Shortlisted for the Naoki Award, there are many "novelists" in the Japanese entertainment industry

Source: Global Times

In recent years, more and more Japanese artists have published novels. According to Japan's "Sankei Shimbun" reported on the 20th, the 164th Wasagawa Prize and the Naoki Prize were promulgated on the 20th, the novelist Usami Rin won the Wasagawa Prize for "Advance, Burn", and the novelist Nishijo Naga won the Naoki Prize for "Misery River". Japanese boy idol group NEWS member Nario Kato's novel "Alternate" was not finally selected, but it received high attention when it was shortlisted for the Naoki Prize.

As one of Japan's two major literary awards, the Wasagawa Prize is based on pure literary works and aims to encourage newcomer writers, and most of the winning works are pure literary novels. The Naoki Prize focuses on popular literary works and aims to recognize those popular literary writers who have published books. Therefore, in Japan, some people refer to the Wasagawa Prize as the "Pure Literary Newcomer Award" and the Naoki Prize as the "Popular Literature Backbone Writer Award". Kato's selection for the Naoki Prize is a young adult novel about the intertwined fates of three high school students in Tokyo. According to Japan's Kyodo News Agency, as of January 8, the circulation of "Alternation" exceeded 100,000 copies. Such high sales are not only due to Kato Seiryo's appeal as an idol artist - Kenzo Kitamura, a judge of this year's Naoki Award and a well-known Japanese novelist, said in an interview on the 20th, "As a young adult novel, Kato writes very well."

In addition to Nario Kato, Japanese artists such as kazumi Takayama, actors Hiroshi Mizushima, Yoshidan Ozuru, Chisato Morishita, Akiyoshi Nakao, host Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, funny artist Naoki Yoshiyoshi, tetsuo Nakanishi and other Japanese artists have published many literary works, some of which have received good responses. For example, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's "Little Bean by the Window" is a bestseller in China and Japan, Hiroshi Mizushima's novel debut "Kagerou" won the 5th POPLAR Club Novel Award in 2010, and Naoki Yoshiyoshi's "Spark" won the 153rd Wasagawa Prize in 2015. The reason why many Japanese artists have entered the field of literature is on the one hand due to their interests and accumulations since childhood. For example, although Kato Entered the Entertainment Circle in Elementary School, he has never given up his love of reading and writing. He is also a graduate of the Faculty of Law of Aoyama Gakuin University, one of the five private universities in Tokyo, with a high gold content. Since his debut, Kato has published 6 novels and sold more than 450,000 copies of his debut film Pink and Gray. In addition, the funny artist Naoki Ayoshi has a collection of at least 3,000 books in his home, and I am very fond of Japanese masters such as Matsuo Basho and Dazai, and I have organized literary exchange activities such as "Dazai Osamu Night". After his debut, Naoki Yoshiki published 6 novels and several collections of essays. However, there are also artists who promote themselves from a utilitarian point of view by writing novels, often only publishing 1 or 2 novels at most and then having no follow-up - writing novels is not the purpose, but to flaunt their "unique" world view, and then create a more diversified image among fans.

For more and more Japanese artists to write novels and receive recognition from major literary awards, public opinion in Japan has mixed reviews. Some supporters believe that the writing of novels by idol artists helps to enhance young people's understanding and love of this literary genre, and shortlisting for mainstream literary awards can not only drive sales, but also increase the popularity and influence of the awards themselves. However, some opponents say that the significance of the existence of literary awards is to discover new people and cultivate young writers, novels are an art that takes time to polish, and it is unlikely that busy artists can completely calm down and write novels, which is not conducive to the development of the Japanese literary world in the long run - there is no problem for idol artists to write novels themselves, but literary awards should not focus too much on them.