Customer Reviews

Inspector Imanishi Investigates (Soho Crime)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Inspector Imanishi is trying to solve a murder with only one clue, the name Kameda. This story is a police procedural story that does a good job of showing us Japan in the 60s, where youth worships the new idols, such as young actors and musicians, and ancient heritage fights with political upheaval. The old and the new meet in post-war Japan, yet it is not thrust down our throats.
Seicho Matsumoto is writing about Japan for Japanese readers. He does not need to explain every single detail of culture and society. He does a great job because, frankly, it was published in 1961!
What you get is a fast flowing, showing-us-not-telling-us, novel of Japan and one character who has to swim through it to solve a crime. Once you pick it up you won't be able to put it down till you finish.

This is a terrific mystery that requires a bit of patience on the reader's part. Inspector Imanishi is the quintessential salaryman for whom the traditional values of hard work and self sacrifice pay off. Mr. Matsumoto expects no less from his readers. This is a real puzzler and a terrific Japanese slice of life. It's not an easy read, but if you can let yourself be drawn in to the story, it is most rewarding.

This is a very atmospheric, slightly dense procedural, with twists and turns that go through Tokyo, the war, Osaka, several villages, and the Japanese Rail system. Not to mention a Magrait-like inspector with all his family and middle aged concerns. The cast of characters includes some 20-something nouveau artists/ musicians, a wise elderly abacas maker, and a victim, at first unknown, but who is described as saint-like by all who knew him. Not to mention a look at Japanese society, one so polite that everyone says "Welcome", even to the police; where it is normal to bow, and where please and thank you are seemingly obligatory. Interestingly, almost no one looses his temper, and even arrests are made as discretely and politely as possible. A very fine and different police tale!

When I told my mother, who is Japanese, that I had found a great Japanese mystery writer. She was shocked. Her response was "I read his books when I was young!". But we both had to agree that Matsumoto Seicho was a classic murder mystery writer. Just classic - people don't write mysteries like that anymore. He has written so many books, I wish more would be translated into English. If you are not a Japan-phile, you will enjoy this book emensely!

Seicho Matsumoto is apparently extremely well known in Japan, but was unknown to me. The book draws one in slowly, but it becomes worthwhile. In some ways the hero is a Japanese Maigret, but lower in the hierarchy of a then VERY hierarchical society. A psychological detective story, with complex clues and twists like a Sherlock Holmes (but Imanishi gets there by stolid persistence, not drug-fuelled brilliance).
Also a wonderful visit to Japan of the early Sixties, when poverty was still recent, when rural houses were still thatched. When the country was not yet in thrall to Gucci (an incredible percentage of Tokyoites now own at least one Luis Vuitton item..) The translator has for me done a wonderful job of conveying the nature of the original Japanese: I have not read that for this book, but I do know the importance of honorifics, level of formality, depth of bows. Yes in places it can sound a bit stilted to us, but then these people are not, like, Valley Girls and "awesome". As I read this book I could hear the cadence of the Japanese in my mind, envisage the depth of the bows and who was bowing more deeply to whom. Indirectly the book gives a magnificent picture of traditional Japan, its strengths and weaknesses. Although even then there was the love of clever gadgets... I had difficulty getting going, but then I could not put it down.

I liked the book Inspector Iminishi Investigates, a leisurely story that is buttressed by the Japanese setting. A large part of my satisfaction was the authentic seeming police procedural. I believe that a Japanese police force would work in this way as opposed to the 48 hours mentality of police in our country,i.e. most crimes are solved in the first 48 hours.

I was able to put the book down and would go back to it which is pretty much how I judge a book. Some I can't put down at all hence the 4 stars.

This is the first Matsumoto Seicho book I have read, and the third in the Soho Crime series that brings classics of Japanese crime fiction to a Western audience. I have been deeply impressed by the series, and consider it a hallmark for great writing and quality translations, and I know I can pick up any book in the series and be able to settle down for a good read.

"Inspector Imanishi Investigates" (original title "Suna no Utsuwa" or "Castles of Sand") is one of the most famous of Matsumoto's works, having been adapted twice, once as a feature film and once as a TV mini-series. First published in 1961, it was one of his "social mysteries" that deal with social issues in Japan at the time as opposed to simple murder puzzles. In this book we have the gender gap that followed the Japanese defeat in WWII, the loss of older ways and the rise of a new generation with new methods of committing crimes. Will the old-fashioned ways of solving them still work?

