My Years as a Copyist in Taiwan

With the release of "Norwegian Wood," Shuji Fujino thought he had a good understanding of the book. The initial print run was 30,000 copies, and his sights were set on 500,000 to 600,000 copies in the short term and 1.5 million copies in the long term. This exceeded his expectations for "Love Letter."

As a result, both he and Kodansha severely underestimated the novel's popularity. The first print run sold out almost instantly, mainly due to the limited number of sample copies that leaked out, which fueled the book's pre-release hype to an almost explosive level.

Printing plants were working overnight to keep up with the buying frenzy throughout Tokyo, let alone cities outside of Tokyo.

In just 48 hours, the two printing plants printed an additional 115,000 copies, which were immediately snapped up by people who had been queuing overnight.

Tramways, cafes, and school benches are filled with people of all ages engrossed in reading.

The Shanghai translation of this book is 20.8 words. Those who received the book on the 1st could finish reading it by dawn, and even busy office workers could read the whole book in two days.

Once the news of Mr. Snail's check-in at the Imperial Hotel spread, a large number of book fans who had finished reading the novel headed in that direction after dinner.

This caused the crowd outside the Imperial Hotel to grow larger and larger. There were already one or two thousand people, and most of them had joined the crowd coming from the airport. The influx of people arriving later was likely to be even greater, and traffic on the entire street was completely paralyzed.

When the officers from the local police station arrived at the scene, they were horrified by the massive crowd—they realized with despair that this might be the first spontaneous gathering of people in history!

Even when Marilyn Monroe visited 30 years ago, there wasn't such a frenzied scene.

The 40-strong march in Tokyo three months ago was not a gathering, but a disciplined march.

This gathering of tens of thousands of people could lead to a major incident!

Meanwhile, newspaper supplements and evening editions were already on sale, which caused many book lovers who had only come to join in the fun to have even more emotional reactions.

Yomiuri Shimbun —

The sole heir of the Konoe family suffered a relapse of his old illness during the recent airport reception...

[Tokyo Special Report]

A Gentle Touch Through the Crowd: Haneda Airport Witnesses the Resonance of Thousands for "Norwegian Wood"

On September 3rd, the arrival of overseas Chinese writer Zhao Wen (Mr. Snail) at Tokyo's Haneda Airport sparked the largest-ever wave of enthusiasm among literary figures at the airport in Tokyo...

[Asahi Shimbun] Reporter's original words during the interview:

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi and Mr. Snail chatted together at the same table!

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's evaluation of Mr. Snail—

Mr. Snail's writing, with its delicate touch and empathy, is the most moving I've ever read. I'm his most loyal reader, but I want to apologize to Mr. Snail here, because I also received a copy of one of those leaked sample copies of *Norwegian Wood*...

Yes, this "gathering," whose ending is uncertain, has been further fueled by someone—Tetsuko Kuroyanagi!

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, author of "Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window," published by Kodansha.

In terms of national recognition and the number of fans, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi is now on par with the currently popular Mr. Snail.

However, most of her readers are housewives with very stable emotions, while Mr. Snail's readers are quite different. They receive tons of emotional stimulation, which led to tonight's mass gathering.

The popularity of "Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window" shows no signs of waning. In just over a year since its release, it has sold more than five million copies in Japan, firmly holding the top spot on the national bestseller list. Although "Love Letter" has sold more than one million copies thanks to a baseball player's unintentional endorsement, it can only come in second place.

The book "Totto-chan" alone brought Tetsuko Kuroyanagi 720 million yen in royalties, which translates to over 120 million New Taiwan Dollars. This is the state of the Japanese arts and literature market today—how can it not make one uneasy...?

Zhao Wen and Deng Ge sat quietly by the floor-to-ceiling window of the Imperial Hotel, looking at the huge crowd below. He knew very well why readers' support for him was even more enthusiastic when "Norwegian Wood" had only just been released and "Totto-chan" had been on the market for more than a year.

To sum it up in four words: different tracks. It's like in his past life he was earning 10,000 yuan a day for fanfiction and living on a meager monthly allowance of instant noodles, while in real life, a powerful figure earning the same amount was living a life of luxury...

Moreover, the Easter eggs he planted in the book may have already spread by now—

The book "Norwegian Wood" contains many heartwarming scenes, such as Watanabe's dormitory roommates occasionally pulling together a few boys from the same dormitory to cook simple meals, creating a relaxed and lively atmosphere full of everyday life.

When Lingzi was young, she and six or seven classmates would sit together in the music room, playing guitar and singing old songs, creating a relaxed and happy group scene.

He incorporated these scenes into... no, into a game.

Just yesterday, Jin Teshu, a civil engineering student at National Taiwan University who bought the book, pointed at "Norwegian Wood" around 9 PM and asked with a look of curiosity, "Have you ever heard of this kind of game before? The murder mystery game?"

"I've played marbles and pinball since I was a kid, and I've never seen this kind of game before. Do you think... Mr. Snail might have planted another Easter egg? Just like that song 'How Does the Fox Say?'" The boy sleeping on the top bunk scratched his head and said, as he was lying on top reading a book with Jin Teshu.

Upon hearing this, everyone in the dormitory fell silent. The more they thought about it, the more they realized it made sense—Mr. Snail's books never contained useless digressions. This was such a long plot, with the rules clearly laid out, even specifying what to do in a tie and how to leave a last message. It couldn't possibly be just some random filler plot.

"Let's give it a try." Jin Teshu put the book down. "There are six of us. Whale, go next door and call two people over. Tell them we've discovered Mr. Snail's secret! I'll be the referee, and we'll play a game according to the rules in the book."

I was completely overwhelmed in the first game.

Some couldn't resist peeking, some forgot to close their eyes, and some even rushed to speak after being killed. They flipped through the book to check the rules more often than they played the game.

But after the first round, everyone was in a frenzy – it was tense, exciting, and required both logic and acting skills. Most importantly, they were the first to discover the Easter egg!

They were complete beginners, and after much back and forth, the first round took almost an hour. The second round immediately followed, and this one was incredibly enjoyable. Every college student was a master of verbal sparring, their arguments flowing like a torrent, and the drama queen even felt that Mr. Snail had opened a new door for him...

"That guy next door, what was his name? He was hiding it so well, I didn't suspect him at all the time."

"How dare you say that? You voted me out first in the very first round, even though I was just a civilian!"

"Stop talking, it's two o'clock. The ceremony is tomorrow, go to sleep..."

So when Zhao Wen thought someone had discovered the Easter egg, it had already been found in Taiwan and Japan, and was quickly spreading throughout society.

While he closed his eyes to sleep at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, countless book fans were playing "When Darkness Falls..."