[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-literary-master-of-tokyo":3,"chapter-literary-master-of-tokyo-literary-master-of-tokyo-chapter-15":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Literary Master of Tokyo",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2354864,4607,"Chapter 15: Changing Tracks","literary-master-of-tokyo-chapter-15",15,"\u003Cp>Sitting at the desk in the living room, Akiwara Yuto held a black fountain pen in his hand, looking at the paper before him, his brow furrowed in thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The house he was currently in was the very \"single-family home\" the agent had recommended to him earlier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After that conversation with Asano Aiko the day before yesterday, he felt he could no longer waste time on trivial matters like house hunting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So, he immediately went to the real estate company and agreed to sign the contract, with the only requirement being that he could move in as soon as possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon hearing this request, the other party was overjoyed; not only did they promise to waive the gift money, but they also immediately arranged for a moving company and a cleaning service.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They not only helped him pack everything up but also replaced the tatami mats and wallpaper in the new home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, he paid for both of these services.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Additionally, before moving, Akiwara Yuto treated the apartment manager to a meal at a yakitori shop to express his gratitude for the time he had spent there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was just that the manager's comment about him getting along well with his girlfriend left him a bit confused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having moved into his new home, Akiwara Yuto felt a sense of relief; after all, this meant he would no longer be bothered by noise or mold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially since cockroaches had appeared a while back—not only were they shiny and black, but they would also fly all over the room, becoming another major reason that forced him to move.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that the move was done and the house was tidied up, it was time to start considering what to do next.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He put down his pen, stood up, and walked over to a cardboard box nearby—this entire box of books was something he had specifically selected at a bookstore; they were books focused on the Japanese literary world, which would help him further understand his current situation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He examined them for a while, pulled out a book, opened it, and began reading carefully, starting to gain a better understanding of the current literary magazine market.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First was the situation with the publishing houses; in this world, besides Mantan-sha, there were also Kejiao-guan and Jingfan-sha, the three of which were known by readers as the \"Big Three\" publishers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beyond these, there was also Dongying-sha; although its circulation was not large, it owned numerous small and medium-sized publishing houses, so it was also called the \"invisible\" fourth-largest publisher by the outside world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These four major publishers all had their own representative literary journals: Mantan-sha’s representative journal was *Tokyo Literature*, with a weekly circulation of 150,000 copies; Kejiao-guan’s representative publication was *April Youth*, with a weekly circulation of 120,000 copies; Jingfan-sha’s representative publication was *Literature’s Spring*, with a weekly circulation of 180,000 copies; and Dongying-sha’s representative work was *Tokyo Youth*, with a weekly circulation of 250,000 copies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this, Akiwara Yuto couldn't help but laugh; the *New Novel* he was currently submitting to had a circulation that was only a fraction of these big magazines, like a small sampan next to an aircraft carrier—humble enough to be pitiable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shook his head, then stood up and took a bag of snacks with a hamster icon from the drawer of a storage box nearby, ate two bamboo-shoot-shaped chocolates to replenish his energy, and returned to the table with the book, pondering carefully as he read.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, the best current option was to accumulate fame after serializing Otsuichi’s *ZOO* in *New Novel*, and then switch to a magazine from a larger publisher.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, *New Novel* had limited sales and a very serious seniority-based culture; it was hard for him not to be affected by the personnel struggles between editors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But from a moral standpoint, he couldn't make such a choice. Because while it would be beneficial for him personally, it would severely impact Asano Aiko’s career prospects.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could not commit such an act of returning kindness with ingratitude.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, the best method currently was to prove the popularity of his work through reader feedback and win a literary award of at least the Gold Prize level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once he reached that stage, the editorial department would have to value him; not only would his future standalone book releases have better promotion and revenue, but Asano Aiko, as his editor-in-charge, would also receive significant benefits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, according to Asano Aiko, because his work wouldn't receive promotion in the early stages, it would start at a disadvantage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the popularity feedback during the serialization remained low, he probably wouldn't even make it into the selection for the Gold Prize.