperately, which is how you came to have a place in the Japanese financial world today.”

Justice Kishimoto couldn’t help but laugh and said, “Do you think this is a youthful inspirational idol drama that you are playing? A male protagonist with a humble social status falls in love with a cute girl from the upper echelons of society, so he changes his past for her and strives desperately to get ahead.

In the grand finale, the hero succeeds despite his setbacks. He was able to be together with the heroine in name only.”

Of course, Kyoko Fukada understood that the contents of idol dramas were all glorified and idealized, and could not be taken seriously. She got to the bottom of it and said, “Then what else?”

“Anyone has the freedom to choose a lifestyle that suits and pleases them. Eating noodles, drinking coke, playing games is garbage?

Only that kind of desperate work like being beaten with chicken blood is the right way? Do you not think carefully whether you have been completely deceived by the propaganda of the ruling class?

How many of them died of overwork? People are dead, and any great ideals are nothing, so why do we have to live to wear Versace? In fact, I think wearing Uniqlo is also quite good!

Dazai Ji has one of the most classic lines in his book, “I’m sorry to say that I was born a human being”. His negativity and decadence is pushed to the extreme.

It was this extreme that made him one of Japan’s top three post-WWII writers. Without him, no one would have known the beauty of this cruelty.

In today’s Japanese culture, we can trace back to Shikibu’s “The Tale of Genji”, which established the beauty of the sorrow of the Yamato people.

Even if you look at some of Osamu Dazai’s works from today’s point of view, they are not outdated at all. I am one of Dazai’s fans!

Moreover, the Yamato nation is a nation that tends to go from one extreme to another. The Meiji Restoration began with **** a complete rejection of everything that was originally Japanese.

Later, but also now this set of aesthetics above the Japanese culture, or a Westerner actively running in Japan, calling for help …… is only to let the Japanese people realize that their own past things are not all bad. Thus, the aspirants only began to save the culture of our people.” Masayoshi Kishimoto spoke eloquently.

“You’re not fooling me, are you?” Fukada Kyouko stared at him with a skeptical gaze, still having a hard time believing what the other party was saying and said.

“What am I fooling you for?” Masayoshi Kishimoto was unable to understand in return, saying.

“The purpose of your self-flagellation is so that I can have a bad negative impact on you in my mind, and then gradually die to you.” Fukada Kyouko said bluntly.

“What’s going on here?” Masayoshi Kishimoto had long since learned about the rich associative abilities of women. They were completely capable of connecting eight different things. He helplessly just shook his head a bit and said.

“Isn’t it? In your heart you know best.” Kyouko Fukada feigned an angry cuteness and said.

“Let’s just get on with the game!” Masayoshi Kishimoto said knowing that once a woman was being disruptive, only he would suffer.

“Don’t. I still want to hear you tell me something about Japanese culture.” Kyoko Fukada blurted out.

“What’s there to tell about that? Let’s just move on to the game.” Masayoshi Kishimoto said as he tried to change the subject.

Fukada Kyouko repeated very insistently, “Speak, speak, speak.”

“Count me as afraid of you. I’ll just speak. Many foreigners, even after living in Japan for many decades, still find it difficult to understand the true inner thoughts of the Japanese people, because the Yamato nation is an extremely introverted nation that does not easily reveal itself.

This mentality is further reinforced by the fact that the Japanese are very xenophobic. If a foreigner wants to understand the reality of the Japanese people, it is not by watching a teenage idol movie.

If you have to watch a movie, it is “Narayama Setsubun”, which won the Palme d’Or at the 36th Cannes Film Festival. It was directed by Shohei Imamura and released in Japan in 1983.

Although he is not well known in the public’s mind, I think this one director is more tasteful. Within your circle, that must be a resounding figure.” Masayoshi Kishimoto methodically said.

“I’ve also seen ‘Narayama Setsubun’ directed by Shohei Imamura. It’s really brutal. However, it is also true to life.

In a small, poor mountain village with a chronic food shortage, what choice can one have? This is one of the best choices in a situation where there is no choice.” Kyoko Fukada said seriously.

“Girls are born and raised until they are a few years old and then they are made to be sold outside. Their fate is nothing more than being reduced to prostitution. If you think that’s all cruel, it’s surprisingly in heaven compared to the boys that are born.

If a baby boy is born, it is usually thrown into the fields to be used as fertilizer. If an old man doesn’t die by the time he reaches the age of 70, then he will also be sent out of the village on the backs of his children and sent to the mountains to wait for their deaths, euphemistically in order to honor the mountain gods.” Masayoshi Kishimoto briefly said the general content inside the movie Narayama Setsubun, saying.

He paused here and then added, “Another literary work that provides a preliminary understanding of the inner reality of the Japanese people is Junichiro Tanizaki’s Rites of Shadows.

It is a work that focuses on writing about buildings, and also reflects part of the Japanese character and inner world from it.

Junichiro Tanizaki is not too famous abroad, not compared to Haruki Murakami, Junichi Watanabe, or Keigo Higashino, but he’s quite famous in Japan.

Of course, his works have a much higher status than the other three in the minds of literary youths, literature lovers, and literary critics.

Otherwise, the Junichiro Tanizaki Literary Award would not have been established. Although this prize is much less famous than the Akutagawa Prize, it is a literary prize that represents the main writers in Japan.

Haruki Murakami’s rise to prominence was due to the fact that he won the award. It wasn’t because his works were twice shortlisted for the Akutagawa Prize and failed. There are many writers who have failed as many as five or six times because of the Akutagawa Prize.”