Tokyo Year Zero (5 page)

I jump down from the top of the wall into the long, long grasses and I wade through the dead leaves and weeds towards it –

Namu-amida-butsu. Namu-amida-butsu. Namu-amida
…

The white cloth grinning through the long, long grasses –

Namu-amida-butsu. Namu-amida-butsu
…

White cloth around white bones –

Namu-amida-butsu
…

I curse myself again!

Another body
…

A second body wearing a white half-sleeved chemise, a yellow and dark-blue striped pinafore dress, pink socks and white canvas shoes with red rubber soles; a second body ten metres from the first; a second body now nothing but bones –

Tangled up in the weeds and leaves
…

I curse her and I curse this place –

I curse and I curse again
…

This place of shadow, of forgotten graves and lost paths, of foxes and badgers, of rats and crows, of abandoned dogs and human flesh, of prostitutes and suicides in this place of assignation –

This place of silence. This place of death –

In this place of defeat and capitulation. This place of surrender and occupation. This place of ghosts –

The body now nothing but bones
…

In this place of no resistance.

*

It takes three hours for us to report the finding of the second body to Metropolitan Police Headquarters.
I stare at her white half-sleeved chemise
. Three hours for them to send Suzuki back here to photograph the second body.
I stare at her yellow and dark-blue striped pinafore dress
. Three hours for the Keiō University Hospital to send out another ambulance to take away the second body.
I stare at her pink socks
. Three hours for my men to seal off the crime scene and the immediate area around the second body.
I stare at her white canvas shoes
. Three hours for us to requisition the necessary uniformed men from the Atago, Meguro and Mita police stations in order to secure the area where the bodies were found.
Their red, red rubber soles
. Three hours sweating and swatting, itching and scratching,
gari-gari
, while I stand and I stare at this second body –

Her flesh far from here, carried in the mouths of others
…

I stare at the bleached white bones of her fingers –

I stare at the bleached white bones of her hands –

Her wrists and her forearms and her elbows –

The bleached white bones of her face –

The permed hair. The yellow teeth –

Her last, contorted smile
…

The shadows have lengthened now, the tall grasses and zelkova trees closer here.

*

The good detective visits the crime scene one hundred times
. I have walked away from that place.
The good detective knows nothing is random
. I have walked out of the shadow and into the sunlight.
The good detective knows in chaos lies order
. I have walked back down the hill and into the temple grounds.
In chaos lie answers
…

But there is nothing left of the Zōjōji Temple –

Huge scorched trees, their roots to the sky
…

Nothing but the ruin of the old Black Gate –

Branches charred and leaves lost
…

In this lonely place, I stand beneath the dark eaves of the gate and I watch the ambulance drive away –

We have seen hell, we have known heaven, we have heard the last judgment and we have witnessed the fall of the gods
… Under the Black Gate, a stray dog pants –

But I am one of the survivors
…

His house lost, his master gone –

One of the lucky ones
…

In the Year of the Dog.

*

It is another long, hot walk back to Metropolitan Police Headquarters, a walk made worse by the dirt and the dust from the trucks and the jeeps with their big white stars and their big white teeth –

The constant, constant sound of hammering –

Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton
…

I knock on the door to Chief Kita’s office. I open it. I apologize. I bow. I enter. I take my seat at the table –

Chief Kita sits at the head of the table with his back to the window, its frame still buckled from the bombs; Chief Kita, the
kachō
of the whole of the First Investigative Division, an old but lean man with a deeply tanned face, a close-shaven head and hard, unblinking eyes; Chief Kita, the best friend my father ever had –

I don’t want to remember. I don’t want to remember
…

To his right, Chief Inspector Kanehara with Adachi –

But in the half-light, I can’t forget
…

To his left Inspector Kai, leader of the First Team, and me; Inspector Minami now, leader of the Second Team –

No one is who they seem to be
…

The report for the Public Safety Division is on the table. It has been translated into English, probably by Kanehara, and then typed up. It is passed round the table for all our signatures and seals –

I take out my pen. I stare at the report –

It could be Das Kapital
…

The typed Roman characters –

Mein Kampf
…

I sign it.

