by David Peace
Act II
8. Dr Matsui Shigeru has already been questioned about the Teikoku murders, Dr Matsui Shigeru has already been eliminated as a potential suspect, but Dr Matsui Shigeru is still in our custody, still helping us with our inquiries you seem distracted, Detective DISPLACED We have drawn up lists, lists of the people to whom Dr Matsui Shigeru gave his name-card, the name-cards exchanged and the name-cards received is something troubling you, something on your mind FROM THE PAST, IN THE PRESENT, FOR THE FUTURE We have asked any member of the public who may have exchanged name-cards with Dr Matsui Shigeru to present themselves with the name-card of Dr Matsui Shigeru at their local police station trouble at home, with the wife DISLOCATED Now I ask Dr Matsui Shigeru to tell me the names of the people with whom he worked in Java, Indonesia, the names of the people with whom he served in the Imperial Army in the Public Sanitation and Health Administration Department in Java, Indonesia twenty days straight, no days off, it’s not easy, with a wife UNABLE TO FOCUS, UNABLE TO FORGET My memory is poor, Dr Matsui Shigeru tells me, it must be the effect of that South Asian climate, but I don’t remember them well, the people with whom I worked, the people with whom I served a wife much younger, a pretty little thing, with a young child, both left at home, to fend for themselves THE FUTURE, THE PRESENT, THE PAST Well one of them, at least, remembers you, and remembers you well, I tell Dr Matsui Shigeru and I pass him the letter, the anonymous letter naturally it must be a worry, a distraction, always there, at the back of your mind DISORIENTATED I’ll be seeing you again, I tell Dr Matsui Shigeru, so don’t be going anywhere now are you listening, Detective OUT OF PLACE, OUT OF TIME
9. In the bathhouse we are letting Dr Matsui Shigeru return to Sendai IN THE LOOKING-GLASS Men are shaving their faces as you know, Dr Matsui Shigeru suggested we interview his colleague, Mr Hoshi Shōji in Sendai I HAVE MY FINGERS IN MY EARS On their stools as you know, Detective T. interviewed Mr Hoshi Shōji in Sendai IN THE LOOKING-GLASS Men are washing each other as you know, Mr Hoshi Shōji’s alibi checks out, Mr Hoshi Shōji’s appearance doesn’t match BUT I CANNOT CLOSE MY EYES Buckets of water, over their heads, over their bodies as you know, Mr Hoshi Shōji suggested we interview Dr Matsui Shigeru’s former colleague from Indonesia, ex-medical Sergeant Major Karajima IN THE LOOKING-GLASS I pick up the soap, I lather the soap as you know, we issued an APB for ex-medical Sergeant Major Karajima MY BODY IS NOT MY OWN I wash the shoulders and the back of Detective Inspector H. as you know, the description of ex-medical Sergeant Major Karajima does not match that given by the survivors IN THE LOOKING-GLASS You always look so wrought, he says, you always seem so distracted, Detective N. so we are sending Dr Matsui Shigeru back to Sendai with Detective T., to search through his house, to go through his address book, to collect all his name-cards ALIEN, FOREIGN Harder, he says, rub harder, Detective to refresh his memory IN THE LOOKING-GLASS
10. I turn a corner, blue hope in my pockets, I climb the stairs, my damp hate pulled low, I walk along the corridor, I put out my cigarette, I knock on the door the city is upside down HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE JAPAN Comrade Horie opens the door, Comrade Horie laughs, Oh, no! It’s the cops! Hide the books! Hide the pamphlets! Everybody run for your life the city is inside out WITH ALL MY HEART But Comrade Horie’s one-room apartment is empty, the meeting has already broken up, the party faithful have already left, just stale smoke in the air the whole country, the whole world A DWARF WHOSE HEART IS TOO BIG FOR HIS BODY I push past Comrade Horie into the room, the windowless, book-lined room, I squat down on the floor, and I say, Very funny upside down, inside out HOW MUCH DO YOU HATE AMERICA Comrade Horie shuts the door, Comrade Horie leans against it, Where have you been, Comrade. We’ve been very worried about you, worried you’d had a change of heart back to front WITH ALL MY HEART Don’t you read the newspapers, I ask the sun rises with the dusk A GIANT WHOSE HEART IS TOO SMALL FOR HIS BODY Not the papers you read, no with the dusk the moon sets I WANT TO HOPE, I WANT TO BELIEVE But you’ve heard about what happened at the Teikoku Bank in Shiinamachi, I ask, the mass-poison murder-case animals on two legs, men on all fours WITH ALL MY HEART That your case, asks Comrade Horie a horse rides a man down the Ginza IN THE POSSIBILITY OF A UTOPIA Not just mine, I laugh, every single detective in Tokyo is on the case, every other investigation suspended a boy laps rain water from a drain IF I CANNOT HOPE, IF I CANNOT BELIEVE And do you have a suspect yet a cow milks a woman’s tit WITH ALL MY HEART Not yet, but it seems