Cover

The novel that inspired the manga and anime!

Twenty-two-year-old Satou, a college dropout and aficionado of anime porn, knows a little secret—or at least he thinks he does! Believe it or not, he has stumbled upon an incredible conspiracy created by the Japanese Broadcasting Company, N.H.K. But despite fighting the good fight, Satou has become an unemployed hikikomori—a shut-in who has withdrawn from the world…

One day, he meets Misaki, a mysterious young girl who invites him to join her special “project.” Slowly, Satou comes out of his reclusive shell, and his hilarious journey begins, filled with mistaken identity, Lolita complexes—and an ultimate quest to create the greatest hentai game ever!

Tatsuhiko Takimoto

Welcome to the N.H.K.

ePub r1.2

Watcher 01.09.17

Original title: NHK ni Yōkoso!

Tatsuhiko Takimoto, 2002

Translator: Lindsey Akashi

Illustrations: Yoshitoshi ABe

Cover design: Monalisa de Asis

Digital editor: Watcher

ePub base r1.2

Preface

In this world, conspiracies exist.

However, there is a more than a ninety-nine percent chance that the plausible-sounding conspiracies that you hear about from others are simple delusions or even intentional lies. When you visit a bookstore, the books with titles like The Great Jewish Conspiracy to Ruin the Japanese Economy! or The Super Conspiracy of the CIA That Hides Their Secret Pact with Aliens! are all just trivial delusions.

Even so… people love conspiracies.

Conspiracies. We are hopelessly fascinated by the sound of that word and its bittersweet echo.

Consider, for example, the process by which The Jewish Conspiracy theory comes to be: The author has multiple, terrible complexes and feelings, such as, “Why am I poor?”; “Why is my life not more comfortable?”; “Why can I not find a girlfriend?” His mind and body constantly are pressured, from both within and without.

Those pent-up grudges become endless feelings of hatred toward society. They become rage.

However, the largest source of rage is his own personal cowardice.

He is poor because he lacks the skill with which to earn money. He has no girlfriend because he lacks charisma. But the process of seeing this truth and acknowledging his own incompetence requires quite a bit of courage. No human beings, regardless of who they might be, want to look directly at their own shortcomings.

At this point, the conspiracy theorist projects his cowardice onto the outside world.

He creates a fictitious “enemy” outside of himself.

Enemy. My enemy. Society’s enemy.

“Because an enemy conspires to do evil, I cannot find happiness. Because of this conspiracy, I cannot find a girlfriend. That’s right! This is all because of the Jews. Because the Jews are scheming away out there, I can’t find happiness. Damn you, lews! I won’t forgive you!”

Truthfully, this kind of thinking also inconveniences Jewish people.

All conspiracy theorists need to look a little more closely at reality.

“Enemies” don’t exist externally. “Evil” does not exist externally. One has to assume blame oneself for being a worthless person.