Chapter 176

The reason for Naoki Nagayama's visit to America, the literary exchange meeting, was held at the New York Library.

The activity nominally called the World Children's Literature Exchange Meeting was actually mostly attended by white people from America and Europe, and it was rare to see authors of other skin colors.

Similar to the award ceremony he attended in Japan, several old men announced this year's Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal winning works again, and invited the two authors to give acceptance speeches, then took photos as a routine, and finally, entered the formal content of the exchange meeting—the salon.

Yes, it wasn't a reading salon; it was more like a social place for New York's upper class, with well-dressed celebrities and noble ladies holding wine glasses and chatting, occasionally expressing their reverence and love for literature,

and the authors were like mascots of the venue, flying around like butterflies between various groups.

Naoki Nagayama basically didn't know anyone here and didn't want to become a literary activist, so he quietly took a stack of snacks alone and found a corner to sit down.

After all, it was under the name of literary exchange, so the works at the event site could be seen everywhere, and the quality was considered top-notch. Naoki Nagayama directly pulled out a book and started reading.

Hmm, "One Hundred Years of Solitude", why would such a profound book appear at a children's literature exchange meeting?

But he didn't dislike it. After all, it was a Nobel Prize-winning work. In his previous life, he didn't have the time and interest to read these classics. In this life, it seemed he could explore the thoughts of literary masters.

With a different skin color and not an extroverted personality, until the end of the activity, no one came to talk to him.

"It's simply like coming for nothing~"

The activity allowed participants to take a book as a souvenir. Naoki Nagayama took "One Hundred Years of Solitude" directly. It was a pity that he didn't meet someone as interesting as Haruki Murakami.

To be honest, the exchange meeting was over, and Naoki Nagayama's reason for coming to New York was over.

After returning to the hotel, he borrowed the hotel's international long-distance phone to call Shuichi Yin Tang to understand the progress of the movie distribution in Japan, so as to determine the time to go back:

"Moshi moshi, this is the Yin Tang family." A tired voice came from the receiver. It was Shuichi Yin Tang himself, no doubt.

"Shuichi-san, this is Naoki Nagayama. Did I disturb your rest?"

"Oh, Naoki-san, no, I haven't slept yet." Shuichi Yin Tang said, "You are in America now, right? How was the exchange activity?"

"Oh oh, it's still morning in New York, the activity is going on~" For some reason, Naoki Nagayama didn't say the first time that the activity was over, "Shuichi-san, the movie has been released, right?"

"Not yet, it's expected to premiere officially the day after tomorrow. These two days have been discussing the screening schedule, drank a lot of wine..." Shuichi Yin Tang yawned, "How is it? Can Shuichi-san make it back?"

"Hahaha~" Naoki Nagayama smiled guiltily, "Maybe I can't make it back. There's going to be a special exchange for foreign authors here later~"

The lie came out without a draft. In order to openly avoid the promotional activities, Naoki Nagayama found a reason in an instant.

"It doesn't matter, Shuichi-san and Otomo-san can handle the premiere and so on! I believe in you!"

"Ai... without Naoki-san, there's still a lack of confidence." Shuichi Yin Tang didn't doubt Naoki Nagayama's words at all, "But we will try our best to do it well."

"Hai! Thank you for your hard work."

After hanging up the phone, Naoki Nagayama felt a trace of guilt. Yoshimura Otomo and Shuichi Yin Tang were busy to death in the country, while he was carefree in America. It was really too inappropriate.

Must buy more gifts to bring back to them!

After building his psychological construction, he called home again, wanting to ask his mother and Tsuruko what gifts they wanted, and if it was clothes, what style, etc.

"Moshi moshi, this is the Nagayama family." At this time, it should be the time when the whole family was watching TV in the living room. Tsuruko answered the phone.

"Tsuruko-chan, it's me."

"Nii-chan! Are you in America?"

"Uh... of course I am."

"Is it daytime there, right?"

"Yes, it's noon here."

"Is it very cold there in New York?"

"Yes, it's still below zero in New York now~" Naoki Nagayama interrupted Tsuruko's ten thousand whys, "Tsuruko, how is Eitaro?"

"Eitaro is of course doing great! Isn't that right? Eitaro?"

As she spoke, he heard the sound of "ying ying ying" from the receiver. Naoki Nagayama could only say silently in his heart: "Hold on, Eitaro, I'll pick you up when I get back."

