by David Peace
1948/3/6; 06.00: Strong northeasterly winds / Meeting of entire First Investigative Division at Special Investigation HQ / Police Chief Kita gives overview of investigation to date and outlines direction of investigation for Third Period / Focus to be on new lead checking ex-personnel of the former Japanese Imperial Chemical Laboratory in Tsudanuma, Chiba-ken / Known that experiments were conducted with prussic acid as a poison / Corps sent to Manchuria during the war / Corps used poison on animals and humans successfully / Pamphlet on use of poison issued to Japanese army personnel / Modus operandi and use of prussic poison by the criminal very similar to the training developed by Tsudanuma Arsenal / Language used by the criminal indicative of training by this laboratory / Further evidence: use of ‘First Drug’ and ‘Second Drug’ in English; ability to drink from the same bottle as victims in knowledge that poison had been precipitated at bottom of solution; knowledge of precipitation of prussic acid using oil from palm trees / Furthermore, equipment used matches description of equipment used in Tsudanuma laboratory / Note: at end of war and closure of laboratory, employees took equipment home / Personnel information on former employees now been given by former Major Nonoyama and former Colonel Yokoyama / Request that all information be kept secret for fear of prosecution by War Crimes Tribunal / Police Chief Kita concludes meeting with statement that complaint about behaviour of press will be lodged with SCAP / Cheers / Meeting ends / 08.00: Meeting of Room #2 for re-assignment / Retained with Fukushi on ji-dōri team / Argument with Suzuki (Head of the First Division) / Questioning is ineffective / Leading nowhere / Three crime scenes – Ebara, Nakai and Shiinamachi – not helping / Suggest only follow hard evidence of Matsui and Yamaguchi name-cards / Track the cards, find the killer / Rebuked for insubordination / Transferred and demoted to Robbery Room with Fukushi / 09.00: Report for reassignment to Robbery Room / Small rented room next to Investigation HQ in Mejiro / Now under Inspector Iki-i / Eight men; four on Matsui, four on Yamaguchi / Assigned to Matsui card with Fukushi / All reports direct to Iki-i / Iki-i reports directly to Police Chief Kita / No information to be given to First Investigative Division (for fear of leaks to press) / Told to read through Robbery Room name-card files and notes to date / 09.30: Begin with Detective Tomitsuka’s report on interviews with Matsui and information and statements gathered in Sendai / Card one of 100 printed in the basement of Miyagi Prefectural Office on 25 March 1947 / Dr Matsui had exchanged 128 cards in total / Each person located, interviewed, asked to produce card received from Matsui / Persons unable to produce Matsui card allocated file / Told to work through each file / Re-check each file and mark for possible re-interview / Begin to re-check, re-check, re-check / No regrets.
1948/3/7; 06.00: Strong winds still / Re-check, re-check, re-check / One file, one name, stands out: Hirasawa Daishō / Hirasawa Daishō pen-name of Hirasawa Sadamichi, aged fifty-seven / Hirasawa resident in Otaru, Hokkaido with father and younger brother / Wife and three children resident in Tokyo / Request made to Otaru Police Station for information on Hirasawa / Report from Otaru: Hirasawa famous artist of good character and reputation / No further information or investigation received from Otaru Police / Detectives Tomitsuka and Iki-i travel to Otaru / Interview Hirasawa / Hirasawa states that he met Dr Matsui on the train ferry from Hokkaido to Honshu sometime in July last year / Hirasawa says he was travelling to Tokyo to deliver one of his watercolours to the Crown Prince / Hirasawa and Matsui exchange name-cards / Hirasawa states that he lost Matsui’s name-card when his wallet was stolen by a pickpocket in Tokyo at Mikawashima Station on the Joban Line in August 1947 / Hirasawa reported theft to the Mikawashima Station kōban / Detectives ask Hirasawa’s whereabouts on 26 January / Hirasawa admits he was in Tokyo on the day of the crime / Hirasawa states he spent the morning and early afternoon with his daughter and son-in-law in the Marunouchi district / Hirasawa then took a train to his other daughter’s house, where he spent the rest of the afternoon and evening playing cards with his daughter’s boyfriend / Detectives conclude Hirasawa is not suspect / Innocent / Disagree; premature / Alibi not checked, statements not corroborated / Place file to one side / Continue to re-check, re-check, re-check other files.
