This director lacks vision.

Chapter 301 Jiang Yifeng: Do I need your little bit of money?

After introducing the three beauties, Hu Qian added, "This beautiful girl is named Hamabe Minami, and she plays Ayako, the missing daughter of the male lead, Miyamoto."

As Hu Qian introduced them, a girl of about twelve or thirteen years old timidly greeted Jiang Yifeng.

Minami Hamabe entered the entertainment industry after participating in Toho's "Cinderella Contest" at the age of 10.

Although she is only 12 years old this year, she has already acted in many films and television dramas.

This is quite normal in the Japanese entertainment industry.

Japanese female celebrities debut very early. If a female celebrity is not famous by the age of eighteen, it can only be said that she is a late bloomer.

Unlike the Chinese entertainment industry, where many women in their thirties are called "little flowers" and there are very few channels for them to get in touch with the locals.

When it comes to idol worship, the Japanese definitely live a much better life than the Chinese.

Liu Yifei's Anxi, Hamabe Minami's Ayako, Ayase Haruka's Asami, Miyoshi Ayaka's Chinatsu, and Ikeda Elaiza's Mika are the five beauties in Hunting 2.

Besides, there are several important female characters in Hunting 2, but they have rather fierce appearances, typical of a certain Seoul character.

As for the male actors, the male lead, Miyamoto, is played by Masato Sakai.

This actor just finished filming "Hanzawa Naoki" and seamlessly transitioned into the filming of "Hunting 2".

In July of this year, Hanzawa Naoki will be broadcast in Japan, and Masato Sakai will rise to the top of the Japanese entertainment industry with this drama.

However, Hu Qian's choice of Sakai Masato was not prescient; rather, it was because his age and image matched the role well, and his acting skills were also excellent.

In addition, actors of different ages, including Hiroshi Abe, Sota Fukushi, Atsushi Ito, and Ryuki Yoshioka, also participated in the film.

There were also several white actors from Europe and America.

On his first day on set, Jiang Yifeng first got to know the main cast and crew.

Everyone respected Jiang Yifeng greatly and almost always obeyed his every word.

Japanese society is strictly hierarchical. Behind the so-called "sushi master" lies not only marketing but also a reflection of the fixed social class across generations, with one generation after another making sushi.

This phenomenon is even more serious in the entertainment industry.

Kitagawa's perverse tastes are an open secret in Japan, but everyone turns a blind eye.

The saying goes, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," meaning you can't be too polite with the Japanese.

Therefore, after Jiang Yifeng joined the crew, he put on a lot of airs as a big director, which actually made the crew run more smoothly.

On his first day on set, Jiang Yifeng immediately started overseeing the makeup and costume design.

While set design is important in urban dramas, makeup and costumes are even more crucial.

Jiang Yifeng looked at Atsushi Ito's clothes and shook his head, saying, "This won't do. The colors are too bright and don't suit Ueda Takaya's image."

Your outfit is always the same: a gray T-shirt with brown trousers, black-rimmed glasses, and your shoulder-length hair looks like it hasn't been styled in ages. You seem rather listless and颓废 (颓废 is a difficult word to translate directly, but it conveys a sense of listlessness, apathy, and apathy).

Atsushi Ito plays Ueda Takaya, whose character is based on the Japanese hero, Japan's number one male gunner.

This character lives at the very bottom of the social ladder in Japan. After experiencing a series of setbacks, he finally makes his own weapon and assassinates the biggest boss in the series, a high-ranking politician played by Hiroshi Abe.

Jiang Yifeng filmed Hunting 2 to indulge in a more daring experience, so of course he wanted to go deeper into the subject.

Americans have done this kind of thing quite a lot.

They frequently travel to Japan and Korea to film movies and TV series with extremely explicit content.

For example, a Netflix series filmed in Japan in 2022 was directly titled Tokyo Sin, which tells the story of a white man working in the news industry in Japan and the series of sinful issues he encounters.

If the content is too explicit and NHK has to cut it out, Jiang Yifeng can make a full version and put it on Netflix or YouTube.

We can also try searching for domestic video search engines at that time.

Anyway, the review process is relatively lenient now; if there are any problems, they can just be taken down.

After Jiang Yifeng joined the crew, he spent three more days preparing.

Filming for the second season of The Hunt officially began on January 10th.

Jiang Yifeng's plan is to finish filming in about a month, then go to Hokkaido, Japan to play in the snow, soak in hot springs, and relax before returning to China in mid-to-late February.

To speed things up, the production team's workload was quite high.

We often film night scenes until two or three in the morning.

Fortunately, the Japanese artists adapted well to this high-intensity work pace, and everyone cooperated well, so the filming went relatively smoothly.