"Hai hai, as long as he's not uncomfortable. Tsuruko, I called to ask, what kind of gift do you want? I went to a clothing store before, and the clerk there said that if you buy clothes for women, it's best to ask for their own opinions."

"Gift? Service?" Tsuruko's voice became excited immediately, "I want the trendiest style!"

"... what exactly do you want? The clothes here should all be the trendiest."

"Uh... then..." Nagayama Tsuruko clearly hadn't thought it through and handed the receiver directly to her mother, "Kaa-san, you tell him what kind of style."

The voice on the receiver changed to Nagayama Nanako: "Naoki, is the activity in New York going smoothly? Are you having any trouble adjusting to the environment?"

"Hai, the activity has been completed smoothly, and my body is also very good." Mother still cares about the child's body, unlike Tsuruko who doesn't care at all, "Kaa-san, if I want to buy clothes, what kind should I buy?"

"Naoki, if it's clothes... forget it~" Nagayama Nanako hesitated, clearly not liking his aesthetics, "Or just buy a simple coat or some cheaper local specialties."

"Uh... alright~" Naoki Nagayama, who heard the dislike, was a bit sad, "Then I'll buy it according to this~"

"When is Naoki coming back?"

"Probably in a week or two, I still want to stroll around in America~"

"Then pay attention to safety~" Nanako added another sentence, "Haha, Tsuruko said to buy more local specialties."

"Hai hai~"

Naoki Nagayama, who hung up the phone, thought about the subsequent itinerary. He was delayed by the little thugs yesterday, and many attractions hadn't been seen yet.

The Statue of Liberty must be visited, the Empire State Building and the Twin Towers can also be photographed, the Brooklyn Bridge must be walked, and the Broadway performance must also be watched...

After calculating this, there were quite a few places to go, and it was best not to run into little thugs this time~

He had lunch at the hotel, and when he went out, he took a taxi to the Statue of Liberty.

This afternoon, Naoki Nagayama completely treated himself as a tourist who had just arrived. Although he had been to most of these attractions in his previous life, the scenery decades ago was completely different from what it looked like later, not to mention that the Twin Towers no longer existed in later generations.

Photo + photo + photo, Naoki Nagayama was glad that he brought several spare rolls of film, otherwise today's itinerary wouldn't be completed.

The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of America. After taking a cruise ship over, you can find that the appearance of the statue has turned green, but the inside is still the original color of copper. From the elevator at the bottom of the copper statue, you can go directly to the top of the base, and then walk along the 171-step spiral staircase inside the statue to the crown at the top.

Naoki Nagayama looked out at the distant sea and Manhattan city area from the small window at the top of the crown, feeling as if the whole of New York was under his view.

You can take an elevator to the Empire State Building. From the observation deck on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, you can overlook New York City 360 degrees. There are also fixed binoculars, and the scenery is very good.

As for the Twin Towers, he really just looked at them from a distance. It's better not to go up.

The taxi carried Naoki Nagayama dangling on the Brooklyn Bridge. After he had his fill, he came to Fifth Avenue and started shopping~

"If you don't want clothes, then buy bags, it will definitely not be wrong."

Naoki Nagayama is now considered a rich man. Following the principle of "only buy expensive, not buy right," he bought a new Hermes bag for his mother, and then bought Chanel perfume for Tsuruko. After all, she is still in school and can't use bags~

For his father and eldest brother, two people who basically don't follow trends, he could only buy some carved crafts and professional sea fishing equipment.

High-end stores here of course also support home delivery, and all left the address of the Central Plaza Hotel.

The Broadway performance wouldn't start until past 7 o'clock, and there was still a gap of an hour or two. Naoki Nagayama strolled on the streets of Manhattan.

Suddenly, he saw a young man with a hood and a bag in a small alley. He crouched down, took out a spray can, and started graffiti on the wall.

Free reading on Yanqing Novel Bar

Another street artist? Naoki Nagayama walked closer and called out in a low voice: "Basquiat?"

The young man raised his head. He was a white man, and the kind with a very bad temper. Seeing Naoki Nagayama's appearance, he raised the spray can aggressively: "Get out, don't be nosy!"

Naoki Nagayama shrugged. In New York, you will always run into unfriendly people, and you will also meet kind people. This is the inclusiveness of an international metropolis.

"OK, I'm leaving, I'm leaving~"

Naoki Nagayama raised his hands slightly and retreated backward.

