Japanese Crime Fiction across the Centuries

As an ancient culture, Japan has plenty of scope for the imagination when it comes to crime writing. You can pick and choose among tales told from times spanning a thousand years. My forays into Japanese crime fiction began in the very recent past. I started with I. J. Parker's Sugawara Akitada mysteries. The Japanese custom is to place the surname first because it honors the family rather than the individual.

Akitada was 25 years old and a junior clerk in the Imperial Ministry of Justice. He had won this position because he was an excellent student and had come in first in the university examinations. While he was a nobleman of the famous Sugawara clan, times were tough and he was excited to be given this job.

The series begins with The Dragon Scroll, which takes place in the year 1014. Akitada's first mission was to investigate missing tax shipments from cousins in a distant province. This excited him, because this was his first journey away from the capital, Heian-kyō, modern Kyoto.

He was also fortunate to be traveling with an old family retainer, Seimei. This elderly man was Akitada's mentor and he was skilled at many things, including herbal medicines, and had deep knowledge of Confucian teachings. Traveling the Imperial Highway was unsafe at the best of times, and it wasn't long before Akitada was attacked by a couple of thugs. It was his good fortune to be rescued by Tora, an ex-thug himself, who became a permanent part of his entourage.

Akitada was never ambitious enough for his mother, but he had a knack for solving crimes and the authorities, from the emperor on down, appreciated his skill. There are 13 books in this series. Akitada is inquisitive and intelligent, and his skills are in constant use as he unravels mysteries found in peasant hovels as well as the rarefied atmosphere of the Imperial Palace. He is a decent and honest man and he maintains adherence to the strict social codes of ancient Japan.

Naturally, all of the events in the series are imaginary or fictional, but the system of law enforcement, the educational methods and the customs and tastes of 11th-century Japan bring authenticity to the stories. These books are sprinkled with beautiful illustrations that resemble Japanese woodcuts. As an extra fillip, there is at the end of each book a brief historical endnote that enlightens the reader about pertinent aspects of life at this time.

I. J. Parker is a retired professor of English and foreign languages and won the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) Shamus Award for Best P. I. Short Story in 2000 for "Akitada's First Case."

On my TBR and not too dusty is a Laura Joh Rowland series that features Sana Ichiro, a samurai who investigates matters for the shogun. It gives a taste of what life was like for the Japanese in the 1600s.

The first book, Shinju, takes place in Edo, a city destined to become Tokyo in later years. It begins with a double death involving a commoner and a beautiful noblewoman. Is it a typical shinju, a ritual suicide, or something more? Ichiro is a reluctant investigator. He prefers teaching, but he can't let the case be hushed up.

Another reluctant sleuth who would rather be teaching is Kyosuke Kamizu, nicknamed "boy genius," an assistant professor at Tokyo University. He makes his debut in Takagi Akimitsu's The Tattoo Murder Case. This case takes place almost a century into the future, during the American Occupation in the late 1940s.

All that is found are severed limbs in a locked room. Miss Kinue Nomura survived World War II, only to be murdered in Tokyo, her severed limbs left behind. What is gone is that part of her that bore one of the most beautiful full-body tattoos created by her late father.

Kamizu doesn't wear a deerstalker hat, but his approach to solving this crime is very Sherlockian. Just as interesting about the unusual case is the description of the culture that revolved around art tattoos. Despite the fact that Japan was occupied by US troops at the time, there was only one small mention of the military, as if it didn't really impinge on the routines of the ordinary folk.

The Tattoo Murder Case was originally published in 1948, and Takagi Akimitsu followed this by many books, most of which remain untranslated. Even though Kamizu was well liked, most of the books usually feature prosecutors or police detectives.

Seicho Matsumoto wrote his series in the late 1950s and early 1960s. As in his Inspector Imanishi Investigates, the plots focus on human psychology and ordinary life rather than intricate puzzles. The central character is Inspector Imanishi Eitaro, a more typically Japanese detective, fond of gardening and haiku. A corpse felt to be from the provinces is found under the rails of a train in Tokyo Station. The subject of Imanishi's investigation is not only the crime, but also the society in which the crime was committed. Matsumoto brings up the subject of police corruption, which was a new feature of Japanese crime fiction.

James Melville's books feature Tetsuo Otani, the superintendent of the Hyōgo Prefectural Police. Otani frequently runs into people who are afraid of the police because of their history of strong-arm tactics over the previous decades. He is constantly reassuring everyone that the police are not what they were, but it's a struggle to get cooperation from the general populace in solving crimes. For the most part, these books take place in the 1970s and '80s, when murder was uncommon in Japan and was usually related to gang warfare or domestic violence.

In the first series book, The Wages of Zen, Otani is called to a murder case while he is attending a Rotary dinner. This is but one example of the western influences during these years. A body has been found in a local temple, which is apparently also a foundation for East-West understanding. This is an unusual case, where all the suspects, as well as the victim, are foreigners who had come to spend time at a local Zen Buddhist temple. Otani joined Hyogo police during the postwar American occupation, and he was aware that policing had changed more than many other things In Japan. It is amusing to read about the convoluted ceremonial courtesies governing most interactions.

