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Tokyo Express
In una cala rocciosa della baia di Hakata, i corpi di un uomo e di una donna vengono rinvenuti all’alba. Entrambi sono giovani e belli. Il colorito acceso delle guance rivela che hanno assunto del cianuro. Un suicidio d’amore, non ci sono dubbi. La polizia di Fukuoka sembra quasi delusa: niente indagini, niente colpevole. Ma, almeno agli occhi di Torigai Jutaro, vecchio investigatore dall’aria indolente e dagli abiti logori, e del suo giovane collega di Tokyo, Mihara Kiichi, qualcosa non torna: se i due sono arrivati con il medesimo rapido da Tokyo, perché mai lui, Sayama Ken’ichi, funzionario di un ministero al centro di un grosso scandalo per corruzione, è rimasto cinque giorni chiuso in albergo in attesa di una telefonata? E perché poi se n’è andato precipitosamente lasciando una valigia? Ma soprattutto: dov’era intanto lei, l’amante, la seducente Otoki, che di professione intratteneva i clienti in un ristorante? Bizzarro comportamento per due che hanno deciso di farla finita. Per fortuna sia Torigai che Mihara diffidano delle idee preconcette, e sono dotati di una perseveranza e di un intuito fuori del comune. Perché chi ha ordito quella gelida, impeccabile macchinazione è una mente diabolica, capace di capovolgere la realtà. Non solo: è un genio nella gestione del tempo.
Con questo noir dal fascino ossessivo, tutto incentrato su orari e nomi di treni – un congegno perfetto che ruota intorno a una manciata di minuti –, Matsumoto ha firmato un’indagine impossibile, ma anche un libro allusivo, che sa con sottigliezza far parlare il Giappone.
Con questo noir dal fascino ossessivo, tutto incentrato su orari e nomi di treni – un congegno perfetto che ruota intorno a una manciata di minuti –, Matsumoto ha firmato un’indagine impossibile, ma anche un libro allusivo, che sa con sottigliezza far parlare il Giappone.
175 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
About the author
Seichō Matsumoto
626 books385 followersSeicho Matsumoto (松本清張, Matsumoto Seichō), December 21, 1909 – August 4, 1992) was a Japanese writer.
Matsumoto's works created a new tradition of Japanese crime fiction. Dispensing with formulaic plot devices such as puzzles, Matsumoto incorporated elements of human psychology and ordinary life into his crime fiction. In particular, his works often reflect a wider social context and postwar nihilism that expanded the scope and further darkened the atmosphere of the genre. His exposé of corruption among police officials as well as criminals was a new addition to the field. The subject of investigation was not just the crime but also the society in which the crime was committed.
The self-educated Matsumoto did not see his first book in print until he was in his forties. He was a prolific author, he wrote until his death in 1992, producing in four decades more than 450 works. Matsumoto's mystery and detective fiction solidified his reputation as a writer at home and abroad. He wrote historical novels and nonfiction in addition to mystery/detective fiction.
He was awarded the Akutagawa Prize in 1952 and the Kikuchi Kan Prize in 1970, as well as the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1957. He chaired the president of Mystery Writers of Japan from 1963 to 1971.
Credited with popularizing the genre among readers in his country, Matsumoto became his nation's best-selling and highest earning author in the 1960s. His most acclaimed detective novels, including Ten to sen (1958; Points and Lines, 1970); Suna no utsuwa (1961; Inspector Imanishi Investigates, 1989) and Kiri no hata (1961; Pro Bono, 2012), have been translated into a number of languages, including English.
He collaborated with film director Yoshitarō Nomura on adaptations of eight of his novels to film, including Castle of Sand.
Matsumoto's works created a new tradition of Japanese crime fiction. Dispensing with formulaic plot devices such as puzzles, Matsumoto incorporated elements of human psychology and ordinary life into his crime fiction. In particular, his works often reflect a wider social context and postwar nihilism that expanded the scope and further darkened the atmosphere of the genre. His exposé of corruption among police officials as well as criminals was a new addition to the field. The subject of investigation was not just the crime but also the society in which the crime was committed.