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He put down his pen, feeling a bit of a headache; looking at the current situation, there wasn't much room to maneuver with any of his plans, and he could only wait for the specific popularity feedback after the journal was released.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This feeling of leaving things to fate really made it hard for him to be happy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as he was thinking of giving up, leaning half his body against the back of the chair while spinning the office chair with his feet, he suddenly saw a headline on the cover of a literary magazine on the floor—\"Popular Author Sudo Shuichi Expected to Win the Uemura Prize.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Uemura Prize?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was a bit curious, walked over, and picked up the magazine; it was at this moment that a thought he had considered before suddenly popped into his mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since winning an award within the publishing house could increase my fame and thereby guarantee my interests in the editorial department, wouldn't industry-recognized awards have a better effect than awards within the publishing house?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking of this, he walked back to the cardboard box and began searching through the pile of books for the information he needed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this parallel Japanese world, the highest status in the literary world was the Uemura Prize, established to commemorate an author named Uemura Yukito, and it had been held for 74 consecutive years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to the rules, the Uemura Prize was judged twice a year by a committee composed of several well-known authors who evaluated literary works published in newspapers and magazines; winners received a prize of one million yen and a gold pocket watch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides this award, there were also awards established by various organizations and associations, the most famous of which were the Mystery Writers of Japan Award and the Mystery Literature Newcomer Award established by the Mystery Writers Association.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Below that were the novel awards established within each publishing house, and the Mantan-sha Literature Award was one of them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Akiwara Yuto collected the rules and records for various awards and found that the Uemura Prize was mainly aimed at established, mid-career authors and had nothing to do with him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the Mystery Writers Association’s Mystery Literature Newcomer Award was different; it didn't require the work to be previously published, allowed the winner to choose their own publisher after winning, and held immense prestige in the industry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This meant that if he could win this major award, his bargaining power would see a tremendous improvement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once he reached that step, the *New Novel* editorial department would inevitably tilt promotional resources toward him, or else they would be torn to shreds by the industry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Furthermore, he could publish his award-winning work at Mantan-sha, and inviting Asano Aiko to be the editor-in-charge then would undoubtedly be of great benefit to both parties.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there was still one problem: what kind of work would be appropriate to submit for the competition?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Closing his eyes, he began to recall deeply within his memories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his past life, although he studied East Asian literature, he hadn't read many Japanese mystery novels; he had only read representative works by Seicho Matsumoto, Edogawa Ranpo, Miyuki Miyabe, Keigo Higashino, and others, and he could only recall and write down about a dozen or so.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aside from these, what he could link to mystery were the large number of foreign mystery works he had seen, including novels and films like *Murder on the Orient Express*, *Witness for the Prosecution*, and *The Invisible Guest*; could these be adapted into books suitable for the local Japanese market?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed feasible; after all, he had heard in his past life that a series of films like Agatha Christie’s *Murder on the Orient Express* had been localized in Japan, though he didn't know how the box office had performed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So, which piece should he choose to submit?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time passed day by day; while he was busy ensuring he completed his original manuscript tasks, he also worked hard to study the possibility of localizing foreign mystery works.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wrote many sheets of manuscript paper, only to throw them away directly after finding them unsatisfactory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During this period, he and Asano Aiko held two meetings, and the two of them became more familiar with each other, gaining a further understanding of her personality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When it came to work, Asano Aiko was a dedicated professional, but when it involved her private life, she would become a bit shy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having gone through all this, time finally ticked over to July 5th, '93, ushering in the release date of the new issue of *New Novel*……\u003C\u002Fp>",1549,"2026-06-21T03:58:01.347Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","cf23dd9bcf978e91feb89bd064dfc4dd456ef44d4b3ea03a34f5c07028ff8086","literary-master-of-tokyo-chapter-16","literary-master-of-tokyo-chapter-14",334,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fliterary-master-of-tokyo-cover.jpg"]