Tokyo Year Zero

‘Detective Minami! Detective Minami! Detective Minami!’

I open my eyes. From dreams that are not my own. I sit up in my chair at my desk. Dreams I do not want. My collar is wet and my whole suit damp. My hair itches. My skin itches —

‘Detective Minami! Detective Minami!’

‘Did you just say something?’ I ask Nishi —

Nishi shakes his head. Nishi says, ‘No.’

I stare up at the ceiling. Nothing moves in the bright light. The fans have stopped. No electricity. The telephones silent. No lines. The toilets blocked. No water. Nothing —

‘Kumagaya was hit during the night,’ says Nishi. ‘There are reports of gunfire from the palace…’

‘I didn’t dream it, then?’

I take out my handkerchief. It is old and it is dirty. I wipe my neck again. Then I wipe my face. Now I check my pockets —

They are handing out potassium cyanide to the women, the children and the aged, saying this latest cabinet reshuffle foretells the end of the war, the end of Japan, the end of the world…

Nishi holds up a small box and asks, ‘You looking for these?’ I snatch the box of Muronal out of his hands. I check the contents. Enough. I stuff the box back into my jacket pocket —

Sirens and warnings all through the night; Tokyo hot and dark, hidden and cowed; night and day, rumours of new weapons, fears of new bombs; first Hiroshima, then Nagasaki, next is Tokyo…

Bombs that mean the end of Japan, the end of the world…

No sleep. Only dreams. No sleep. Only dreams…

Night and day, this is why I take these pills…

This is what I tell myself, night and day…

‘They were on the floor,’ says Nishi —

I nod. I ask, ‘You got a cigarette?’

Nishi shakes his head. I curse him. There are five more days until the next special ration. Five more days…

The office door swings open —

Detective Fujita storms into the room. Detective Fujita has a Police Bulletin in his hand. Fujita says, ‘Sorry, more bad news…’

He tosses the bulletin on to my desk. Nishi picks it up —

Nishi is young. Nishi is keen. Too young…

‘It’s from the Shinagawa Police Station,’ he says, and reads, ‘Body discovered in suspicious circumstances at the Women’s Dormitory Building of the Dai-Ichi Naval Clothing Department…’

‘Just a moment,’ I tell him. ‘Surely anything to do with the Naval Clothing Department falls under the jurisdiction of the Kempeitai? This is a case for the Military Police, not civilian…’

‘I know,’ says Fujita. ‘But Shinagawa are requesting Murder Squad detectives. Like I say, I’m really sorry I pulled it…’

No one wants a case. Not today. Not now…

I get up from my desk. I grab my hat —

‘Come on,’ I tell Fujita and Nishi. ‘We’ll find someone else. We’ll dump the case. You just watch me…’

I go out of our room and down the main hallway of the First Investigative Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department; down Police Arcade, room to room, office to office, door to door —

Door to door. No one. Office to office. No one. Room to room. No one. Everyone evacuated or absent —

No one wants a case. Not today…

Just Fujita, Nishi and me now —

I curse. I curse. I curse…

I stand in the corridor. I ask Nishi, ‘Where’s Chief Kita?’

‘All chiefs were summoned to a meeting at seven a.m.…’

I take out my pocket watch. It’s already past eight —

‘Seven a.m.?’ I repeat. ‘Maybe today is the day, then?’

‘Didn’t you hear the nine o’clock news last night?’ he asks. ‘There’s to be an imperial broadcast at noon today…’

I eat acorns. I eat leaves. I eat weeds…

‘A broadcast about what?’

‘I don’t know, but the entire nation has been instructed to find a radio so that they can listen to it…’

‘Today is the day, then,’ I say. ‘People, return to your homes! Kill your children! Kill your wives! Then kill yourself!’

‘No, no, no,’ says Nishi —

Too young. Too keen…

‘If we’re going to go,’ interrupts Fujita, ‘let’s at least go via Shimbashi and get some cigarettes…’

‘That’s a very good idea,’ I say. ‘No cars for us anyway…’

‘Let’s take the Yamate Line round to Shinagawa,’ he says. ‘Take our time, walk slowly, and hope we’re too late…’

‘If the Yamate Line is even running,’ I remind him —

‘Like I say,’ says Fujita again, ‘take our time.’

Detective Fujita, Nishi and I walk down the stairs, through the doors, and leave headquarters by the back way, on the side of the building that faces away from the grounds of the Imperial Palace —

That looks out on the ruins of the Ministry of Justice.