Perhaps this posture looked very much like being robbed, the patrol police on Fifth Avenue in the distance saw it, immediately blew the police whistle, and ran over.

After the white young man discovered it, he shouted: "Shit!"

Threw down his things and took off running.

The police were originally running over slowly, but once the white young man ran, it started to become a chase.

Watching the two pairs of long legs disappear in front of his eyes not long after, Naoki Nagayama couldn't help but praise: "These two can go to the Olympics! If the little thugs yesterday had two-thirds of their level, I might not have been able to run away."

But Naoki Nagayama looked back and saw the bag of spray cans left by the young man. By some strange coincidence, he took a few cans, black, white, and red, and stuffed them into the inner pocket of his trench coat.

Sure enough, it was a trench coat that you couldn't see even if you put an assault rifle in it, and it didn't deform at all.

In these two hours, Naoki Nagayama walked along Fifth Avenue toward Broadway. When he encountered a place with graffiti, he would stop slightly, pretending to appreciate it.

However, when no one was around, he immediately sprayed all kinds of stick figures on the blank space next to it, all added with the iconic "Surprise!!! Motherfu*ker!!!"

This exciting feeling was like being addicted. No wonder so many street artists couldn't forget graffiti, even if they risked being chased by the police, they had to draw it.

By the time he reached the Broadway theater, the spray cans had long been used up. Naoki Nagayama didn't remember how many stick figures he had drawn, but anyway, he felt a sense of relief in his heart.

The Broadway theater at night was performing the musical "Cats". From the theater's poster, it could be seen that this was the first time this musical was released in New York.

Naoki Nagayama held the ticket stub in his hand. Ha, this is a ticket with commemorative significance~

The interlude "Memory" in the musical is said to be a song improvised by the musical creator Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Improvised creation, actually able to have such a level, this is the real genius~

With the end of the Broadway musical, Naoki Nagayama also returned to the hotel.

At this time, returning to Japan is not possible. No matter what, he has to wait until the promotional activities are almost done.

He was eating his midnight snack in the Palm Court, flipping through the American travel guide, preparing to go to other places to visit.

A few days later, Basquiat, who was creating in the studio, saw Andy Warhol walk in and put down his painting tools.

"Andy, my brother, why are you here?" Basquiat gave him a warm hug. Andy Warhol could be said to be his mentor and friend, a noble person in his career.

"Nothing, just came to see you~" Andy Warhol looked at the paintings in the studio, which were still bright and colorful, containing profound thoughts.

"Jean, do you know that a stick figure has appeared on the street?" Andy Warhol lit a cigarette and leaned against the windowsill, saying casually, "A guy shouting 'Surprise!!! Motherfu*ker' everywhere."

"? Stick figure? Motherfu*ker" He had been in the studio for the past few days and didn't know much about the outside world, "William?"

"Oh, do you know him?" Andy Warhol said with a smile, "No wonder even your 'gallery' has his graffiti."

"A friend I haven't known for long."

If Andy Warhol hadn't mentioned it, after spending ten days or half a month in the studio, maybe he would have forgotten this friend he had only seen for one afternoon.

"What's wrong with him?"

"His stick figure is on fire." Andy Warhol said with a smile, "Now from Fifth Avenue to Mudd Club, you can see his stick figures everywhere. Street graffiti artists have also started to imitate his style."

"???"

Basquiat was a bit surprised. Clearly, this guy was just a beginner, and his first graffiti work was completed under his own nose.

"The artistic content of the stick figure is not high, how could it be on fire?"

"That demonic line and simple painting style satisfied the emotions of young people in New York and people disappointed with reality, and grasped the rhythm of the era."

In this economic downturn of 1982, everyone had a fire in their hearts, and this stick figure cursed it out on behalf of everyone.

Andy Warhol asked: "Can you introduce us to meet? I want to see what kind of guy this is."

Basquiat was speechless: "I don't have his contact information..."

"?"

"Just a friend I've only seen once." Basquiat said, "He is a Japanese, just here for tourism. Oh oh, he is also an author, model, and actor, and he looks very handsome!"

This time it was Andy Warhol's turn to be speechless: "What's the use of me knowing this... In short, I can't contact him, so let's talk about it when there is a chance later."

Basquiat smiled: "The stick figure who appeared and disappeared mysteriously, too cool. Next time I see him, I must talk to him properly."