The self-educated Matsumoto did not see his first book in print until he was in his forties. He was a prolific author, he wrote until his death in 1992, producing in four decades more than 450 works. Matsumoto's mystery and detective fiction solidified his reputation as a writer at home and abroad. He wrote historical novels and nonfiction in addition to mystery/detective fiction.
He was awarded the Akutagawa Prize in 1952 and the Kikuchi Kan Prize in 1970, as well as the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1957. He chaired the president of Mystery Writers of Japan from 1963 to 1971.
Credited with popularizing the genre among readers in his country, Matsumoto became his nation's best-selling and highest earning author in the 1960s. His most acclaimed detective novels, including Ten to sen (1958; Points and Lines, 1970); Suna no utsuwa (1961; Inspector Imanishi Investigates, 1989) and Kiri no hata (1961; Pro Bono, 2012), have been translated into a number of languages, including English.
He collaborated with film director Yoshitarō Nomura on adaptations of eight of his novels to film, including Castle of Sand.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,370 reviews
January 24, 2021
Bellissimo, l'ho divorato! Un giallo che mi ha tenuta incollata alle pagine in attesa della sua risoluzione e che mi ha portata in giro per il Giappone. È la mia prima lettura di Matsumoto Seichō e non vedo l'ora di leggere altri suoi romanzi.
Se da questi sconti Adelphi vi è rimasto ancora qualcosina e avete voglia di un giallo rompicapo, vi consiglio di recuperare questo libro, e magari anche una cartina del Giappone, essenziale per seguire gli spostamenti dei vari personaggi (cartina che ahimè ho scoperto essere presente alla fine del libro solamente a lettura terminata, assieme a un glossario molto carino).
Se da questi sconti Adelphi vi è rimasto ancora qualcosina e avete voglia di un giallo rompicapo, vi consiglio di recuperare questo libro, e magari anche una cartina del Giappone, essenziale per seguire gli spostamenti dei vari personaggi (cartina che ahimè ho scoperto essere presente alla fine del libro solamente a lettura terminata, assieme a un glossario molto carino).
March 31, 2022
Despites its origins as a magazine serial, Tokyo Express’s an enviably taut, mystery novel by prolific, award-winning author Seichō Matsumoto. A bestseller since its first appearance in Japan in 1958, it’s since been adapted for both film and television. It’s now considered a classic of the flowering of Japanese crime fiction post-WW2 – the genre was banned during the war because it was considered a source of potentially decadent, unpatriotic ideas. At first the crime at the book’s centre seems relatively straightforward: a man and a woman are found dead on a desolate beach in wintry Kashii, next to them an empty bottle laced with cyanide, just another tragic, but predictable, example of double-suicide (Shinjū), a ritual that had become almost commonplace in the period after WW2. But one of the team assigned to the case, Inspector Torigai, isn’t satisfied with that explanation, he shares his suspicions with the equally-dogged, Inspector Mihara, sent from Tokyo to follow up on events.
Torigai's, and then Mihara’s investigations, form the bulk of the story, in many ways they’re thinly-sketched figures yet somehow, they’re quite compelling. Shabby, world-weary, provincial Inspector Torigai’s a particularly sympathetic character, and his bond with the younger, overworked Inspector Mihara’s very effective. Their investigation, with its links to government corruption and bribery, provides a striking glimpse of the machinery of everyday life in post-war Japan, along with its many contradictions: an era of massive reconstruction resulting in a society caught between tradition and rapid change; a place weighed down by complex and damaging social and professional hierarchies, where industrialists thrive but the police are understaffed and poorly-paid. Matsumoto’s portrait of 1950s Japan’s obviously inflected by his comparatively left-wing politics, reminding me at times of the approach of radical crime writers like Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö.