By January 30th, Hunting 2 had filmed its sixth case, and it was expected to finish filming in another week, with the overall filming period taking about 1 to 6 days.

However, many Japanese actors and even staff members on set had their own doubts.

They felt that Jiang Yifeng was filming too fast and were worried about the quality of Hunting 2.

The first season of The Hunt was incredibly popular in Japan; calling it a national phenomenon wouldn't be an exaggeration.

This collaboration between Jiang Yifeng and NHK to film "Hunting 2" is a huge opportunity for these Japanese actors.

They worked so hard to get these roles, so naturally they hope that Hunting 2 will be a success, so that everyone can gain more attention through this drama and take their careers to the next level.

NHK shares this view.

They hope that Hunt 2 will be a good film and surpass Hunt 1 in performance, so that they can not only make a profit, but also realize the "COOL JAPAN" strategy and have a good time to brag.

Therefore, these Japanese people care more about the quality of Hunting 2 than Jiang Yifeng does.

But Jiang Yifeng's filming speed was too fast, which made them lose confidence.

It's worth noting that in Japan, the filming time for a high-quality TV series is usually more than three months.

The reason for this is that Japanese actors are paid relatively low salaries, allowing for longer filming periods without significantly increasing costs.

It's unbelievable to the Japanese that someone like Jiang Yifeng could film a 15-episode TV series in just 30 days.

Of course, they would have doubts in their hearts.

However, on the surface, these people were all very obedient, flattering Jiang Yifeng every day and doing their jobs diligently.

The atmosphere on set was harmonious, and Jiang Yifeng was unaware that he was being questioned.

This is the hypocrisy of Japanese culture.

Actually, if someone brings this up and everyone talks about it, it can be resolved quickly.

But no one dared to say it.

However, once doubts arise in one's heart, one cannot help but complain to someone.

Ryo Yamada, the producer sent to the production team by NHK, poured out his grievances while drinking with others.

"I think we've been tricked by Jiang Yifeng. He came to Japan to film the second season of The Hunt just to make money."

The production cost 10 billion Japanese yen (equivalent to 7300 million Chinese yuan), and half of that money was used to hire Jiang Yifeng.

In addition to such a high director's fee, he also receives a share of the profits.

However, the filming of this drama was too fast; only 20 days have passed, and it's about to wrap up.

Can the quality of the TV series be guaranteed at this shooting speed?

"He's obviously here in Japan to make money!" Yamada Ryo's words at the dinner table were recorded and uploaded online.

This incident quickly caused a huge uproar on the Japanese internet.

When the crew wrapped up filming on the evening of January 31, hashtags such as "Jiang Yifeng makes money" and "Hunting filmed in 20 days" had become trending topics on the Japanese internet, topping the trending charts on Twitter and Yahoo! Japan.

Many Japanese people criticized Jiang Yifeng for being unprofessional and failing to live up to their expectations.

Despite having some fans in Japan and being adored wherever he goes, Jiang Yifeng also has many Japanese who dislike him.

Once these people seized the opportunity, they started stirring up trouble online.

After learning about the situation, Jiang Yifeng posted a message on Twitter.

"It only took me about a month to film the first season of Stranger Things."

I earned over 10 billion US dollars from this show!
Hastings is still begging me to hurry up and film the second season of Stranger Things, and he'll let me name my director's fee.

I kept saying I didn't have time because I had promised NHK that I would collaborate with them on filming Hunting 2.

Now some people are actually saying that I went to Japan to film Hunting 2 in order to make money?
This is hilarious.

Do you think I need your little bit of money? You're such a bumpkin, you've never seen anything like it!

Jiang Yifeng's tweet immediately went viral and attracted the attention of Western media and netizens.

Hastings immediately retweeted Jiang Yifeng's tweet and commented: "Jiang, I told you you shouldn't have wasted your time filming in Japan. The people there don't know how to be grateful."

Stop hunting now and start filming Stranger Things Season 2!

We will treat you with the highest honors!

Besides Hastings, European and American netizens are also mocking Japan.

"Here's a little-known fact: Jiang's current wealth exceeds 60 billion US dollars, ranking him 176th on the Forbes Global Billionaires List."

"A young billionaire on the Forbes rich list, instead of indulging in a life of luxury, went to Japan to make movies for the Japanese. The Japanese didn't even know how to be grateful and even slandered Jiang for trying to make money. It really made me laugh!"

"The Japanese are so hypocritical. They are polite on the surface, but they are secretly causing trouble."

"The Japanese are really narrow-minded. How could they possibly have the idea of ​​Jiang trying to make money? They're so stupid!"

"Given Jiang's time value, he could have earned far more by spending a month on other things than by filming Hunting 2 in Japan. Even a child knows this, but the idiots in Japan just don't get it."

