Novela negra antigua, sin la sordidez que está de moda ahora. Un soplo de aire fresco. ( )

Un inspector se enfrenta a un caso aparentemente irresoluble. Una nueva y emocionante historia de investigación del maestro de la novela negra japonesa.

El cadáver de un hombre con el rostro desfigurado es descubierto de madrugada en una estación de Tokio. La identificación del cuerpo es complicada y la Policía apenas tiene pistas. Al inspector Imanishi le tocará dejar de lado durante un tiempo sus preciados bonsáis y sus haikus para sumergirse en una investigación que resulta infructuosa; tras semanas de perseguir falsos indicios, la Policía decide cerrar el caso, pero el obstinado inspector no se permite dejar ningún cabo suelto. Un hallazgo inesperado le llevará a continuar con sus pesquisas por distintos puntos del país, desde los humildes pueblos de montaña a los círculos intelectuales de Tokio.

Publicada en 1961, El castillo de arena es una de las obras claves de Seicho Matsumoto, el maestro de la novela negra japonesa, en la que explora las luces y sombras de la sociedad nipona de mediados del siglo xx.

El cadáver de un hombre con el rostro desfigurado es descubierto de madrugada en una estación de Tokio. La identificación del cuerpo es complicada y la Policía apenas tiene pistas. Al inspector Imanishi le tocará dejar de lado durante un tiempo sus preciados bonsáis y sus haikus para sumergirse en una investigación que resulta infructuosa; tras semanas de perseguir falsos indicios, la Policía decide cerrar el caso, pero el obstinado inspector no se permite dejar ningún cabo suelto. Un hallazgo inesperado le llevará a continuar con sus pesquisas por distintos puntos del país, desde los humildes pueblos de montaña a los círculos intelectuales de Tokio.

Publicada en 1961, El castillo de arena es una de las obras claves de Seicho Matsumoto, el maestro de la novela negra japonesa, en la que explora las luces y sombras de la sociedad nipona de mediados del siglo XX.

First, I am a long-time resident of Japan, so I'm very familiar with Japanese culture, though not the same Japan as depicted here in 1960 Showa Japan. This book both compelled and exasperated me. I rather like the methodical research done by Imanishi as he pursues leads, many of which don't pan out. On the other hand, I hated the coincidences and leaps of logic that struck me as highly improbable. I truly hated the subplot about what turned out to be an unlikely murder weapon (which I won't describe, as it's a spoiler).The depiction of Imanishi's wife made me laugh. Her only function is to prepare meals and suitcases, relate gossip from the neighborhood, and entertain Imanishi's sister, In a movie version, her character was dispensed with, to no apparent disadvantage. This book compelled me to read on, but I found myself equally pleased and displeased at what transpired. I may have given this book too many stars, but somehow I like it. ( )

Cumulative effects work wonderfully in this novel. And not just the amassing of clues and facts you would expect for a crime thriller such as this. It also applies to the atmosphere, the period of Japan during the early 1960s, which is why I was interested in Inspector Imanishi Investigates in the first place.

I looked into this story because I wanted something out of time and place, whose environment would be nostalgic yet exotic. Tokyo and Japan in 1961 fit the bill perfectly. At first I was disappointed. There didn't seem to be much exotic about it at all. Just a drab, colorless train yard in a big city that, if anything, seemed reflective of American hard-boiled thrillers. Then, things began to change. Slightly. The environs of Tokyo gave way to more descriptive settings in the mountains and countryside. And the cityscape became more interesting. All of a sudden, the novel seemed to bring to life the transition Japan was undergoing at the time. Just a few years later, in 1964, the Tokyo Olympics would herald modern postwar Japan's re-emergence as a major economic and political power. That sense of unveiling is here, too, in Inspector Imanishi Investigates.

The bleak Tokyo landscape begins to acquire a unique character. Much like Imanishi himself, whose desperate crowded bonsai garden seeks to maintain a connection with the past, so does the new Tokyo, with its freshly sprouting apartment buildings barely coexist with the diminishing number of old prewar houses, literally casting them into shadows. Imanishi, his colleagues, and his family, nonetheless, have come to terms with the times. Amidst the gargantuan and at times inhospitable and inhuman nature of all the "Newness," the warrens of teahouses, noodle shops, and old stores provide a nest for tradition.

By chance, I happened to be reading The Pillow Book while also reading Inspector Imanishi Investigates. The courtly etiquette and mannerisms of that 1000 year-old book still linger in Inspector Imanishi, with the polished rituals of letter writing, the messaging through haiku, and even the symbols of old artisan craftsmanship as exemplified through the abacus maker and the handmade lacquered specialties. All the more poignant it is made to seem when Imanishi acknowledges towards the end that it is time to make way for a younger generation.

By the end, then, the novel has provided a unique and, for the Western reader, exotic look at a Japan quickly succumbing to the modern and the new, although Imanishi has put it off for just a while yet. That is what made it so enjoyable for me. Not to mention that the crime story itself is a puzzle piece masterfully brought together at book's end. I'll be reading more of Matsumoto's work soon. ( )