Originally published in English as Points and Lines, this Penguin edition’s a newly-translated version by Jesse Kirkwood, winner of the 2020 Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize. It’s a fluid piece, although elements that hinge on nuances of speech and dialect don’t work quite so well in translation. Tokyo Express was the spark for a new trend in Japanese mystery writing, that reflected Matsumoto’s emphasis on social realism and interest in the psychological underpinnings of criminal acts. But his story retains elements reminiscent of conventional, puzzle-based fiction, much of the plot hinges on the minutiae of train travel and timetables – based on actual published timetables from 1957 – echoing more technical, locked-room-style mysteries popular at the time. It’s an enjoyable, sometimes fascinating piece, and there’s a particularly pleasing symmetry and precision to Matsumoto’s plot.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Penguin Classics for an ARC
Rating: 3.5
Torigai's, and then Mihara’s investigations, form the bulk of the story, in many ways they’re thinly-sketched figures yet somehow, they’re quite compelling. Shabby, world-weary, provincial Inspector Torigai’s a particularly sympathetic character, and his bond with the younger, overworked Inspector Mihara’s very effective. Their investigation, with its links to government corruption and bribery, provides a striking glimpse of the machinery of everyday life in post-war Japan, along with its many contradictions: an era of massive reconstruction resulting in a society caught between tradition and rapid change; a place weighed down by complex and damaging social and professional hierarchies, where industrialists thrive but the police are understaffed and poorly-paid. Matsumoto’s portrait of 1950s Japan’s obviously inflected by his comparatively left-wing politics, reminding me at times of the approach of radical crime writers like Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö.
Originally published in English as Points and Lines, this Penguin edition’s a newly-translated version by Jesse Kirkwood, winner of the 2020 Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize. It’s a fluid piece, although elements that hinge on nuances of speech and dialect don’t work quite so well in translation. Tokyo Express was the spark for a new trend in Japanese mystery writing, that reflected Matsumoto’s emphasis on social realism and interest in the psychological underpinnings of criminal acts. But his story retains elements reminiscent of conventional, puzzle-based fiction, much of the plot hinges on the minutiae of train travel and timetables – based on actual published timetables from 1957 – echoing more technical, locked-room-style mysteries popular at the time. It’s an enjoyable, sometimes fascinating piece, and there’s a particularly pleasing symmetry and precision to Matsumoto’s plot.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Penguin Classics for an ARC
Rating: 3.5
July 1, 2022
My thanks to Penguin Press UK and NetGalley for a review copy of this book.
Tokyo Express is a Japanese mystery/detective novel by Seichō Matsumoto, first published in 1958 and in this version, translated by Jesse Kirkwood. Having only read two of Seishi Yokomizo’s Kindaichi mysteries so far, when this showed up on NetGalley, I was keen to give it a try, and while it turned out quite different from the usual ‘mystery’ novel, I found it to be a very enjoyable one indeed.
After a short opening chapter, the significance of most of the happenings of which we realise only later, we find ourselves on Kashii Beach in Fukuoka where two bodies are found, a man in western clothes and a young woman in a kimono, both of whom have consumed arsenic. Everything seems to point to a ‘love’ suicide, as the persons involved had been seen boarding a train together at Tokyo station and now some days later the bodies have been found side-by-side. But seasoned detective Jūtarō Torigai, of the local police is not entirely convinced, and begins investigating the possible course of events, which if anything, only deepens his suspicions that something doesn’t quite fit. Then one day, Torigai has a visitor, a young colleague from the Tokyo police, Kiichi Mihara, who shares his suspicions. With inputs from Torigai, Mihara begins to investigate the matter, with support from his immediate superior and soon, others up the hierarchy as well. The puzzle before Mihara is no easy one, and us readers go along for the ride as he works at it from different angles, trying to decipher what exactly happened that night at Kashii Beach.
