Chapter Twenty-Two: The Brief Life of a Short-Lived Worker
So-called tomboy... is actually somewhat different from gay.
Most gay people like the same sex under the premise of recognizing their own gender.
But tomboys do not have such a recognition of their own gender, they usually do not identify themselves as males and hope to be females, and like a male in the form of being female.
The entertainment circle in Japan... the taste is really heavy, and the proportion of gays in the entertainment circle is very large. This is the case whether it's Japan or the European continent. What's even more difficult to accept is that there are more bisexuals than gays in this circle. Many Japanese singers, actors, and industry insiders are in a state where both men and women are acceptable, and they don't refuse anyone. It's precisely this state of affairs that has given tomboys a space to survive.
Moreover, don't assume they will be discriminated against. Those who have the courage to make such a choice mostly have passionate and sincere emotions, and they won't pretend about their feelings at all.
And there are no shortage of people who have made a name for themselves with an identity that is neutral or even opposite to their own biological sex. Haruna Ai won the Miss International Queen title in 2009, Matsuko Deluxe became a household name on TV many years later, Nakamura Ataru published the famous "Poem of Friendship" as a woman, and the most impressive one is Minoru Mikawa, who at nearly 80 years old in 2013 still performed at the Red and White Song Festival, an annual New Year's Eve music show. His relationship with Yukio Mishima is also legendary - it's said that before Mishima's death, he sent roses to Mikawa, and after his death, Mikawa went white-haired overnight, leaving people in awe.
This is a group of people who are registered as male but appear to be female, they are very contradictory. Normally, a gay person would not like them because gays like the appearance of males, not females. And normal straight people, such as Zhou Xiao, would not like them either. Zhou Xiao is just a conservative otaku from China, how could he possibly "get" Haruhi? This is too difficult.
The only people who truly like older men are those who are really open-minded and unafraid of being judged by others. Unfortunately, such individuals are quite common in the Japanese entertainment industry!
From Chris Matsumoto to Sunakku, Ikko and Haruna Ai, Otokonoko as a very unique group, has occupied a place in the Japanese entertainment circle.
Zhou Xiao returned home with a dazed expression. As for the male seniors, although it was nice to see them participate in programs and they were fine as friends, but if you say really pursue one? Zhou Xiao would absolutely run away as far as possible. Although this sounds somewhat impolite to the male seniors, Zhou Xiao respected their sexual orientation, so he believed they would also respect him. He absolutely could not like such an existence.
After lying in the room for a while, Zhou Xiao finally received the call from Inoue Uncle who had been waiting for a whole day.
"How's it going? Do you have time tomorrow?" Uncle Inoue asked.
"Of course I have, what else could I possibly have?" said Zhou Xiao.
"Tomorrow morning at 4:30, come to my house outside, I'll drive and we'll go together!" said Mr. Inoue.
"Huh? So early?"
"It's already late if we leave at 4:30! The morning belt program starts at 5:50, and we still need to drive to Jiangdong District!" said Uncle Inoue.
"Is it that TV station?"
"Fuji TV, I have a junior there who is an assistant director on the scene. After talking to him today, he asked me to bring you to the company tomorrow for a tryout. You must remember to speak less and do more, and never argue when encountering problems, got it?" said Inoue-san seriously.
"Got it! I understand!" Zhou Xiao had some knowledge of Japan's system, he made up his mind that tomorrow no matter what happened, he would keep his mouth shut.
"This line of work is deep, what we used to do was the most trivial things, now being able to work at a TV station is already a big step forward. If you want to stay here, making the people above happy is the most important thing!" Uncle Inoue said with a serious tone, fearing that Zhou Xiao would be too young and impulsive. What he didn't know was that although Zhou Xiao's current soul had been a NEET for over 20 years, in his past experiences in China's entertainment industry, pretending to be obedient was an essential skill...
The next morning, Zhou Xiao got up from bed very early. He had gone to sleep very early the night before and was about to go to the TV station soon, so he not only didn't feel sleepy but also felt very spirited. After getting dressed in the dark, Zhou Xiao left home.
Even in Tokyo in the year 2000, it was a city that never slept. At three o'clock in the morning, there were few cars on the road, but they could still be seen. Xiaoxiao wrapped her thin clothes around her and set off towards the location she had agreed with Uncle Jing the night before.
Inoue's uncle drove a mid-size car that looked at least ten years old, and after about ten minutes after the gathering place was reached, the uncle finally pulled up beside him.
"Come on up." said Uncle Inoue, rolling down the car window.
"Uncle, this car of yours isn't bad either," said Zhou Xiao.
"It's not like it's all good, I still have eight years of loan to repay, and Tokyo's traffic is so bad that driving is often less convenient than taking the subway. And now I've lost my job too... the pressure from car and housing loans is really huge." said Inoue, rubbing his not-so-wealthy head.
Two people chatted while driving to their destination.
From a distance, Zhou Xiao saw the building of Fuji TV. In Japan, there is a saying that there are five major television stations and five private television stations. Among them, NHK belongs to the state-run television station, which has no advertisements all day long and relies on annual viewing fees from the public for survival. The remaining four major television stations, Fuji, TBS, Asahi, and Nippon TV, along with the smallest TV Tokyo, form the five private television stations' network.
These five major television stations are in a competitive relationship and also interdependent, with shares already having you in me and me in you, which makes the TV stations form a benign competition and can monopolize most of Japan's TV resources.
Among the five major private TV stations, Fuji TV is generally considered to be the largest and most powerful. This can be seen from one aspect: every year, several Japanese TV stations will absorb one or two new female announcers, and the aspirations of these female announcers are basically fixed: NHK as their first choice, Fuji TV as their second choice. From this point alone, it can be seen that Fuji TV has a strong reputation.
Inoue didn't drive his car directly into the TV station's parking lot but instead stopped at a place on the side some distance away from the TV station.
"The parking lot of the TV station is mostly filled with cars from various agencies and artists, it's quite troublesome to get in, so I usually park outside. We're not celebrities or anything, we don't have any personal secrets that need to be hidden," explained Ikeda-san.
"What's private?" Zhou Xiao asked.
"Because paparazzi can't get in, the artists there are relatively relaxed. It's not that they have any secrets, but for artists, being seen without makeup by outsiders can sometimes be very upsetting."
"So it was..."
The two of them walked closer to the TV station while talking, but when they reached the entrance, Inoue didn't go in directly. He pulled Zhou Xiaoting and stopped outside.
"Why don't you go in?"
"Now I can go in but you can't. Give me your ID, and wait here for a moment. I'll go inside and get you a temporary pass." said Uncle Inoue.
It's just past 4am now, but compared with other places in Tokyo, it's already quite lively in front of the TV station.
Zhou Xiao saw that there were constantly men and women rushing to come, among whom the vast majority were ordinary-looking employees. Although they had started work so early, it was clear that even at a TV station, not everyone would be working at this time. The ones who came now should only be the staff responsible for the morning program.
In just a few minutes, Uncle Inoue came out again, still holding a temporary pass in his hand.
"Hurry up, preparations for the program have already begun, I've just spoken with the director." said Uncle Inoue.
"Huh? What am I supposed to do?" Zhou Xiao asked.
"What else can I do? Just doing some odd jobs for AD, basically just running errands!"
P.S., I just think... why do books about the entertainment industry always have a future star living near the main character's home? So, I'll arrange for a star to live near my own home too, hahaahaha.