The report is returned to Chief Inspector Kanehara. Now Chief Kita nods at me and I begin my report; I repeat the timetable of the discovery and reporting of the first body; I detail the state and environment of the first body on our arrival; I recount my initial interview with the lumberjack; I defer then to Adachi who reports the timetable involving the photographer and the ambulance –

‘My initial deduction upon seeing the body was that a murder had been committed. Therefore, I ordered Inspector Minami and his men to conduct a thorough search of the immediate area surrounding the body. It was during the course of this search that Inspector Minami himself discovered the second body, which was approximately ten metres from the site of the first body.’

‘Detective Inspector Minami, please…’

‘As Chief Inspector Adachi has said, the second body was approximately ten metres from the site of the first body. The second body was badly decomposed and largely skeletal, but it appears to be the body of a young woman. However, unlike the first body, it was not naked but wearing a white half-sleeved chemise, a yellow and dark-blue striped pinafore dress, pink socks and white canvas shoes with red rubber soles. Initial inspection and experience would suggest that death occurred between three and four weeks ago but of course that will be precisely determined by the autopsy. It is clear though that the two women did not die at the same time.’

‘Do you believe these deaths are connected?’ asks Chief Kita.

‘Until the results of the autopsy are known, the location and
sex of the two bodies remain the only connecting factors,’ I reply. ‘Despite their proximity, the nature of the vegetation meant that the site of one body was not visible from the other. As you are all aware, there was what would seem to be a piece of material tied round the neck of the first body, leading us to assume that death was a result of murder. On preliminary examination of the second body, no such material was found, nor were there any other obvious signs of a murder having occurred. As we know, in the last year a number of bodies have been found in the environs of Shiba Park. However, before today’s discovery, only one of these has proved to be murder. The other deaths were as a result of either suicide or disease.’

Chief Kita nods. Chief Kita says, ‘Chief Inspector?’

Adachi nods, reluctantly. ‘I agree with Inspector Minami.’

‘Then we’ll handle the two cases separately,’ says the chief. ‘Until we have the results from the autopsies which will be…?’

‘The day after tomorrow,’ says Adachi.

‘From Keiō or Tokyo?’

‘From Keiō…’

‘By?’

‘Dr. Nakadate.’

Kanehara and Kai pretend not to look up from their notes. Kanehara and Kai pretend not to look from me to Adachi to Chief Kita. Kanehara and Kai pretend not to see our exchange of glances –

I don’t want to remember. I don’t want to remember
…

‘It can’t be helped,’ says the chief. ‘Let’s proceed…’

Now comes the structure of the investigation. The delegation of responsibility. The division of labour
…

‘Inspector Kai and Room #1 will open the investigation into the first body. Inspector Kai and Room #1 will set up their Investigation Headquarters at the Atago police station. Inspector Kai will report to Chief Inspector Kanehara.’

Inspector Kai bows. Inspector Kai shouts, ‘I understand! Thank you! I will not let you down!’

Chief Inspector Kanehara bows. Kanehara shouts, ‘Thank you! I will not let you down!’

‘Inspector Minami and Room #2 will investigate the second body found at Shiba Park…’

I bow too hastily; there must be a hint of relief, a glimpse of respite in my action, because Chief Kita’s tone is harsh now –

‘Inspector Minami and Room #2 will conduct the investigation as a murder inquiry. Inspector Minami and Room #2 will also set up their Investigation Headquarters at Atago police station until further instructions are received. Inspector Minami and his team will report to Chief Inspector Adachi.’

I curse him. I curse him. I curse him
…

I bow again to the chief. I tell him I understand. I thank him. I promise I will not let him down –

So tomorrow morning Room #2 will take their trunk to Atago. Tomorrow morning our banner will be unfurled and raised on its poles. Tomorrow the investigation will begin. Day and night, night and day. From tomorrow morning there will be no rest, no time off for twenty days or until the case is closed
…

‘Has anyone anything else they wish to say?’ asks Chief Inspector Kanehara. ‘Anything they wish to clarify?’

