Turnabout Gurgitation

 「食いモンの王様といやァ、今も昔も昨日も明日もラーメンさ」

『逆転裁判４』

"The king of food, is still, has always been and will always be ramen"

"Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney"

Last year, just before I left Kyoto, I wrote a lengthy post on ramen (a noodle soup dish). It had nothing to do with detective fiction. But I like ramen, no I love ramen, so I just wanted to do a write-up on the many, many restaurants in my neighbourhood (which was dubbed a ramen restaurant warzone). And yet, it is still one of the best read posts on this blog. I may be doing something wrong here.

And also about one year ago, I wrote about Nishimura Ken's Yugefuku - Hakata Tantei Jiken File, a short story collection centered around ramen, specifically Hakata tonkotsu (pork bone) ramen. Hashigo ("Food Stand Hopping") is the sequel, and has the same set-up: we follow Fukuoka-based private detective Yuge Takumi (and connoisseur of ramen) as he takes on different kind of cases, from locating missing people to fullfledged murder. The cases, while varied, have one thing in common: Yuge always manages to solve them through his knowledge of... ramen. His pet peeve, "Ramen is like a minature map of human society. There is sadness, a bit of hapiness and every else", isn't just words: the key to every case can always be found in the rich ramen culture. And ramen is also a symbol of the greatest mystery Yuge has to solve: his father, who had a ramen stand, disappeared many years ago and Yuge is determined to find his father.

You know what, I could say that Hashigo is basically the same as Yugefuku - Hakata Tantei Jiken File, only slightly worse, and I'd be done with this review. There is really little to differentiate to Hashigo from its predecessor: sure, we see some characters from the first book here too, and we are slightly closer to solving the mystery behind Yuge's father, but that's all. This Hakata Detective Case Files series is apparently planned as a trilogy, but unless Nishimura Ken manages to pull something amazing in the last volume, the series sure doesn't feel like a properly planned trilogy, as the first and second volume are practically the same...

What Hashigo still does right is being a topographical mystery: Fukuoka, its inhabitants and its many, many ramen restaurants really come alive in these stories, and I say that having lived for a year (in Fukuoka; not a ramen restaurant). A lot of the detective stories I read are set on the main Japanese island of Honshuu, so I always appreciate it when I see Kyuushuu as a setting, and seldom has it been described so lively as here. The same holds for the copious amount of information to be found on ramen here. From the complex history of tonkotsu (pork bone) ramen to how yatai food stands are set up, ramen is everywhere in this volume and you'll learn more about the tasty noodle dish than you'll ever need.

Yugefuku - Hakata Tantei Jiken File was at its best when it managed to connect these anecdotes on ramen to the mystery plot in a meaningful manner. It was something that happened rarely though, with most of the stories only barely relating to ramen anyway, and most of the times that some anecdote served as the key to solving the case, it felt kinda too farfetched. Only once or twice did it really work. And in Hashigo, this happened even less. Ryuuro ("Channel") was the only story that kinda worked, I thought, but that was a spiritual sequel and variation to Ten to En in the previous volume (and definitely my favorite), also dealing with the movements of ramen stand owners. Kusare-en ("An Unseverable Tie") started out good as an impossible crime story where a suspects commits suicide in the questioning room with a gun that shouldn't have been there, but it was a very simple impossible crime, and once again, the anecdote on ramen that served as the hint, wasn't really that neatly connected to the story.

As a book on ramen, Hashigo definitely manages to fill you up, but it leaves you wanting for much, much more as a mystery novel. It is basically a slightly worse version of Yugefuku, which is the one I'd recommend if you want to read a ramen-themed mystery. And beware, you will crave for ramen the moment you start in Hashigo.

Original Japanese title(s): 西村健　『はしご』: 「後継者」 / 「交差点」 / 「風と桶屋」 / 「流路」 / 「腐れ縁」 / 「家業」 / 「出入りの町」 /　「絆ふたたび」

Forever my Destiny

途中で放り投げないように　私らしく行こう

望み続けた場所で生きているんだから 

『氷の上に立つように』　（小松未歩）

I will go on as myself so I won't toss them aside halfway through

Because I am living in the place I had been hoping for　

"Like Standing on Ice" (Komatsu Miho) 

You know what, all of my other posts on works written by Matsumoto Seichou started with me talking about the shakai-ha (social school) of detective fiction already, so let's skip that for a change.