……

What was originally a hot topic on the Japanese internet suddenly spread to other countries and regions after Jiang Yifeng's counterattack.

The mockery from Europeans and Americans was mild; the Koreans were truly ruthless, launching all sorts of ridicule and attacks, leaving the Japanese humiliated.

On the Korean forum, someone even started a petition inviting Jiang Yifeng to go to Korea to film "Hunting 2".
"The Japanese don't understand etiquette at all; they still have a wild dog culture at their core."

We are different from Goryeo. Jiang Yifeng himself has Goryeo blood, so he should go back to our great Goryeo to film.

"The Hunt 2 should have been filmed in Korea!"

Soon, the news spread to the Chinese internet.

At other times, there would definitely be many lackeys on the Chinese internet speaking up for the Japanese, such as Luo Taijun.

But today is different.

The hottest topic in China today is Zhuo Wei's exposure of Dong Jie and Wang Dazhi's passionate kiss.

Last October, Dong Jie made a series of malicious accusations against Pan Yueming, which ruined Pan Yueming's reputation. Wang Dazhi even followed suit, playing the good guy and posting numerous Weibo messages.

Now that the truth has come out, netizens have naturally begun to settle scores.

Not only was Dong Jie subjected to a barrage of criticism, but Wang Dazhi's previous Weibo posts were also dug up and used against him, sparking widespread ridicule.

In this context, the quality of "The Hunt" has risen once again!
While everyone is praising Jiang Yifeng's hunting, there are questions being raised about Jiang Yifeng and "Hunting 2" in Japan. The vast majority of Chinese netizens support Jiang Yifeng and are fiercely criticizing the Japanese.

Even Madam Luo wisely backed down, saying that it was all a misunderstanding.

Japan has become a laughing stock, losing face in front of the whole world.

After being dealt a heavy blow by Jiang Yifeng's counterattack, the Japanese quickly submitted.

That very night, many Japanese began to reflect and apologize.

The following morning, NHK held a press conference where producer Ryo Yamada resigned and publicly apologized to Jiang Yifeng, stating that it was all his own drunken slip of the tongue and did not represent the sentiments of the Japanese people, who still welcomed Jiang Yifeng.

In addition, Saburo Hojo, the vice president of NHK, also went to the hunting crew to apologize to Jiang Yifeng.

After making a series of assurances, Saburo Hojo also said privately, "Ei-san, are you free tonight? We have prepared an apology gift for you as a token of our remorse."

Jiang Yifeng was not angry.

When collaborating anywhere, unexpected events and frictions will always occur.

Jiang Yifeng had the upper hand in this matter, making the Japanese lose face, so there was no need to delve into it further.

As for stopping cooperation with NHK, that's even less necessary.

So he said, "There's no need for an apology gift. I'd better hurry up and finish filming this drama."

“Yes, yes, Mr. Jiang, your time is very precious!” Saburo Hojo said, “It’s just that the leading actresses in the crew all admire you. Haruka Ayase, Ayaka Miyoshi, Elaiza Ikeda, and even Minami Hamabe all want to receive your guidance up close.”

NHK's mismanagement has caused problems, and they're trying to apologize by using beautiful women.

But what Hojo Saburo said was really a bit perverted.

Jiang Yifeng shook his head and said, "Then there's no need."

Jiang Yifeng can have his way with women anytime, and he won't accept any arrangements, especially since this is abroad.

If there's anything fishy going on, it will be very troublesome.

After all, even Dong Ge (Liu Qiangdong) has fallen.

"If there's nothing else, you can go now. Don't disturb my filming."

Seeing that Jiang Yifeng had given them the order to leave, Hojo Saburo and the others had no choice but to depart.

Jiang Yifeng continued filming, and this time the Japanese crew members were even more respectful and obedient.

But Jiang Yifeng didn't care at all.

As long as the crew and actors are dedicated and hardworking, and can make good filming, that's fine.

In Jiang Yifeng's eyes, these were all just tools in his creation.

Unless there's a problem with the tool, it's not worth spending too much time paying attention to it.

He came to Japan to film The Hunt 2 simply because he couldn't continue filming in China, and Japan was the most suitable place.

Moreover, although this incident has sparked controversy, it has also increased Jiang Yifeng's popularity in Japan, and made the drama "Hunting" known to more people.

Even many viewers in Europe and America have become interested in the show and have subscribed to it on YouTube.

Hastings also contacted Jiang Yifeng, wanting to buy out the streaming rights for the show "The Hunt" in Europe and America.

The only pity is that John Wick has already finished its run in Japan, so it missed out on this wave of popularity.

(End of this chapter)