Tokyo Express is a short and very crisp book, rather different from the usual order of mysteries that I have read in that here our focus is almost entirely Inspector Mihara as he doggedly pursues the rather complex puzzle before him. More than a whodunit, since we do pretty much know ‘who’ early on, our focus is on how ‘it’ was done (if indeed there was an ‘it’), and how the person in question could have been at the scene of the crime when there’s a rather iron clad alibi with several witnesses placing them elsewhere. Mihara does interview the suspect and several witnesses, but they never take centre stage, nor do we go deeper into their personalities nor indeed those of the detectives themselves—the book belongs almost solely to Mihara and the puzzle. This is no simple puzzle, though; rather one that keeps us readers entirely engaged. Mihara is pitted against a clever adversary, and while there is no direct battle of wits, there is an indirect one, with the culprit having woven a strong, seemingly unbreakable web, such that it proves hard for Mihara to find the tiniest of chinks. One reads on excitedly to see whether such a chink exists and whether and how Mihara manages to break it. Those looking for a ‘mystery’ needn’t be disappointed either, for there are some surprises in the solution as well.
The puzzle that Mihara must solve is around railway lines and timetables, and of course the places where the suspect ought to have been and where they have actually proved themselves to be. His having to work though various railway routes and lines, timings, and stops was something I found especially fun since one of the few programmes I watch on TV these days is something called Japan Hour, on which one of the programmes featured is trips on local train lines in Japan where the hosts try to find original spots to visit. So, all the discussion and exploration of mainlines and local lines felt familiar territory. I think the book does carry a map and segments from the timetables but this was a bit muddled in the ARC.
Naturally, only having read a couple of Seishi Yokomizo’s books, that was the only point of comparison I had for Japanese mystery fiction. The first thing I noticed was while Tokyo Expressis set only around a decade after the two Yokomizo books I’d read (set in the mid-1940s), this one feels more modern-day, closer in time to where we are with Japan’s well laid out and busy railway system, Tokyo with its coffee shops and trams, and government offices with clandestine dealings with businesses and corruption. Very different from Yokomizo’s isolated villages, rife with superstition and cut off in a sense from city life and ways. Yokomizo of course, also gives us a closer look at the people involved.
Both the detectives we come in the book across are likeable—whether it is the young, energetic and intelligent Mihara or the older, somewhat self-deprecating Torigai who first suspects that all is not as seems to the eye. Neither of them like more modern detective fiction carry any great burdens, and I kind of liked having a book that was focused on the puzzle rather than the people for a change. Torigai is of course weighed down by past mistakes and long experience while Mihara is unsurprisingly more spirited. I wish Torigai had had more of a role in the investigation, though, since I’d enjoyed seeing him work on the case initially and examine things he thought seemed wrong. But it was good to see that whether it was the local police or those in Tokyo, none was content to simply take the matter at face value and move on. All wanted to find the truth.
Fast moving, precise and with a very interesting puzzle at its centre, this was a book I very much enjoyed reading, and which made me want to explore more of Matsumoto's books
Tokyo Express is a Japanese mystery/detective novel by Seichō Matsumoto, first published in 1958 and in this version, translated by Jesse Kirkwood. Having only read two of Seishi Yokomizo’s Kindaichi mysteries so far, when this showed up on NetGalley, I was keen to give it a try, and while it turned out quite different from the usual ‘mystery’ novel, I found it to be a very enjoyable one indeed.
After a short opening chapter, the significance of most of the happenings of which we realise only later, we find ourselves on Kashii Beach in Fukuoka where two bodies are found, a man in western clothes and a young woman in a kimono, both of whom have consumed arsenic. Everything seems to point to a ‘love’ suicide, as the persons involved had been seen boarding a train together at Tokyo station and now some days later the bodies have been found side-by-side. But seasoned detective Jūtarō Torigai, of the local police is not entirely convinced, and begins investigating the possible course of events, which if anything, only deepens his suspicions that something doesn’t quite fit. Then one day, Torigai has a visitor, a young colleague from the Tokyo police, Kiichi Mihara, who shares his suspicions. With inputs from Torigai, Mihara begins to investigate the matter, with support from his immediate superior and soon, others up the hierarchy as well. The puzzle before Mihara is no easy one, and us readers go along for the ride as he works at it from different angles, trying to decipher what exactly happened that night at Kashii Beach.