Melville depicts everyday Japanese life nicely, and he describes Japanese society morphing from strict traditionalism to a relentless drive to modernization. Otani has a team of colorful and streetwise detectives who spend most of their time confronting organized crime and political duplicity. Otani himself does not speak English, and he depends on his team to help him understand the foreigners among whom there is a killer.

In Sujata Massey's series, we meet Rei Shimura, an underpaid English teacher in Tokyo in the late 1990s who wishes she was doing something better with her life. You can read about her here, here and here.

Arimasa Osawa writes another series that is very popular in Japan. These books were written in the '90s as well, but although Shinjuku Shark, the first of many, won several prizes, it wasn't translated into English until 2008.

The central character in these mysteries is a complete turnabout from the traditional detectives I've just mentioned. He is Samejima, who goes by the nickname "the Shinjuku Shark." He is a maverick detective who has no friends in the police or the main Japanese bad guys, the Yakuza (organized crime syndicates), because he refuses to turn a blind eye to corruption. This leads to increasing isolation from the police force and he usually works alone.

Osawa describes an uneasy peace between the Yakuza and the police. The Police Organized Crime Department is known as the Marubo, and it kept a close watch on the Yakuza clans. The Yakuza usually didn't go out of its way to become involved in small disputes. It is all bound up with the concept of honor among men and the result of returning favors and a give-and-take granting the other face-saving concessions.

Shinjuku District

Samejima detests the Yakuza and he dislikes the way police officers fraternize with them, so he keeps making a nuisance of himself by going after any punk, regardless of his ties. It is no surprise that Samejima's career is stalled and he is relegated to the crime-ridden streets of the Shinjuku district. His street name came from his reputation that once he gets his teeth into somebody he doesn't let go.

When an elusive sniper begins targeting police officers in his district, Samejima sets out on his own to find the man responsible, no matter who he is. This is a rapidly paced noir entry that is gritty and realistic, although it is somewhat surprising that as much as Samejima is detested, he escapes the sniper's crosshairs. Samejima is still solving crimes and chasing the Yakuza in Osawa's most recent book translated into English, The Poison Ape.

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino is a more recent Japanese crime sensation and is mentioned here.

So pour yourself some sake or grab a bottle of Ramune (a carbonated beverage of exotic flavors that comes in a tricky bottle that uses a marble as a stopper) and settle in for a trip through time. Or flip that remote to Ninja Turtles reruns and be very grateful if your children or grandchildren aren't using them as role models.

In Memoriam

Long before Saint Patrick planted his staff in Ireland, pre-Christian Celtic people populated much of Europe, and it was their custom to divide the year by four major holidays. According to their calendar, the first day of the year fell on the day that would later correspond to our November 1st. The date marked the onset of winter and folks hunkered down for the lean times.

The festival observed at this time was the most significant of the Celtic year and it was called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween). It was during this specific day that the ghosts of the dead were able to mix with the living, because it was at Samhain the souls of the dead travelled to the other world. As Christianity spread thoughout the world, the church's policy was to mingle ancient rites with Christian holy days, and November 1st became the Christian Feast of All Saints, while October 31st, All Hallows Eve, eventually came to be called Halloween.

Mexico and other countries around the world call this day the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos), and they trace their holidays back to an Aztec festival honoring the goddess Mictecacihuatl––but the holiday focuses on honoring the deceased. According to Wikipedia, there are similar celebrations in Asian and African cultures. Some cultures honor their dead by eating their brains to absorb their lives and memories. In Papua New Guinea this practice was endemic and so was the degenerative disease called Kuru––much better known to us in a form called Mad Cow disease.

I'll opt for a more straightforward way to honor the death of those mystery writers who passed on to the other world this year, and to thank them for providing enrichment to many lives. Here it is––the timeless in memoriam list:

Jeremiah Healy (1948-2014)

Healy wrote two series that I have enjoyed over the years. John Francis Cuddy, a Boston-area PI, was Healy's best-known character. Cuddy began his career as a military police lieutenant in the dark days of the Vietnam conflict. He made his living solving cases that had fallen through the cracks of the judicial system. He was honest and of good character, but he could be violent if it was called for. Later, under the pseudonym Terry Devane, Healy penned a short series about lawyer Mairead O’Clare that I am looking forward to reading.

But in his real life, Jerry had his own demons to fight. From Sandy Balzo, his wife: "My heart breaks to send you all this news. As you may know, Jerry has battled chronic severe depression for years, mostly controlled by medication, but exacerbated by alcohol. Last night he took his own life."

Joseph D. McNamara (1935-2014)

Before McNamara became the author of several crime novels, he walked a beat on the mean streets of Harlem. Along his way, he earned a Ph.D. from Harvard. After a long and illustrious career as a police chief in California, he wrote novels dubbed "cop noir." Many of his novels deal with the sin that Dante considered worse than murder––betrayal by someone trusted.

