Reflecting on Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, long regarded as the greatest novel in human history, the author describes a sudden conviction formed later in life: that he could now write a twenty-first-century Anna Karenina of his own. Listening to Renata Tebaldi becomes the catalyst through which a long-forgotten turning point from his first year of high school resurfaces, reaffirming his belief that only the truly supreme can illuminate what is decisive in a human life.

As my readers know, I have long stated that Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy is the greatest novel in the history of mankind, and that no one will ever write anything that surpasses it.
And yet, although a considerable amount of time has passed, one day in the latter half of my life as a businessman, I suddenly felt a firm conviction and confidence that the person I am now could write a twenty-first-century Anna Karenina.

At that moment, I was listening to Renata Tebaldi through my speakers.
To my astonishment, my own story came fully into being.
I realized that a certain event from my first year of high school had been the decisive turning point in my life.

As my readers also know, I have written many times that heroes recognize heroes, geniuses recognize geniuses, the first-rate recognize the first-rate; that a genius has flashes of insight, while the mediocre do not.
Now, I found myself reflecting quietly on this truth.
Only the truly supreme can reveal something decisive.