there could be a link back to the Americans, I say, at the very least it seems that the killer had access to Occupation information, that he’s possibly even employed by them a woman shits in the street IN THE POSSIBILITY OF A UTOPIA Comrade Horie sits down opposite me now, the jokes finished, Really. Now that is very interesting, that could be very useful upside down, inside out THEN THIS IS PETRIFICATION Useful, I ask him, useful for whom back to front THEN THIS IS PARALYSIS The movement, you idiot, he laughs, I should introduce you to Comrade X a cat kisses a dog in front of a department store THE PETRIFICATION OF HOPE, THE PARALYSIS OF BELIEF Who is Comrade X, I ask a man bites the ear off another man in an alley A NEW ICE AGE He is a correspondent for Izvestia a hen dances with a pig in a ballroom IN THE GORGON’S GAZE You’re joking, I say, not laughing, no chance two women fight over a fish in a ditch ALL WOMEN TURN TO STONE Listen, hisses Comrade Horie, if you’re serious about helping us, helping the movement, then you need to start giving us things I see a rat wearing a suit ALL MEN TURN TO STONE What kind of things, I ask a family living in a hole ALL HEARTS Information a flea buying a cake PETRIFIED, PARALYSED And what kind of information do you think I could possibly have, I ask Comrade Horie a child scratching itself raw WITH DESPAIR, WITH HATRED About GHQ, about crimes, about conspiracies lice eating off silver I LOVE JAPAN, I DESPAIR OF JAPAN About conspiracies, I repeat, what conspiracies mothers eating their young I HATE AMERICA, I’M AFRAID OF AMERICA Comrade Horie throws his head back, hands in the air, Oh, wake up! Open your eyes, cop! It’s like the war never happened upside down, inside out NO POSSIBILITY, NO HOPE Like the war never happened, I say, it’s you who should wake up, comrade! You who should open your eyes! This city, this country, was destroyed. People are homeless, people are starving. We were defeated! We are occupied back to front ONLY PETRIFICATION, ONLY PARALYSIS Exactly, grins Horie now, exactly! But for what. So the same political gangs, the same financial houses, the same military cliques, the same Emperor can stay in power. The more things change, the more they stay the same on two legs, on all fours THE DWARF WHOSE HEART IS TOO BIG FOR HIS BODY Tell that to our former prime minister, I say animals are men, men are animals THE GIANT WHOSE HEART IS TOO SMALL FOR HIS BODY Old Tojo, laughs Horie, he’s not important. He never was. He’s just a scapegoat. Maybe a martyr, the way things are going detectives are suspects, suspects are detectives ALL HEARTS ARE STONE I shake my head, I light a cigarette, I cough and cough criminals are judges, judges are criminals IN THE GORGON’S GAZE Listen, says Comrade Horie, things are changing fast and not for the better. Things are moving backwards. The Americans are scared to death of communism, of what’s happening on the mainland. The Americans want things back the way they were before the war. And the Americans are taking steps to ensure that’s what’ll happen, you watch, they’ll be knocking on that door any day now, locking us all back up, throwing away the keys again. Unless we act now, Comrade Detective, we need to wake the Japanese people up! And we need to wake them up before it’s too late! Need to do it now! Need to show the people what’s happening! And you, Comrade Detective, you can help us show them. Because you can provide us with the proof the past is bad, the future is good COLD WARS, ICE AGES Proof of what, I ask him the present is not what it seems, and seems is not what is present IN THE GORGON’S GAZE Are you listening, shouts Horie now, proof that the Americans are colluding and conspiring with the old pre-war elites to stifle and extinguish democracy. To destroy and to bury socialism back to front THE PETRIFICATION OF HOPE, THE PARALYSIS OF BELIEF But what exactly is the proof that you think I possess,
I ask upside down, inside out WITH ALL MY HEART You’ll find it, whispers Comrade Horie, I know you will the moon rises with the dawn I CANNOT HOPE, I CANNOT BELIEVE I cough once again, I hold my chest, I close my eyes, I see smoke again, animals in the smoke with the dawn the sun sets AN ICE AGE IN MY HEART
11. In Kanda, at the Myōjin Shrine, for the Setsubun Festival, I walk with my wife, her child on her back her child is not your child AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD Thank you for bringing me here, she says, I know you should be working her words are not for you EVERYTHING SLIPS, EVERYTHING SLIDES Through the crowds, through the bodies their words are not for you EVERY LIVING THING PASSES Demons be outside, we shout, fortune be inside look at her, what a woman PASSES AND FALLS AWAY All their eyes are on her body the way she carries herself, the way her ass moves INTO THE NIGHT, INTO THE FOG The bodies pressed tight together, hands filled with hard soybeans that’s what I call a woman, that’s what I call a body BLACK NIGHT! BLACK FOG! Hands that want to touch her, hands that want to hold her all that meat to hold, but as wet as a fish NOT SPEAKING, BUT MOANING Thank you for coming, my wife says again be like fucking a fish filled with honey FLESH INTO FLESH You’re welcome, I say that’s what I call a woman AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
