Tokyo: The life of a literary giant begins with home self-defense!

Chapter 179: The Eagle Family
With the bright light in the cooking room, Ryukawa Toru looked at the woman named Ruriko again.

The woman had an outspoken look and was dressed in a rather neutral style. She did not sit there as gently or gracefully as other women. She crossed her legs, had a frivolous and unfocused look in her eyes, and the short hair on both sides of her face made her look a little neat.

"has a problem?"

The woman smiled, her narrow eyes giving people a sense of oppression.

"Ryukawa Tetsu!"

Seeing the boy opening his mouth to refute, Takeda Shinki on the other side lowered her voice to remind him, "Ruriko's residence is in Takagi Muromachi, and the Takagi family is also a member of the Komeito Party and the Restoration Party."

Before the executive master finished speaking, Ruriko put her hand on the woman's shoulder with a smile.

Takeda Maki is a germaphobe and doesn't like being touched by others. Longchuan Che frowned when he saw her and didn't continue talking.

Komeito and Restoration Party.
Longchuan Toru raised his eyebrows. Japan is a multi-party country, so those big families who want to seize power will control those party factions.

The Komeito Party and the Restoration Party are among the top ten political parties in Japan.

So the Takagi family is behind the Komeito Party and the Restoration Party?
Japanese politics is so twisted and complicated. On the surface, there are various party struggles and factions, and behind the scenes, there are also many old noble families watching covetously.

The nobles control the political parties, and the political parties control Japan today. The relationships are complicated and the balance in between is delicate.

Longchuan Che picked up the wine glass and took a sip.

Takagi-Muromachi was the historical residence of the head of the Takagi family. Takeda Maki wanted to remind him that this woman was the heir to the Takagi family and one of the power holders.

"Why don't you speak?"

Ruriko seemed a little dissatisfied with Ryukawa Toru's sudden interruption, and looked at him jokingly with her face propped up.

"Shouldn't scholars have strong character?"

"You want to hear it?"

Ryukawa Tetsu looked at her curiously. He had worked hard to appear in the public eye with the Youth Award and had also gained the initiative from the Ministry of Education, but he didn't want these politicians to jump on his side at any time.

“To talk about the relationship between literature and politics, we must first talk about the word ‘politics’ itself.”

For the first time, Ryukawa Toru expressed his stance on literature and politics.

He is now a representative of young writers nominated by the Ministry of Education, and can say whatever he wants.

"From a conceptual perspective, the reason why people understand the relationship between literature and politics negatively is that politics is usually understood narrowly - it is only seen as a "struggle" for "power for power's sake, and rule for rule's sake."

In fact, real politics, in its broadest sense, is, as George Orwell explained, "the desire to push the world in a certain direction, to change other people's ideas about what kind of society they are striving for."

In my opinion, a more accurate statement seems to be: politics is life itself; it contains people’s life aspirations and ideals, which are not only expressed through legislative, judicial and administrative means and institutional construction, but also seen in people’s daily subtle life experiences.

Ryukawa Toru picked up two chopsticks, knocked them together, and placed them in front of Ruriko.

"As a politician, you may think that writers are just whining and expressing their opinions in articles without knowing the difficulties in actually implementing party affairs."

I don't know when the scene turned into a conversation between Ryukawa Toru and Ruriko. Everyone vaguely knew that this woman was of some importance, and only Ryukawa Toru was communicating with her in a confident manner.

Takeda Shinki was a little dazed. She was just a child but she had the courage to talk about the world. In modern times, the monk Hongping raised the status of literati to the highest level and accused the government of harsh and tyrannical rule. Who will lead the literary world in the future? Ryukawa Toru, who is now confronting Ruriko, is probably the most likely person.

While we were chatting here, there was also an exquisite banquet behind the wall.

Different from the relaxed and bright atmosphere of the banquet cuisine, there are four small tables here, where two elderly people, a middle-aged person and a young woman sit.

On the table was Kaiseki cuisine, which is like "a saint wearing coarse clothes but carrying jade in his heart", with three dishes and one soup. The small table for serving the dishes was "orishiki" without table legs.

"I thought the author of Snow Country had 'politically apathetic intentions', but it seems that this is not the case."

The person who was wearing a formal kimono and sitting cross-legged in front of the "Orishiki" and talking was an old man with a peony tattoo on his chest.

The people next door are chatting: 'Politics greatly affects people's lives and moods. Writers, as the most emotionally sensitive and delicate social group, undoubtedly have a richer and stronger psychological reaction to politics.'

Ryukawa Toru's point of view is that literati are the yardstick for correcting society. Takashi Akira frowned and looked at Kujo Fujitaka in front of him.

"Choosing this person, isn't it just like that monk?"

Political views are literary views. Although Ryukawa Tetsu does not engage in class literature, he does not deny the "political nature" and "purposefulness" of literature.

Takagi Akira is one of the heads of the Five Regents, and he is somewhat puzzled by Kujo Fujitaka in front of him.

These nobles and politicians are disgusted by the interference of scholars in politics and the country, and they still believe in the "family rule". They don't like what Longchuan Che is saying now.

What they need is a puppet, a mouthpiece, not a thinking tool.

"It was a forced situation at the time."

Kujo Fujitaka smiled faintly, "When the Akutagawa Prize was announced, the young people at the bottom were a bit riotous. You saw it."

Last month's Akutagawa Prize incident brought Japan's youth issues under the public eye. The young people were secretly dissatisfied and rioting, but it was Ryukawa Toru's "Hear the Wind Sing" that slowly calmed them down.

Literary issues can only be resolved through literature. This has become a consensus among many politicians in Japan, where literati are becoming increasingly powerful.

“This bunch of literati.”

Thinking of the group of authors led by Monk Hongping, Takagi Akiyoshi also had a headache. If this had happened a hundred or two hundred years earlier, they would have just dealt with it directly. But now it is an information society and Hongping himself has a special identity.

In the Aum Shinrikyo incident, the old monk almost became the representative of public opinion. He was the one who said to Ryukawa Toru behind him, "On the premise of having sufficient security, writers can choose their own political stance according to their own political will and determine their own political views according to their own political cognition, thus establishing a normal and healthy relationship between literature and politics, that is, an equal and brotherly relationship."

The best practitioner.

“Writers should not avoid politics, but actively participate in it.”

Ryukawa Toru's point of view coincides with that of a monk decades ago, and Takagi Akira's brows became more and more furrowed.

"Never mind that."

Kujo Fujitaka consoled him, "He's just a young man with no background. We should use our resources to support him to become a leader in the literary world. If he doesn't obey, we can just deal with him."

Many people were eyeing Ryukawa Toru's political views. When they heard the old man's words, Natsuko Imamura and Yukawa Imamura twitched their lips.

(End of this chapter)