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The Fourth Period (the fourth twenty days of the investigation; 26 March to 14 April, 1948) –
1948/3/26; 06.00: Clear / Meeting of Robbery Room Name-card Team / Request permission to visit Mikawashima Station kōban to re-check Hirasawa pickpocket story / Other detectives sceptical / Waste of time, they say / But Inspector Iki-i grants permission / Make a telephone call / Ask about the officer who took down Hirasawa’s statement about being pickpocketed in August last year / Find out when the officer will be on duty / 09.00: Go to the Mikawashima Station kōban / Meet the officer / Nervous / File in hand / Apologizes for lack of detail and discrepancies in original report / Failure to note Hirasawa’s date of birth / Age noted as forty-five years old etc. / Claims to have been mesmerized by the way Hirasawa spoke, his use of language, his reputation, connections to the Imperial Family etc. / Following the interview, admits he chased after Hirasawa to confirm age and date of birth / Hirasawa gone / Vanished / Officer and two colleagues agreed to write ‘forty-five years old’ in the report, based on their impressions / Tell officer that Hirasawa would have been fifty-six or fifty-seven years old in August 1947 / Note: survivors of the Teigin incident all stated that the perpetrator looked to be approximately ‘fifty years old’ / Note: Hirasawa appeared to be younger than he was to the Mikawashima Officers / Note: Hirasawa should not be eliminated on basis of age alone / Mikawashima officer then produces a fan from case file / Hirasawa had given the fan to the officer at the time of his statement / Hirasawa stated that the thief left the fan in his pocket when he stole his wallet / Fan is stamped with the name of an ice-vendor and his address / 10.00: Leave Mikawashima Station kōban / Follow the fan / Address of ice-vendor in the same neighbourhood as one of Hirasawa’s daughters / Speak with ice-vendor / Man sells coal and logs in the winter / Ice in the summer / Made fifty fans as a gift for regular customers last summer / Hirasawa’s daughter is a regular customer / Ice-vendor remembers giving fan to Hirasawa’s daughter / Story about pickpocket a lie / Kuro-kuro / Stand for a long time outside Hirasawa’s daughter’s house / Blacker and blacker / Do not enter / Guiltier and guiltier / 12.00: Return to Robbery Room Name-card Team HQ / 13.00: Meeting with Inspector Iki-i / Report on interviews with Mikawashima officer and ice-vendor / Told to write up report and attach to Hirasawa file / Told to move on to other files to re-check for re-interview / So re-check, re-check, re-check / To re-interview, re-interview, re-interview.
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The Fifth Period (the fifth twenty days of the investigation; 15 April to 4 May, 1948) –
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The Sixth Period (the sixth twenty days of the investigation; 5 May to 24 May, 1948) –
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The Seventh Period (the seventh twenty days of the investigation; 25 May to 13 June, 1948) –
1948/5/25; 06.00: Warm / Meeting of Robbery Room Name-card Team / Inspector Iki-i gives us the news we’ve all been waiting to hear / Permission granted and budget approved for travel to Tōhoku and Hokkaido to interview each individual with whom Matsui had exchanged name-cards / Ordered to confirm and detail situation in which each name-card was exchanged / Ordered to retrieve each Matsui name-card from each individual / 128 cards in total / Detectives liga and Fukushi assigned the seventy-seven cards exchanged in the Tōhoku area / Assigned with Inspector Iki-i to investigate the fifty-one cards exchanged in Hokkaido / Top of the list: Hirasawa Sadamichi / Told to expect to be away for one month / Return home to pack.
1948/5/26; 06.00: Warm / Leave Ueno Station for Hokkaido.
1948/5/27; 06.00: Cool, slight breeze / Sapporo, Hokkaido
/ Begin investigation.