12. Dr Takase Toyokichi, a senior member of the medical department of the Tōhoku University Hospital in Sendai, walks into Sendai North Police Station the sound of scratching MEMORIES Dr Takase Toyokichi reports that at the end of December, or at the beginning of January, a man walked into the pharmacy of the Tōhoku University Hospital in Sendai scratching under the ground PRECISE MEMORIES The man was in his fifties, two spots on his left cheek, his hair cut short and grey we are always talking about you IMPRECISE MEMORIES The man asked Dr Takase Toyokichi for potassium cyanide, potassium cyanide to kill the fish in his pond talking about you behind your back THOUGHTS The man had no prescription but the man had a name we are always whispering about you PRECISE THOUGHTS The man said his name was Dr Matsui Shigeru whispering about you behind our hands IMPRECISE THOUGHTS Dr Takase Toyokichi knew this man was not Dr Matsui Shigeru, Dr Takase Toyokichi knows Dr Matsui Shigeru the sound of scratching DREAMS Someone else knows Dr Matsui Shigeru, someone who has his name-card, someone who wanted potassium cyanide scratching under the ground PRECISE DREAMS Someone who murdered twelve people at the Teikoku Bank on January 26, 1948 behind your back, behind their hands IMPRECISE DREAMS
13. I say, I’m sorry about the other night. I tried to call, but you’d already left your office among the smoke, among the tunes MY FATHER APPEARS TO ME It doesn’t matter, says the journalist, forget about it. You are here now. So what have you got for me, Detective from the music-box, the American ovens BY THE RIVER I say, Not something you can probably print, not yet, but it’s something you should know eyes smarting, ears ringing ON THE SHORE Go on, he says in the smoke, in the fog IN HIS UNIFORM What we’re not saying in public is the growing feeling that this case is connected with the Tokumu Kikan and Occupied China on and on, dancing and dancing WITH HIS MEDALS Very interesting, he says on and on, turning and turning WITH HIS SWORD There are rumours of similar cases, cases that occurred back in Shanghai, that the culprit is ex-Tokumu Kikan, with experience handling medicines and civilians, who we should be looking for him, her, hell, hell HE POINTS WEST Very, very interesting, says the journalist flesh, filth, man, woman, human, animal HE POINTS EAST I say, But what I’m telling you is nothing you can print yet, but there’s nothing to stop you looking into the China connection, is there she curtsies, he bows EVERYWHERE IS AMERICA Thank you, he says, I will they clap their hands, their hands are hammers EVERYWHERE
14. We bring Dr Matsui Shigeru back to Investigation Headquarters, we sit Dr Matsui Shigeru in the interview room you are always so suspicious, you are always so jealous IN THE FAMILY ALBUMS, IN THE HISTORY BOOKS I say, Someone used your name to try to buy potassium cyanide from the pharmacy of the Tohoku University Hospital I don’t know what you are talking about, I don’t know who you are talking about GÖBBELS ADMITTED DEFEAT, GÖBBELS TOOK RESPONSIBILITY I know, says Dr Matsui Shigeru what men you mean, what man you mean HE POISONED HIS CHILDREN I say, Someone also tried to buy potassium cyanide from a pharmacy near Sendai Station on January 20, this year he was never here, never in this room HELGA, HILDEGARD, HELMUT, HOLDINE, HEDWIG AND HEIDRUN I know, says Dr Matsui Shigeru I can’t stop them walking past here HAND IN HAND, WITH HIS WIFE I say, This someone knows your name, they know who you are I can’t stop them looking at me HE ADMITTED DEFEAT, HE TOOK RESPONSIBILITY AND SHOT HIMSELF, HAND IN HAND I know, says Dr Matsui Shigeru I can’t stop them thinking about me IN THE FAMILY ALBUMS, IN THE HISTORY BOOKS I say, You must know them, must know their name I can’t make them stay locked in their houses NOT LIKE OUR EMPEROR, HE TAKES NO RESPONSIBILITY It would seem so, says Dr Matsui Shigeru I can’t make them leave their eyes at home HE DENIES EVERYTHING, HE DENIES EVERYONE I ask, So tell me who, tell me their name I can’t make them not think what they think THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS, THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS, THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS I honestly don’t know, whispers Dr Matsui Shigeru I can’t stop you being suspicious, you being jealous HE DENIED US ALL AND HE MARRIED AGAIN I lean forward in my chair, I say, Then you are honestly a liar put a knife in my belly if you will, but never put your hand on my hand again IN HIS TOP HAT AND TAILS, AN AMERICAN GENERAL, WITH APIPE IN HIS MOUTH, HAND IN HAND