Dorothy Salisbury Davis (1916-2014)

Dorothy Salisbury Davis's first novel was published in 1949. She specialized in the psychological thriller, laced with morality, motives and manners. Davis could appreciate the evil minds that lurked behind the façade of an ordinary face. She was one of the founders of Sisters in Crime, an organization whose goal was to overcome the tendency for many reviewers to concentrate on male writers. She wrote more than 25 novels in a writing career that lasted more than five decades.

Martin Meyers (1934-2014)

My first acquaintance with Meyers was through the series he wrote in collaboration with his wife, Annette Meyers, under the name Maan Meyers. It took place in colonial New York City during the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. These stories really captured my imagination and I was never able to get hold of all the books in the series. The series began with The Dutchman and the main protagonist was Pieter Tonneman, the last Dutch sheriff of New Amsterdam and the first sheriff of New York. Meyers wrote other series as well, but it's the Dutchman series that I will read again.

Lou Allin (1945-2014)

Authors who find their way into writing after many years have passed pursuing other interests always impress me. Allin's first mystery book was published when she was 55 years old. Awesome! Her first series features Belle Palmer, a realtor in Northern Ontario. And her second is about the activities of Holly Martin, a corporal in the RCMP on Vancouver Island. I have some of these on my TBR shelf because the location, the job and the woman herself intrigue me.

Sadly, it was pancreatic cancer that ended Allin's career. Her last book, Contingency Plan, won the 2013 Arthur Ellis Award for best novella.

James Thompson (1964-2014)

Thompson was best known for his amazing novels that fell under the category of Finnish noir. He wrote the Inspector Kari Vaara novels, the first of which, Snow Angels, was a sensation and was short-listed for the Anthony and Edgar Awards. Vaara was the police chief in a town in Lapland, but moved on to Helsinki where he was a homicide inspector.

An anthology edited by Thompson and containing one of his stories, Helsinki Noir, will be published posthumously in November. His last book, Helsinki Dead, was scheduled for release but it was unfinished at the time of his unexpected death.

Mary Stewart (1916-2014)

Stewart was one of the most widely-read fiction authors of our time. While she was well known for her Arthurian fantasies, she also made her mark as the author of romantic suspense novels, which took place in exotic locations. Her books continue to be republished because interest in her stories hasn't waned.

My favorites are The Moon Spinners and Airs Above the Ground.

James Melville (1931-2014)

Melville's real name was Roy Peter Martin. After a varied career in teaching and politics, he travelled to the Far East, representing Great Britain as a cultural diplomat. In 1979, he went to Japan as the head of the British Council and there he began writing his fascinating series featuring Tetsuo Otani, the Superintendent of Police in Kobe. Melville presented a portrait of Japanese life caught as it was between the drive for modernism and the desire to preserve a very traditional past.

Ironically, he died just as Ostara Crime publishing was bringing his books back into print. I always felt his books were keepers and I still have copies of several of them.

Under the name Hampton Charles, he took on the responsibility of continuing the Miss Seeton mysteries originally written by Heron Carvic. These gentle stories were loosely based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series.

Aimée Thurlo (1951-2014)

Partnered by her husband David, Aimée co-wrote three different mystery series, each chronicling the adventures of protagonists who were very different from each other. The first featured Ella Clah, an ex-FBI agent now working for the Navaho police on a reservation.

The second starred Sister Agatha, a nun who was once an investigative journalist, and this made for an unusual approach to crime solving. More recently, they wrote about an extraordinary vampire police officer in New Mexico called Lee Nez. These books are something I'd like to get my teeth into.

Anthony Bruno (1952 – 2014)

Bruno was known for his series of "Bad" novels––Bad Guys, Bad Blood, Bad Luck and more, featuring two FBI agents on the town in New York City. Later he wrote about partner parole violator searchers in New Jersey, Loretta Kovacs and Frank Marvell. Bruno is also the author of the crime novel Seven, based on the Brad Pitt-Morgan Freeman movie. Bruno's life was cut short by a cerebral hemorrhage.

Even though they were not writers of crime fiction, it is important to honor two great authors who were known to readers and non-readers alike.

Poet and writer Dr. Maya Angelou (1928-2014) died at the age of 86, leaving a legacy of greatness that included writing, acting, lecturing and civil rights activism. She wrote: "All my work, my life, everything I do is about survival, not just bare, awful, plodding survival, but survival with grace and faith. While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated."

One of her best-known works is I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. I still recall the impact the book had on me when I read it.

Gabriel Garcia Márquez (1927-2014) was a Nobel Laureate whose death was mourned around the world. He was widely recognized as the voice that enlightened us about the passions, superstitions, violence and social inequality of Latin America. Two of his well-known books are Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

“Fiction was invented the day Jonah arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he had been swallowed by a whale."