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Every day a different bus or a different train to a different town and a different interview / Every interview, a different high-ranking local government official / Every official produces the card Dr Matsui gave them in exchange for their own / Every day, another name crossed off the list / Another report to write up, another call back to Tokyo / Every night, a different inn or the floor of a different police station or kōban / Every night, the same dream, the same name / Kuro-kuro / Hirasawa Sadamichi / Blacker and blacker / Every day, nearer and nearer / Guiltier and guiltier…
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1948/6/6; 08.00: Humid / Shikinai-chō, Otaru, Hokkaido / Residence of Hirasawa Sadamichi’s father / The second floor of the house / Hirasawa’s father sat before the unlit stove in the first room, smoking a pipe / Hirasawa sat in a kimono in the next room, before a canvas of poppies / ‘You start painting very early…’ / ‘It is my habit to start early every day. Today is no exception.’ / Note: paint on the canvas is dry and hard / ‘Do you only paint flowers?’ / ‘I went to an exhibition at the Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo on the day of the Teigin incident. I am not the killer.’ / ‘We didn’t say you were. We are only here to ask you about Dr Matsui’s name-card.’ / ‘I am not the man you are looking for.’ / ‘Well then, that day on the ferry, did you exchange cards with anyone else other than Dr Matsui?’ / ‘I do not remember.’ / ‘Can you tell us why you stay here, even though your wife and children live in Tokyo?’ / ‘My father could pass away soon. So this is my last obligation as a good son to his aged father.’ / Note: Hirasawa’s father is a former colonel in the Kempeitai and appears in good health / Conversation continues in circles / Hirasawa claims forgetfulness, pleads ignorance / Evasive / Ask Hirasawa for a photograph to take back to Tokyo to show eye-witnesses for purposes of elimination / ‘I do not have any photographs.’ / Conclude interview / In the genkan, canvas shoulder bag hanging from a peg / Note: Teigin killer reported to have carried a canvas shoulder bag / ‘Is that your bag?’ / ‘No.’ / 09.00: Leave Hirasawa residence / Stand for a long time outside Hirasawa’s house / Kuro-kuro / Inspector Iki-i agrees Hirasawa’s behaviour and statements suspicious / Blacker and blacker / Iki-i agrees Hirasawa strongly resembles composite drawing of Teigin suspect / Guiltier and guiltier.
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1948/6/12; 18.00: Hot, rainy / Investigation of fifty-one name-cards complete / Return to Tokyo via Otaru / Hatch plan to take photograph of Hirasawa / Re-visit Hirasawa residence / Invite Hirasawa to local restaurant for dinner / Hirasawa readily accepts invitation / ‘But please remember, I am not the killer. I am not the man you are looking for.’ / Casual conversation in local restaurant / Again Hirasawa suddenly says, ‘On January 26th, I spent the morning and the early afternoon with my daughter and son-in-law in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo. There we visited the shipping firm of my nephew. His name is Yamaguchi. Then, at a little after 2 p.m., I took a train to Nippori to see my nephew’s daughter, Hanako. I also bought some charcoal briquettes. At about 5 p.m. I returned to my house in Nakano. My other daughter had invited a guest, an American GI named Wayne Ely, I think. I spent the evening speaking English and playing cards with her guest.’ / Steer conversation on to casual topics; food, weather etc. / Hirasawa repeatedly mentions his connections to the Imperial Family, his good reputation as a painter and as a man / Restaurant photographer asks if we are ready for traditional dinner-table portrait / Hirasawa reluctant / Puts on his spectacles, sticks out his chin / Portrait taken / Then, without prompting, Hirasawa suddenly says again, ‘I regret having lost Dr Matsui’s card. I enjoyed meeting him and talking with him. I would like to see him again. Unfortunately, a thief picked my pocket last August. He stole my wallet which contained ¥10,000 and all the name-cards I had received, including the card Dr Matsui gave me.’ / Meal finishes / Inspector Iki-i pays for dinner-table portrait / Bid farewell to Hirasawa / Iki-i places portrait in Hirasawa file / Return to Otaru Police Station / No sleep.
1948/6/13; 06.00: Take train back to Tokyo.
The Eighth Period (the eighth twenty days of the investigation; 14 June to 3 July, 1948) –
1948/6/14; 06.00: Rain, humid / The second floor of Mejiro Police Station / Full meeting of the Special Investigation Team, including Robbery Room Name-card Team / Police Chief Kita present / Inspector Iki-i details interviews conducted in Tōhoku and Hokkaido / Photograph of Hirasawa and report of interview distributed to all members / Chief Inspector Suzuki (Head of the First Division) and other members of First Investigative Division sceptical / Hirasawa’s alibi checked months ago / Alibi solid, reputation good / Photograph does not match composite drawing etc. / Age and appearance do not match witness descriptions of Teigin killer / Iki-i restates that Hirasawa is a strong suspect, behaviour suspicious / Strong hunch, good lead / Suzuki not interested / Waste of time / Other leads, better leads / Move on.