The award-winning 1974 movie Suna no Utsuwa ("Vessel of Sand", also known as The Castle of Sand) is based on the same-titled novel by Matsumoto Seichou (available in English as Inspector Imanishi Investigates), directed by Nomura Yoshitarou. The police procedural starts with the discovery of a murdered man on some railtracks in Tokyo: some matches in the coat of the victim quickly brings Inspector Imanishi to a little bar, where the people remember having seen the victim with another, unknown man. They don't know who the two men were, nor where they came from, but they remember one little phrase that was said between the duo: kameda. With kameda as his only clue, Imanishi starts his investigation into the identity of the victim, which will bring him all across Japan.

The English translation of the original nove, Inspector Imanishi Investigates, was the first Matsumoto Seichou novel I ever read and I had quite some expectations for it, considering its reputation and its place in the canon of Japanese detective fiction. I was however quite disappointed by the second half of the book (with a ridiculous murder method that came out of nowhere), and I never felt really positive about the book in general. So what about this movie adaptation?

To start with the conclusion, I quite liked it. It was a lot better than the original novel (they changed that ridiculous second half murder!) and I can definitely understand why Suna no Utsuwa is considered one of the best mystery films of Japan.

The first two-thirds of the movie offer a great police procedural, where we follow Imanishi on his long journey to the truth. The story builds on post-war social changes like urban migration, but also (socio-)linguistic migration and dialects, fields that probably didn't interested me when I originally read the book, but I have done research on Japanese dialects and sociolinguistics in the meantime, so I actually loved it this time. The investigation is admittedly a bit slow and at times, and while not as bad as in the original novel, the story is only able to move forwards by sheer coincidence and luck, but it is definitely fun watching Imanishi slowly, but surely zeroing on the truth.

The movie is also fun to watch (in the meaning of a visual activity), because there are some great shots of the main island of Japan: Imanishi travels a lot all across Japan with the train, following every little hint he has, and we as the viewer are lucky enough to catch a glimpse of that. Like Matsumoto Seichou's phenomenal Ten to Sen (Points and Lines), traveling by train plays a large part in this story, and it's great to actually be able to see it happen on the screen. In the same sense, the movie is also great to listen to: especially when the plot brings up Japanese dialects and accents; it's one thing to read it (and even more confusing, read it in an English translation), but to actually hear it...

The last hour of the movie is quite different from the original novel however. At this point, Imanishi has already solved the case, and he needs to explain the case once again in full, including the motive, to his fellow officers. What follows is a heartbreaking montage of the poor, cruel history of the murderer and what drove him to the murder, accompanied by the fantastic track Shukumei (destiny), effectively making the murderer one of the saddest persons in Japan's fictional crime history.... But only in the movie. In the novel, he only gets like six pages or so. Nomura Yoshitarou's emphasis on the murderer's backstory would later prove to be so influential, that a later TV adaptation of Suna no Utsuwa actually dropped the mystery-aspect of the story, and making it be all about the history of the murderer!

As a shakai-ha (social school) detective story, a theme strongly advocated by Matsumoto Seichou, the movie Suna no Utsuwa is a lot more powerful than the original novel, and in fact better than anything I've actually read by him. But I have to admit that it does feel a bit too heavy, and maybe a bit forced: about eighty minutes of the movie are spent doing a police procedural, and the remaining hour a very thorough explanation of the murderer's motives. Sad as they may be, it does make Suna no Utsuwa is a long movie though, clocking in at 143 minutes and the sudden change in tone halfway through does feel a bit strange.

Overall, I think Suna no Utsuwa is a great movie though. It might have gone slightly overboard with the tears and sadness and all in the second half, but I would say that Suna no Utsuwa surpasses the original novel at all points and definitely recommend watching this movie over reading the book. And that's not something I say often.

Original Japanese title(s):  松本清張（原）　『砂の器』

「ご馳走さん」

「ラーメンには人間社会の縮図がある。物悲しさから、小さな幸せまで何もかも」

『ゆげ福　博多探偵事件ファイル』

"Ramen is like a minature map of human society. There is sadness, a bit of hapiness and every else"

 "Yugefuku - The Hakata Detective Case Files"

I recently bought Columbo on DVD and even though I have seen most of the series, there are still episodes I've never seen, so that has been a fun way of spending my time lately. And then it hit me. A Columbo game like that Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo game where you play as the villain would be awesome. Slowly figuring out the perfect crime, and trying to get away from that pesky inspector. And just as you think you have defeated the last boss, he returns with his superspecialawesome attack "just more thing" (unavoidable, instant death). Make it happen!