Act III
15. In the Police branch of the Public Safety Division of GHQ, they keep me waiting among the tunes, among the smoke THE WINNER AND THE LOSER First Miyakawa, the Liaison from the Justice Ministry, keeps me waiting, then Henry Eaton, the man from the PSD, keeps us both waiting the smell of hospitals, the smell of laboratories THE OCCUPIER AND THE OCCUPIED Him in his smart uniform, buttons polished; me in my old suit, buttons lost white coats and white masks, rubber gloves and rubber shoes THE MASTER AND HIS DOG I say, I am here on behalf of the Second CID Section of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Board to ask for the assistance of the Public Safety Division in our investigation of the Teikoku Bank robbery medicines and drugs, pills and injections HE SPEAKS, I JUMP I say, I am here to ask for the assistance of the Public Safety Division in locating a Lieutenant Hornet and a Lieutenant Parker examinations and tests, experiments and trials I JUMP, HE YELLS I say, We believe that on November 14 last year, the suspect in the Teikoku Bank robbery went to the Ebara branch of the Yasuda Bank in Shinagawa Ward, where he is reported to have told the employees of the bank, ‘I came here with Lieutenant Parker in a jeep because a new typhus case has occurred in this area.’ The suspect then produced some liquid which he told the employees was a preventative medicine for typhus control and directed them to drink it. They did so, suffering no ill-effects in rows, in cages HE YELLS, I COWER I say, On January 26 this year, a man we believe to be the same man appeared at the Shiinamachi branch of the Teikoku Bank in Toshima Ward and stated, ‘I came here because there have been many dysentery cases in this vicinity. Lieutenant Hornet will be here very soon. You must take this medicine for prevention.’ Sixteen employees drank the liquid simultaneously. Twelve died almost immediately in rows of cages, in cages of dogs I COWER, HE BEATS ME I say, We have reason to believe both Lieutenant Hornet and Lieutenant Parker have been associated with typhus disinfecting teams in the Tokyo area; Lieutenant Hornet with the Toshima Team in Ōji Ward and also in Katsushika Ward, Lieutenant Parker with the Ebara Ward Disinfecting Team dogs barking, dogs snarling HE BEATS ME, I WHIMPER I say, So I am here to ask for the names and addresses of any individuals either connected with or having any knowledge of the disinfecting work done by either of these two lieutenants, particularly interpreters or individuals who speak English, though we would advise the elimination of individuals below the age of thirty or above the age of sixty rubber gloves and rubber shoes, white coats and white masks I WHIMPER, HE PETS ME Henry Eaton yawns like a snarling dog, but I am the only dog here in the smoke, in the fog HE PETS ME, I WAG MY TAIL Henry Eaton says now, Leave it with me the dogs are not barking, the dogs all sil
ent now THE DOG AND HIS MASTER
16. This is Comrade X., says Comrade Horie, in his windowless, book-lined room you seem distracted, Detective IN THE LOOKING-GLASS How much do you love Japan, Comrade X. asks me, how much do you hate America are you listening, Detective IN HEAVY BANDAGES Let me tell you two stories, says Comrade X., when our correspondents marched into Berlin with the Red Army, we went half-hungry, because all the available food was reserved for the foreign press, mostly Americans. Because the American press were our guests, we wanted them to have the best people are talking about you, Detective IN THE LOOKING-GLASS Then when all of us landed in Kyushu, alongside a full Red Army general, the American colonel in command sent his aide to invite us all to dinner behind your back FROM OPEN WOUNDS That night, at dinner, we were all seated at the foot of the table, even our Red Army general at the foot of this colonel’s table people are whispering about you, Detective IN THE LOOKING-GLASS From our seats at the foot of his table, we could see this American colonel well, this American colonel and his other much more important guests: a couple of ill-mannered and noisy girls behind their hands IN HEAVY WINTER COATS In the middle of the dinner, one of the girls got up and sang, and all the American officers whistled you need to see someone, Detective IN THE LOOKING-GLASS The song she sang was called, ‘Will I Sleep Alone Tonight’ are you listening FROM OPEN HUNGRY MOUTHS They will treat you like dogs, says Comrade X., they will fuck your women and they will lie to you, Detective, they will lie to you someone who will help you IN THE LOOKING-GLASS So I ask you again, Detective, how much do you hate America, how much do you love Japan are you listening to me, Detective, I’m trying to help you REFLECTED, FRACTURED, DISFIGURED AND OTHER