Matsumoto Seichō (1909–1992)

Near the end I looked at some of the Amazon reviews to see if I was the only one who thought it was a badly written book. There I found some people who talked about how much they enjoyed being introduced to some descriptions of post-war life in Japan and some elements of Japanese culture. This made me reevaluate my opinion.

I don't recall anyone talking about the language. Is this a good translation of the Japanese? The writing reminds me a little of the short staccato sentences of Hemingway, but done by a teenager, not too adept at writing. The short sentences went something like this: "He was at the bar." "Was he at the bar?" "He was at the bar." Is this how Japanese people speak?

The story begins with a murder in a rail yard in Tokyo. The victim's face has been bashed to a pulp, making him unrecognizable. Soon after we find that the Tokyo police have sent off a photo of the victim to a police station in another town as part of their investigation, asking if anyone there can identify him. What the heck?

There were many incongruities and far, far too many names and places for me to keep track of. Maybe that's why I didn't enjoy the book as much as others did -- I was lost.… (more)

A wonderful read from an author who is new to me.

Written in 1958 and apparently previously published in English under the title "Points and Lines", this is a new translation issued by Penguin Modern Classics with a wonderful cover!

Having read the book, I think the previous title is more suitable, but I can understand how meaningless it would appear to someone unfamiliar with the storyline.

Some have described it as "cosy crime" or a "procedural", but to me it is an intriguing masterpiece, concerning what at appears to be a double suicide of two young people (Toki and Sayama), with two quite different detectives, one older regionally based (Jutaro), the other younger Tokyo based (Mihara), with quite different approaches.

You "know" from almost the very beginning that business man Yasuda has to be involved with the suicides somehow, but he seems to have iron-clad alibis (being located at the very north of Japan days before and after the likely time of the deaths, with those deaths occurring at the very south of Japan.

Most of those investigating have written off the deaths as indeed being suicides, but Jutaro thinks that, with Toki and Sayama having been seen animatedly talking to each other when alighting a long distance train in Tokyo, it is curious that a receipt for a single train mealis found on Sayama's body if indeed the two were travelling together.

Mihara is with the white crime division in Tokyo, and becomes interested in Jutaro's thoughts when Sayama is identified as a middle ranking executive within a Government Ministry, that is racked with rumours of corruption.

What makes the book so interesting is how the 2 detectives support each other, as they piece together not only how, but also why, these crimes are effected. Such is done by interrogating train and plane timetables, the sending and receipt of telegrams and passenger lists.

As they investigate, the facts seem to confirm that Yasuda has manufactured various events, but those very events (if to be believed) seem to confirm that Yasuda was at the wrong end of the country at the time of the deaths.

The writing is clear and spare. The denouement is a cracker.

An authorial note states that all of the train and plane times mentioned in the book are as per the relevant 1957 timetables in use in Japan (being the time set for the novel).

I will bee on the lookout for more by Matsumoto.

Big Ship

24 July 2023… (more)