And now for something completely different. It shouldn't be a secret by now that I love ramen. Especially Hakata's porkbone tonkotsu ramen. And it is probably also known that I love the town of Fukuoka. So you can guess my excitement when I first heard about Nishimura Ken's Yugefuku - Hakata Tantei Jiken File ("Yugefuku - The Hakata Detective Case Files"), a connected short story collection set in Fukuoka with a ramen theme! Yuge Takumi is a private detective operating in Fukuoka with a great love for ramen. His father once made Fukuoka's best ramen, but disappeared one day. Yuge (who is still called Yugefuku by his close friends after his father's ramen stand) is still trying to figure out what happened to his father, while also doing his normal business. Which for some reason or another, is often connected to that wonderful noodle dish.

I guess that this is what Cor Docter would have called a topographical mystery. The local culture of Fukuoka definitely comes alive in this short story collection, with lively descriptions of downtown Fukuoka and descriptions of many (actually existing) ramen restaurants, as well as copious usage of the local dialect. In fact, in the many years I've blogged, I've often talked about how I love 1) food-themed detectives, 2) usage of dialects and other speech patterns in fiction, 3) Fukuoka, so you'd figure that I'd be all over Yugefuku. So what is the 'but'?

Well, major part of it is just the (lack) of true mystery. I should have been warned by the phrase 'hardboiled detective': initially, it just seemed like a nice pun on the habit of al-dente noodles in Hakata ramen. But Yugefuku is indeed not a Great Detective, and the cases he encounters miss the complexities and structuring I so love. Not seldom we are given a story where Yugefuku has one, admittedly, bright idea about a certain case, which ends up like 'that brought me on the trail of that one person who never actually appeared in the story and was never mentioned to, who quickly confessed to the crime'. These cases aren't that baffling and most of the time, I was left unsatisfied. The storyline about Yugefuku's father's disappearence is also not of any real importance.

The way the stories connect to ramen are Yugefuku at his best and worst. When author Nishimura manages to present something good, the concept works. Like a certain little lady who likes to compare everything tot the happenings in St. Mary Mead, Yugefuku has the habit of comparing everything with the macroworld of ramen, from the history of ramen-types to how cooks work and customs like second serving. These insights into the world of ramen are interesting on their own, but they also provide surprising new points of view on the case, which lead to the solution. The story Ten to En ("Points and Circles", as a reference to Matsumoto Seichou's Points and Lines) for example has Yugefuku talking about ramen delivery, which turns out to be the key to the case. The moment you see how the two seemingly unrelated notions are connected, is really fun. But most of the time, the connection is mediocre at best. One story for example starts with an anecdote on the custom of kaedama in Hakata ramen, a second portion of just the noodles. The story itself however is about another meaning of the word kaedama, namely substitute/stand-in. So no real connection with the case on hand.

When the anecdotes on ramen and other Fukuoka customs and the main plot don't connect well, the stories kinda fall apart: they feel like a collection of random plotlines and comments, without forming a whole. There were sadly several times I had to ask myself why a certain subplot or comment was inserted in the story, only for me to find out that they had absolutely nothing to do with the main story. It is padding, which is something I am not looking for in a short story.

The pages is filled with love for ramen though, and you'll guaranteed want to eat a bowl of hot noodles when you read this, but purely from a mystery-reader's point of view, this short story collection is lacking. However, as you can hardly define me as just a person who loves detective fiction, without the above mentioned affection for ramen / Fukuoka / dialects, I'd say that people interested in ramen should definitely try it. When the ramen-mystery mix works, it works and you'll learn a lot about ramen anyway.

Original Japanese title(s): 西村健　『ゆげ福　博多探偵事件ファイル』: 「暖簾わけ」 / 「途上」 / 「点と円」 / 「学習」 / 「風吹きぬ」 / 「裏窓」「悪意 箱」 / 「絆」

「告っといてそのあとなーんもないなんてまずありえへんしなっ！」

「和葉！電話や！」

「け、警察に！？」

「ああ！探偵の目の前で人、殺しよってドアホがここにおるってなァ！」

『名探偵コナン』第７４巻

"Kazuha, call 'em!"