Tokyo Express is a short and very crisp book, rather different from the usual order of mysteries that I have read in that here our focus is almost entirely Inspector Mihara as he doggedly pursues the rather complex puzzle before him. More than a whodunit, since we do pretty much know ‘who’ early on, our focus is on how ‘it’ was done (if indeed there was an ‘it’), and how the person in question could have been at the scene of the crime when there’s a rather iron clad alibi with several witnesses placing them elsewhere. Mihara does interview the suspect and several witnesses, but they never take centre stage, nor do we go deeper into their personalities nor indeed those of the detectives themselves—the book belongs almost solely to Mihara and the puzzle. This is no simple puzzle, though; rather one that keeps us readers entirely engaged. Mihara is pitted against a clever adversary, and while there is no direct battle of wits, there is an indirect one, with the culprit having woven a strong, seemingly unbreakable web, such that it proves hard for Mihara to find the tiniest of chinks. One reads on excitedly to see whether such a chink exists and whether and how Mihara manages to break it. Those looking for a ‘mystery’ needn’t be disappointed either, for there are some surprises in the solution as well.
The puzzle that Mihara must solve is around railway lines and timetables, and of course the places where the suspect ought to have been and where they have actually proved themselves to be. His having to work though various railway routes and lines, timings, and stops was something I found especially fun since one of the few programmes I watch on TV these days is something called Japan Hour, on which one of the programmes featured is trips on local train lines in Japan where the hosts try to find original spots to visit. So, all the discussion and exploration of mainlines and local lines felt familiar territory. I think the book does carry a map and segments from the timetables but this was a bit muddled in the ARC.
Naturally, only having read a couple of Seishi Yokomizo’s books, that was the only point of comparison I had for Japanese mystery fiction. The first thing I noticed was while Tokyo Expressis set only around a decade after the two Yokomizo books I’d read (set in the mid-1940s), this one feels more modern-day, closer in time to where we are with Japan’s well laid out and busy railway system, Tokyo with its coffee shops and trams, and government offices with clandestine dealings with businesses and corruption. Very different from Yokomizo’s isolated villages, rife with superstition and cut off in a sense from city life and ways. Yokomizo of course, also gives us a closer look at the people involved.
Both the detectives we come in the book across are likeable—whether it is the young, energetic and intelligent Mihara or the older, somewhat self-deprecating Torigai who first suspects that all is not as seems to the eye. Neither of them like more modern detective fiction carry any great burdens, and I kind of liked having a book that was focused on the puzzle rather than the people for a change. Torigai is of course weighed down by past mistakes and long experience while Mihara is unsurprisingly more spirited. I wish Torigai had had more of a role in the investigation, though, since I’d enjoyed seeing him work on the case initially and examine things he thought seemed wrong. But it was good to see that whether it was the local police or those in Tokyo, none was content to simply take the matter at face value and move on. All wanted to find the truth.
Fast moving, precise and with a very interesting puzzle at its centre, this was a book I very much enjoyed reading, and which made me want to explore more of Matsumoto's books
August 8, 2018
Verità apparente
Non credo si possa apprezzare questo rapidissimo thriller scritto nel 1958 da Matsumoto senza essere mai stati in Giappone: risulterebbe incomprensibile.
Tanti i luoghi dai nomi simili (Honshū, Hokkaidō, Hakata, Kyūshū etc), tante le peculiarità giapponesi (l'amore per la precisione, l'attenzione minuziosa per la puntualità che si riflette sull'orario dei treni, l'uso del treno come mezzo di locomozione preferito, l'efficienza del sistema ferroviario, l'attenzione e il rispetto verso il prossimo).
Il libro è velocissimo (come i treni giapponesi) ed è quasi interamente basato su coincidenze ferroviarie e intuizioni investigative.
Due cadaveri su una spiaggia, a pochi chilometri da Tokyo. Giovani amanti, cianuro: è un suicidio, è chiaro. Ma:
“Le persone tendono ad agire sulla base di idee preconcette, a passare oltre dando troppe cose per scontato. E questo è pericoloso. Quando il senso comune diventa un dato di fatto spesso ci induce in errore. Il senso comune ha il sopravvento sulla ragione"
L’indagine, basata su dettagli irrisori e spiegata con stile giornalistico, è complessa ma viene resa in modo efficace e piacevole. Inutile aggiungere che, alla fine, nulla è come sembrava all'inizio.