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1948/6/25; 08.00: Hot / Meeting of Robbery Room Name-card Team / Directive issued: Detectives should pay particular attention to the following persons who have i) experience in handling medicines or hygiene, ii) experience in medical research, experiments or study, iii) experience in China with the above, and iv) former members of the Tokumu Kikan or Kempei because the suspect had experience and knowledge of i) the quantities of poison needed, of ii) the timing needed, of iii) the control of the victims, of iv) the amount he himself could take and of v) the equipment and tools needed I Emphasis again taken off the name-card teams / Information ignored / Sidelined again / Despondent.
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The Ninth Period (the ninth twenty days of the investigation; 4 July to 23 July, 1948) –
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The Tenth Period (the tenth twenty days of the investigation; 24 July to 12 August, 1948) –
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The Eleventh Period (the eleventh twenty days of the investigation; 13 August to 1 September, 1948) –
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1948/8/13; 08.00: Hot, humid / Meeting of Robbery Room Name-card Team / Police Chief Kita present / Chief Kita states all other leads exhausted / Kita orders direct investigation of Hirasawa Sadamichi / Begin with Hirasawa’s family in Tokyo / Report results of investigation directly to him at his residence in Meguro / Do not disclose direction of investigation or share information with First Investigative Division / All information classified SECRET.
1948/8/14; 10.00: Hot / Visit the father of Hirasawa’s daughter-in-law, wife of Hirasawa’s eldest son / Father of Hirasawa’s daughter-in-law addicted to gambling / Heavy debts, minor charges / Lean on him for information / Provides us with list of guests at wedding of his daughter to Hirasawa’s son / Suggests we speak directly to Hirasawa’s eldest daughter / Claims daughter has voiced suspicions about her father and Teigin incident / 14.00: Visit Hirasawa’s daughter’s place of work; Marufuku coffee shop / Nervous and intimidated / Request to talk to her in private / Outside workplace, daughter suddenly says, ‘This is about the Teigin incident and my father, isn’t it?’ / ‘Why do you say that?’ / ‘Because you’ve already interviewed him and because he looks so much like the composite drawing.’ / ‘You think he resembles the drawing?’ / ‘Not only me. The manager of the coffee shop – he was a police chief in Kanagawa before the war – and he said the resemblance was enough to make the police suspicious.’ / Tell her this questioning is just routine / Make small talk to relax her / Begin to ask about her father and his relations with rest of the family / She says they have not seen him since the end of January / Ask if this is usual / ‘No.’ / ‘How do you all manage with your father in
Hokkaido and you in Tokyo?’ / ‘Before he left for Hokkaido, he gave my mother ¥80,000.’ / ‘¥80,000 is a lot of money.’ / ‘Yes, but he told her it was to last for eight months. He told her if she was to spend only ¥10,000 a month, it would be enough.’ / ‘And your father gave your mother this ¥80,000 at the end of January?’ / ‘Yes.’ / Kuro-kuro / ‘Not before?’ / ‘No.’ / Blacker and blacker / ‘You’re certain?’ / ‘Yes. Why? Have I said something I shouldn’t have?’ / Guiltier and guiltier / ‘No.’ / Now says she must return home to her two children / Escort her home to her residence in Nakano Ward / Buy her box of peaches as a thank-you present for taking up her time / 18.00: Report back to Robbery Room Name-card Team / Blacker and blacker, guiltier and guiltier.
1948/8/16; 06.00: Very hot, very humid / Meeting of Robbery Room Name-card Team / Divide into ji-dōri teams to question Nakano neighbourhood about Hirasawa family / 08.00: Begin questioning of Nakano area / Street by street, house by house, door to door / All day / 22.00: Meeting of Robbery Room Name-card Team / Chief Kita present / Each ji-dōri team reports day’s questioning / Inspector Iki-i then details information gathered about Hirasawa’s finances / In December last year, Hirasawa was in considerable debt; for example, he did not have the cash to purchase a small wardrobe priced at ¥2,500 / Kuro-kuro / Hirasawa and his wife forced to borrow variously ¥500 and ¥1,000 from friends and relatives / Blacker and blacker / However, following the Teigin incident, the Higashi Nakano branch of the Mitsubishi Bank shows ¥20,000 in his wife’s account and ¥44,500 in Hirasawa’s own account / Guiltier and guiltier / Sudden deposits unexplained / Re-state statement by Hirasawa’s eldest daughter concerning ¥80,000 given to his wife at the end of January / Chief Kita states he will present all evidence and information to the Tokyo Prosecutor’s Office tomorrow morning / Kita confident arrest warrant will be granted / Told to prepare to travel to Hokkaido to arrest Hirasawa and bring him back to Tokyo for formal interrogation / Elation.