Chapter 11 Best-selling book captures the spirit of the modern Japanese

After reading the best-selling books in recent years, I feel that it is not so much that the reading comprehension ability of the Japanese has declined, but that people only pay attention to the "simple content" and "immediate effect" books mentioned above. In recent years, books such as "simple content" and "immediate effect" have emerged in an endless stream. "You can get the answer without thinking too much"... These books clearly portray the image of the Japanese seeking comfort. Therefore, when a book becomes a bestseller, its sales will rise in a straight line, and it is likely to form a "monopoly" in the end.

After observing and thinking about the phenomenon of monopoly, I published a book called "The Invisible Continent" in 1999. In the book, I sounded the alarm about the declining "ability to choose" and "ability to question" of the Japanese.In addition, some things are often not of high value in Japan, but some Japanese occasionally follow suit to choose.Here's how I explain these phenomena: Regardless of whether this speculation is completely correct.But this trend, that is, the behavior of the Japanese blindly following the trend, I think it is stronger than before.

Take another example of the bestseller boom. A while ago, everyone's interest in "brain science" has increased greatly. There are a lot of books related to "brain science" in bookstores, and many people buy them.Of course, there is nothing wrong with being curious about the "brain" that still has many unsolved mysteries, but I really don't understand why there are so many books like "The Scientific Method to Make the Brain Smarter" derived from it. ?Isn't this catering to the desire of the public to "take shortcuts to make their minds smarter"?

With regard to books, there is one final trend to note.That is, there are many books with the titles of "Japanese people are becoming stupid" and "IQ decline". It is written after analyzing and examining various things and phenomena. Regarding this kind of books, the editor listed some representative books for me before, roughly as follows: Although these books discuss in some detail issues such as "network society", "low education and learning ability", "the will of young people", etc., I feel that Koizumi's big victory in the "postal election" in 2005 was triggered. The book boom has received more attention than these previous discussions.For example, Minako Saito, a literary critic at the time, described it this way:

I think what she said is probably very reasonable. If I want to add a little bit, I don't think Japanese people care about politics at all. My two previous books, "The New Wealth of Nations" and "The Heisei Restoration", both sold more than one million copies.However, today, I don't think such a book will have such a good sales volume.Why do I think so? At that time, although Japan could be regarded as the richest country in the world, its citizens were not rich, so those two books were written based on the belief that "everyone in this land can live a prosperous life". of.I certainly think that these two books still have practical significance for today's Japan, but the value orientation of the Japanese people today is completely different from what it was then.

At that time, more than 1 million Japanese people of different ages were reading my book with the idea of ​​"changing Japan", which immediately aroused great repercussions, and media interviews and invitations for speeches also flocked.During this period, I was asked "What kind of policies are needed to achieve real prosperity for the country?" But now, not to mention my book, even the "authoritative book" that really concerns policy cannot be sold.No wonder the editor once said to me: "Mr. Omae, even if you write a profound policy book, no one will buy it. It is better to write some books with the simplest content."

In interviews and speeches now, what is asked is not questions such as "what should this country do?", but superficial questions like "how to become a strong person" and "how to make money". Those who ask "how to become a strong person" at least show that they are self-motivated, which is worth encouraging, but how can they "become stronger" if they focus on the radius of 3 meters around them? Rather than saying "becoming stronger", it is better to say "greedy".This mentality of eager for quick success and instant benefit results in a narrow field of vision, and only pays attention to speed rather than efficiency when doing things.To put it more bluntly, this kind of thinking is common to those who want to enjoy and succeed, and are good at whimsical people.

Under such a social value orientation, it seems that anyone can write a bestseller, but the result is that readers' reading needs and levels generally decline.