Non sono amante del genere, ma la lettura del libro mi ha fatto trascorrere un paio d'ore di viaggio (aereo e non ferroviario) in modo piacevolissimo. Per la cronaca, l'aereo era in ritardo. Mica come in Giappone.
March 31, 2018
Recensione scritta prima in giapponese poi in italiano.
ビートたけし主演のドラマ原作。九州の海岸で発見された男女の死体。汚職事件渦中の役人と愛人の心中……そう誰もが思ったが、疑念を抱いたベテラン刑事が独自に捜査をはじめる。しかしたどり着いた容疑者には疑う余地のないアリバイがいくつもあった。同時刻に北海道にいたという鉄壁のアリバイ――東京駅で1日に1度しかない、たった4分間の空白――時刻表トリックを用いた元祖とも言われる作品で、空前の推理小説ブームをまきおこした傑作。松本清張の代表作であり、ミステリ名作中の名作！
ビートたけし主演のドラマ原作。九州の海岸で発見された男女の死体。汚職事件渦中の役人と愛人の心中……そう誰もが思ったが、疑念を抱いたベテラン刑事が独自に捜査をはじめる。しかしたどり着いた容疑者には疑う余地のないアリバイがいくつもあった。同時刻に北海道にいたという鉄壁のアリバイ――東京駅で1日に1度しかない、たった4分間の空白――時刻表トリックを用いた元祖とも言われる作品で、空前の推理小説ブームをまきおこした傑作。松本清張の代表作であり、ミステリ名作中の名作！ :)
Le persone tendono ad agire sulla base di idee preconcette, a passare oltre dando troppe cose per scontate. E questo è pericoloso. Quando il senso comune diventa un dato di fatto spesso ci induce in errore
Massima che vale per ogni buon investigatore ma anche nella vita, in genere.
Un giallo meticoloso, non eccezionale non malvagio, reso faticoso dai nomi, non tanto dei personaggi che si limitano ad una rosa anche abbastanza esigua, ma soprattutto per i luoghi geografici e i nomi dei treni i protagonisti incontrastati.
Ishida yasuda
Fukuoka
Kashii
Yasuda
Koiuki
Otoki
Nishitetsu
Hakata
Ichinoe
Shinjuku.
Otaru
Sapporo (con Sapporo finalmente mi sono sentita a casa)
Etc. etc.
Poi da noi, in Italia, dove le tabelle degli orari di arrivo e partenza di treni e aerei sono quasi una chimera messa lì forse solo per i turisti giapponesi, una vicenda basata sulla loro puntualità senza scarto di decine di minuti di ritardo non avrebbe potuto reggere, nel precisino Giappone sì.
E proprio questa esattezza matematica che permette un incastro ad orologeria tipo battaglia navale colpito - e - affondato è il punto di forza del giallo ma anche il suo punto debole, e alla lunga stanca.
Matsumoto era ritenuto il Simenon giapponese, non vi ho trovato alcun parallelo psicologico.
Il riferimento forse perché come Simenon fu un autore molto prolifico 300 ne scrisse, benché in Italia solo tre suoi libri a tutt’oggi sono stati pubblicati, e perché quando l’autore scriveva il genere giallo era ancora una novità nel panorama letterario globale e in Giappone, e il realismo metodico dei noir rappresentava un’antitesi rispetto all’evanescenza e oniricità della letteratura giapponese.
Mi ha ravvivato comunque il piacere di leggere gialli, a cui a intervalli costanti è sempre bello ritornare.