There is nothing to say. Nothing to clarify –

There is silence now, almost –

Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton
…

‘Then tidy up all your affairs tonight,’ Chief Kita tells us. ‘Leave nothing unfinished. No loose ends, please.’

The chief looks away now –

I glance at my watch –

Chiku-taku
…

It is 8:30 p.m.

*

I run down the corridor of Police Arcade to the back stairs. I leave through a back door. I cut through Hibiya Park. The temperature not falling with the night, the flies and mosquitoes hungrier than ever –

Pan-pan
girls calling through the shadows and the trees –

‘Asobu …? Asobu …? Asobu …? Asobu…?’

I run across Hibiya-dōri. I reach the elevated tracks –

Pan-pan
girls in the shadows and the arches –

‘Asobu …? Asobu …? Asobu…?’

I follow the Yamate train tracks –

To the Shimbashi Market –

‘Asobu …? Asobu…?’

To Senju Akira.

*

Kettles and pans. Crockery and utensils. Clothes and shoes. Cooking oil and soy sauce. Rice and tea. Fruit and vegetables. The
kakigōri
stalls and over and over, again and again, the ‘Apple Song’ –

‘Red apple to my lips, blue sky silently watching
…’

All laid out on the ground, on stall after stall –

Half of it Japanese. Half of it foreign. All of it illegal. But there are no police here. No Victors. No Occupiers –

‘Apple doesn’t say a thing, but Apple’s feeling is clear…’

Here there is only one law; buy or be bought. Sell or be sold. Eat or be eaten; this is where the cannibals come –

‘Apple’s loveable, loveable is apple…’

To the Shimbashi New Life Market –

‘Shall we all sing the Apple Song?’

The old Outside Free Market is gone. The old Black Market is finished. This is the new market for the new Japanese yen –

‘If two people sing along, it’s a merry song …’

This is the two-storey Shimbashi New Life Market with its modern arcades for over five hundred stalls –

‘If everyone sings the Apple Song
…’

The dream of Matsuda Giichi –

‘It’s an even merrier song…’

But Matsuda Giichi never lived to see his New Life Market open because two months ago, on the night of the tenth of June, Matsuda Giichi was attacked and shot in his office by Nodera Tomiji, one of his own former gang members, one who had been expelled during Matsuda’s reorganization of his own gang, the Kantō Matsuda-gumi, in their amalgamation with the Matsuzakaya gang –

But nobody really knows if Nodera killed Matsuda –

Nobody saw Nodera pull the trigger and fire –

Nobody really knows because Nodera Tomiji was drunk when
persons unknown
found him in a bar on the Ginza –

And he was dead when they left him –

‘So let’s all sing the Apple Song and…’

Now Senju Akira is the new boss –

‘And pass the feeling along…’

This is the man I’ve come to see. This is the man whose men are waiting for me. The man whose men are watching for me –

They know I’m here. They know I’m back
…

In their pale suits and patterned shirts, with their American sunglasses and Lucky Strikes, they are whispering about me –

They know why I’m here, why I’m back
…

Among the kettles and the pans, they come up behind me now, one on either side, and they take an arm each –

‘You’re more brave than you look,’ whispers one of them –

‘And more stupid,’ says the other as they whisk me past the mats and the stalls, the crockery and the utensils, out into the alleys and the lanes, through the shadows and the arches, until we come to the wooden stairs and the open door at the top with its sign –

Tokyo Stall Vendors Processing Union
.

Now they let me go. Now they let me wipe my face and wipe my neck, straighten up my shirt and put on my jacket –

The calls of odd, even and play
…

There is a foreigner coming down the stairs, an American in sunglasses. At the foot of the stairs, the American turns his face to look at me and then looks away again. He nods to Senju’s men as he disappears into the alleys and the shadows –