The story begins with a basic crime scene; a dead body is discovered, and clues are scant. Inspector Imanishi and his younger partner Yoshimura follow what lose trails they have, which is limited to an accent from a certain part of Japan and a single word "kameda". The hunt leads them through a long path, taking months as they sort through regional accents, dusty family records, movie posters and any other thin straws they can desperately grasp to. Somehow interlinked is a group of avant-garde young Japanese intellectuals who call themselves the Nouveau, and seek to subvert the social order into something new and unique, using art, writing, music and theater. They are the black suit and beret set, completely at odds with Imanishi's old-fashioned and simple life.

Imanishi is a fascinating character, although much different than most fictional detectives. He is no brilliant Holmes or Poirot. He is just a simple old hound dog who latches onto a trail and follows it where it goes. A lover of bonsai trees and haiku, yakiniku and hot sake, Imanishi is a simple middle aged man, not exceptional, not a rebel or rule breaker, but with a dogged sense of pursuit and the inability to give up once an idea has twitched itself in his mind. One feels bad for the old guy, tired and somewhat out of his depth, but just too stubborn to let it go. He is a very realistic character.

As far as the mystery goes, it is the perfect kind of crime for Imanishi. There are no breadcrumbs to follow, no near misses of suspects and dynamic shootouts in dark alleys, but rather hunting patiently through old records and slowly stitching together a big picture. There are a few too many coincidences, and a few too many lucky breaks fall into the inspector's lap, but I can forgive that for all the foot work he put in. He deserves a few easy clues. The way the mystery plays out is fantastic, and I was gripped at every minute. When the "ah-ha" moment came of figuring it all out before the book revealed the end, it was very satisfying in the way that only a really good mystery can provide.

This is an excellent police procedural set in Japan in the early 1960s. It brings out the rigidity of traditional society, the smallness of the circles that most people move in, and the claustrophobia felt by the young and the sensitive (which doesn't include the hero, who is neither young nor sensitive). But it's also about the possibilities for remaking yourself that exist in a society still torn apart, just below the surface, by the war. A lot of lucky breaks, and some fairly far-fetched concepts, somewhat weaken the mystery part of the book, but it's well worth reading for the atmosphere alone.

Do not expect too much when you read this story. It says in the back cover that this story belongs in the shelf with Christie's and Simenon's writings. I would be inclined to say it is not. It is more like the writing of Grisham. That does not mean it is bad (I gave it 4 stars); it means, on the other hand, that it is not a typical mystery.

When I started reading it, I thought it was a collection of short stories, and I wanted to read it concurrently with the last part of the "Lord of the Rings," because it really bored me to death. Having started reading it, however, I realized that it was a novel, and a large one with 313 pages. I could not stop at the first chapter to go to the ring bearer, so I decided to read it to the end.

It is a nice introduction to the Japanese lifestyle. And other than that I would have given it 3 stars for the plot. It is a bit slow. Inspector Imanishi, is not your Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, Miagret, Arsen Lupin, nor Ellery Queen; no, he is a simple guy, like me and you (more like me, because you might be a genius after all). He gets clues by mere chance, in an article in the news papers, in the talk of neighbours, in movies, ... etc.

He is in his fifties, so he is more in the Poirot's and Miagret's criterion. He is slow-minded, and needs time to get things together. He writes Haiko poetry, and likes to pour tea over his rice bowel (a thing I would never do in a million years). He likes plants, and has got a passive wife, who speaks with her husband in formal terms.

The murder occurred somewhere unknown in the beginning of the story, and the body was left on the railroad of some train. Nothing is discovered in the first chapter. Inspector Imanishi had to make a number of trips to many parts in Japan (two on the expense of the police, and the rest are on his expense, which means that he is a determined cop after all).

He discovered some facts about dialects in Japan. And here I must tell you that you should be comfortable with some Japanese terms, like san means Mr., and sensie means teacher, and so on.

I read the story in 4 days, and that means that I did not find it boring, because I have spend about 3 months reading the "Lord of the Rings," and did not finish it yet.

I am sure you are not going to be bored reading this story.

This is one of my favorite mysteries. I especially like the way that the author narrates Inspector Imanishi's thought processes. The descriptions of the settings are like a trip to Japan in the 60's.