Chapter 128: Speaking Up for the Weak

"Is it for the sake of society?!"

Hearing Akiwara Yuto's explanation, Sakaguchi Keito was immediately intrigued.

Those in the news business, especially those with quotas for newspaper volume, most desire interviewees who make startling remarks.

Because only then can the resulting article attract more attention from readers, and thus sell better!

Sakaguchi Keito picked up his pen and looked at Akiwara Yuto earnestly.

Akiwara Yuto organized his thoughts and continued to explain (or rather, bluff): "Yes, the reason I created this work is my dissatisfaction with the current state of Japanese society, especially the deep-rooted solidification of social classes!"

After finishing this sentence, he took a sip of tea and continued: "The son of a rich man remains a rich man, the son of a politician remains a politician; children of ordinary people often have to put in much more effort than children from those two types of families just to get ahead."

He paused, and with a more "heart-wrenching" tone, said: "Even so, the opportunities to get ahead are gradually decreasing."

Sakaguchi Keito nodded. He felt this point wasn't explosive enough, so he pressed further: "What do you think is the reason for the decrease?"

"It is the unequal distribution of social resources by the older generation, and the chain reaction that results from it."

Akiwara Yuto paused and asked back: "Reporter Sakaguchi, you should be familiar with the terms 'territory,' 'signboard,' and 'purse,' right?"

Sakaguchi Keito lowered his head to think for a moment, then replied: "Are those the three things regarding politician elections?"

"Yes," Akiwara Yuto replied, "Territory refers to the politician's place of origin, representing connections; signboard refers to the older generation's local cultivation, representing public opinion; and purse refers to political contributions from associated companies, representing funds."

"Under these unfair circumstances, election outcomes often favor the offspring of politicians, which further leads to interest collusion. For ordinary people to successfully get elected locally, they often have to marry into such families or become part of an interest group. If that's the case, how many people can speak up for us ordinary people?"

Everything Akiwara Yuto said was not made up. In his previous life, he had gained a deep understanding of Japanese factional politics through the internet.

In Japan, regarding members of the Diet, bloodline inheritance is highly valued, and they maintain their "pure bloodline" through marriage, adoption, and recognizing godchildren.

Ultimately, Japanese politics, developed through nepotism, has become increasingly factionalized, familial, and rigid.

In such a situation, phenomena like father-son prime ministers, three prime ministers from one family, and four generations of officials are common.

Data shows that the Liberal Democratic Party, which holds the most seats in the Japanese Diet, has 304 members, of whom 124 are hereditary—a hereditary rate of 40. %, while the total hereditary rate of the Diet is as high as 33. %.

Hearing everything Akiwara Yuto said, Sakaguchi Keito couldn't help but sigh; he knew that what Akiwara Yuto said was reality.

Although Hokkaido is the stronghold of over 200, 00 Ainu people, due to Japan's vile hereditary political system and manipulation of votes, there are not many politicians willing to speak up for the Ainu.

So much so that to this day, the government does not recognize the Ainu as the indigenous people of Hokkaido.

This has become another major reason why the Ainu are discriminated against by mainstream Japanese society.

Sakaguchi Keito thought for a moment and asked another question: "Akiwara-sensei, is your work, *Death of a Mystery Novelist*, created because of your dissatisfaction with this phenomenon of social class solidification?"

Akiwara Yuto "sighed" and continued to answer: "That's right, Reporter Sakaguchi. You should have already read this work, right?"

Sakaguchi Keito nodded, indicating he had read it.

Akiwara Yuto continued: "Then think carefully: if the next generation of the mystery novelist didn't have the support of the mystery novelist, and were penniless, which one of them could rely on themselves to achieve class mobility?"

Sakaguchi Keito began to think: the eldest daughter borrowed one hundred million yen from her father? The eldest son-in-law relied entirely on his father-in-law for copyright agency? The eldest grandson has no career of his own? The other family members all rely on the wealth of their ancestors...

After thinking for a long time, he shook his head.

Seeing that he understood his meaning, Akiwara Yuto continued: "A group of parasites who couldn't stand on their own without their fathers, yet think of themselves as upper-class people and discriminate against the kind and diligent caregiver in every way. Isn't that ironic enough?"

He was silent for a moment, then said again: "This is the current social situation in our Japan. These so-called upper-class people stand in their current positions thanks to their ancestors, yet they think it's their own merit and use it to look down upon the lower-class masses!"

"*Death of a Mystery Novelist* is a work created based on this!"

Hearing these words, Sakaguchi Keito was completely astonished. He hadn't expected Akiwara Yuto's work to have such deep thought. If this was the case, then this work was a masterpiece calling out for the weak!

At this point, Sakaguchi Keito suddenly realized that the questions he had prepared to ask hadn't been used at all; he had been led by the nose by Akiwara Yuto the whole time...

He didn't think for more than two seconds before asking in a serious tone: "Then I would like to ask you, did you set the female lead as an Ainu person because you also considered the phenomenon of the burakumin being heavily discriminated against in Japanese society today?"

Seeing that he had just bluffed this reporter, Akiwara Yuto felt a little smug; after all, he had spent quite some time pondering this narrative.

But after hearing this question from Sakaguchi Keito, Akiwara Yuto couldn't help but be stunned.

Ainu? Burakumin? What the hell?

Originally, he had just been matching the background of the female lead in *Knives Out* being a South American immigrant, and just randomly picked a non-mainstream ethnic group native to Japan to replace it.

But he thought about it and realized he couldn't say that.

In the previous Q&A, he had established a persona as a writer from a poor background who always cared about society. If he expressed now that he had just set the protagonist randomly, it would undoubtedly destroy the image he had just built.

Akiwara Yuto was silent for a moment, then picked up his tea and took a sip. Using this time, he quickly recalled information about the burakumin in his mind.

The burakumin are an unspeakable class in Japan, at the bottom of the social pyramid, and were once contemptuously called "eta" and "hinin" by the mainstream society. (Highly insulting terms, similar to India's untouchables.)

These burakumin are actually funeral workers, butchers, or leather workers, as well as ethnic minorities in Japan, such as the Ainu and Ryukyuans.

Under the exclusion of mainstream Japanese society, the descendants of burakumin usually find it difficult to enter good schools and universities, are not hired by good companies after graduation, and daughters of ordinary families would not want to marry them.

If they are unfortunately involved in a criminal case, they are often directly labeled as criminals, and even if they are wronged, society will not show sympathy (for example, there were related cases in 1963).

However, the burakumin do make up one-thirtieth of Japan's total population, so it would be better to show some support.

If he did this, he could further shape his image as someone who cares for the weak, and besides that, he could also gain the support of these burakumin.

More importantly, in order to improve its international image, the Japanese government will further improve the political status of the Ainu and burakumin in the future. And in mainstream society, more voices will emerge to support them.

Akiwara Yuto weighed the pros and cons and decided to admit to this narrative: "Yes, I set the female lead as an Ainu person because I am also dissatisfied with the mainstream society's discrimination against the burakumin."

"I believe that all companies and schools should no longer stick to their own opinions and discriminate against the burakumin; furthermore, the government should also legislate to protect the interests of the burakumin."

"This society should not be about the law of the jungle, but about protecting the weak while ensuring existing fairness!"

"This is my professional integrity as a writer, and it is also the original intention for writing *Death of a Mystery Novelist*."

Hearing these righteous words from Akiwara Yuto, Sakaguchi Keito showed a satisfied expression.

Very good, his goal for today's interview had been achieved!

Now he had to write a good article!