"Who, the police?"

"Yeah! Tell'em there's an idiot here who dared to kill somebody in front of us detectives!"

"Detective Conan 74"

And no, even in the new year I won't stop writing about Conan. Oh, and congratulations Conan, for having passed the 800 installments mark. Yes, I know that this was last month's (last year's!) news, but it took some time for Conan 74 to arrive at my home.

Detective Conan 74 starts with the final chapter to The Female Detective Writer Murder Case, which is actually two cases in one: at one hand we have a murder on the titular female detective writer, with the investigation being focused on the enigmatic nicknames the victim had for the three suspects. On the other hand, we have a slightly more desperate situation at the Mouri Kogoro Detective Agency, as the victim's brother is keeping the three victims, Mouri Kogorou, Ran, Conan and not-sure-what-she-is-and-not-even-whether-she-is-really-a-she Sera Masumi hostage there, until they figure out who killed his sister. Of course with the intent of then killing the murderer himself. I am not a big fan of figuring out codes (in this case, what names correspond to which people), so not too big a fan of this story. Conan stories also occasionally address the question of what the implications are of a detective's actions, but the if-the-detective-solves-the-case-the-murderer-is-going-to-die scenario is a bit too obvious.

The Movie Site Kidnapping Case is a rather minor Detective Boys story (though it seems big in at first). Ayumi gets kidnapped while she's at Agasa's house, and the Scooby Gang are forced to find a cat for the kidnapper to get Ayumi back. Yes, it is exactly as silly as it sounds. There is something behind the whole case of course, but I'd say that the most interesting part of this story is the attempt of Aoyama to depict Sera Masumi as a candiate suspect for Black Organisation member and disguise specialist Bourbon, who should have infiltrated the Conan cast by now. And I guess there's also a Beware-What-You-Post-On-The-Internet lesson for kids too. Remember, glasses reflect!

Who's the Great Detective? features our favorite Osaka duo, Hattori and Kazuha, so yes, this is the best story in this volume. Kazuha (and another familiar face) get involved with a poisoning case in a restaurant, with the only clue being that the murderer is someone from Osaka. What follows is a fantastic story for anyone interested in dialects, local speech-styles and stereotypes. Which is exactly where I specialized in with my Japanese studies. So I might be a bit biased. From a linguistic point-of-view, this really is a puzzle that makes good use of the linguistic and cultural diversity (and the stereotypes of said items) within Japan. From a translator's point-of-view, this seems like a nightmare though, precisely because of that. I guess lots of footnotes? Oh, and there is a funny sub-story here, with Sera Masumi wanting to know whether Hattori or Kudou is better. Cue heated deduction battle.

In comparison, The Distorted Optical Illusion Murder Case seems less interesting, even if this is supposed to be the 'main' Hattori story. Appearances of Hattori are often split in two: it usually starts with a short story just as Hattori arrives in Tokyo to visit the gang, followed by a longer story that is about the actual reason for Hattori visiting Tokyo. Which is also true for this volume. The reason Hattori came to Tokyo was because Hattori was challenged by a murderer to solve a crime that happened a bit earlier in Karuizawa. The gang visits the family of the deceased, but murder strikes again and Hattori and Conan are forced to reconsider the theories about the first murder. This is quite a large case, with a disappearing dying message, an unknown poisoning method and much  more beneath the surface, but the story is kinda chaotic and a bit too bloaty to be considered really good. Even though I have to admit that the story continues into the next volume and I have no idea yet what happened.

While not a bad volume per se,  volume 74 feels like 'just' a transition volume. The last volume featured Sera Masumi's introduction, so this volume was more focused on making Sera Masumi seem like a totally suspicious person and the two Hattori stories here are definitely just "let's throw in Hattori now, because I can't do an plot-important story so close to Sera's introduction, but I need to come up with something to hook the readers"-stories. Which again isn't bad per se, but the The Distorted Optical Illusion Murder Case certainly is not as amusing as regular Hattori stories.

Original Japanese title(s): 青山剛昌　『名探偵コナン』第７４巻