ビートたけし主演のドラマ原作。九州の海岸で発見された男女の死体。汚職事件渦中の役人と愛人の心中……そう誰もが思ったが、疑念を抱いたベテラン刑事が独自に捜査をはじめる。しかしたどり着いた容疑者には疑う余地のないアリバイがいくつもあった。同時刻に北海道にいたという鉄壁のアリバイ――東京駅で1日に1度しかない、たった4分間の空白――時刻表トリックを用いた元祖とも言われる作品で、空前の推理小説ブームをまきおこした傑作。松本清張の代表作であり、ミステリ名作中の名作！
ビートたけし主演のドラマ原作。九州の海岸で発見された男女の死体。汚職事件渦中の役人と愛人の心中……そう誰もが思ったが、疑念を抱いたベテラン刑事が独自に捜査をはじめる。しかしたどり着いた容疑者には疑う余地のないアリバイがいくつもあった。同時刻に北海道にいたという鉄壁のアリバイ――東京駅で1日に1度しかない、たった4分間の空白――時刻表トリックを用いた元祖とも言われる作品で、空前の推理小説ブームをまきおこした傑作。松本清張の代表作であり、ミステリ名作中の名作！ :)
Le persone tendono ad agire sulla base di idee preconcette, a passare oltre dando troppe cose per scontate. E questo è pericoloso. Quando il senso comune diventa un dato di fatto spesso ci induce in errore
Massima che vale per ogni buon investigatore ma anche nella vita, in genere.
Un giallo meticoloso, non eccezionale non malvagio, reso faticoso dai nomi, non tanto dei personaggi che si limitano ad una rosa anche abbastanza esigua, ma soprattutto per i luoghi geografici e i nomi dei treni i protagonisti incontrastati.
Ishida yasuda
Fukuoka
Kashii
Yasuda
Koiuki
Otoki
Nishitetsu
Hakata
Ichinoe
Shinjuku.
Otaru
Sapporo (con Sapporo finalmente mi sono sentita a casa)
Etc. etc.
Poi da noi, in Italia, dove le tabelle degli orari di arrivo e partenza di treni e aerei sono quasi una chimera messa lì forse solo per i turisti giapponesi, una vicenda basata sulla loro puntualità senza scarto di decine di minuti di ritardo non avrebbe potuto reggere, nel precisino Giappone sì.
E proprio questa esattezza matematica che permette un incastro ad orologeria tipo battaglia navale colpito - e - affondato è il punto di forza del giallo ma anche il suo punto debole, e alla lunga stanca.
Matsumoto era ritenuto il Simenon giapponese, non vi ho trovato alcun parallelo psicologico.
Il riferimento forse perché come Simenon fu un autore molto prolifico 300 ne scrisse, benché in Italia solo tre suoi libri a tutt’oggi sono stati pubblicati, e perché quando l’autore scriveva il genere giallo era ancora una novità nel panorama letterario globale e in Giappone, e il realismo metodico dei noir rappresentava un’antitesi rispetto all’evanescenza e oniricità della letteratura giapponese.
Mi ha ravvivato comunque il piacere di leggere gialli, a cui a intervalli costanti è sempre bello ritornare.
October 3, 2022
"Looking back now, I see that, from start to finish, this case was only ever a matter of train and plane timetables. The answers all lay buried within them."
1950s Japan, a couple is found dead on a beach. It looks like double suicide. The man is a high official at Ministry X, embroiled in a corruption scandal. The woman is a waitress at a restaurant where business man and supplier of the Ministry, Mr Yasuda, is a regular. But is it suicide? Or is Yasuda somehow connected?
A pretty straightforward detective novel with a pleasant calm tone and pace, and an increasingly intricate plot build on the departure and arrival times of trains. The continuous criss-crossing of Japan certainly added to the atmosphere.
I wouldn't go so far as to call this a literary thriller, but it is definitely intriguing and well done. 3,5
1950s Japan, a couple is found dead on a beach. It looks like double suicide. The man is a high official at Ministry X, embroiled in a corruption scandal. The woman is a waitress at a restaurant where business man and supplier of the Ministry, Mr Yasuda, is a regular. But is it suicide? Or is Yasuda somehow connected?
A pretty straightforward detective novel with a pleasant calm tone and pace, and an increasingly intricate plot build on the departure and arrival times of trains. The continuous criss-crossing of Japan certainly added to the atmosphere.
I wouldn't go so far as to call this a literary thriller, but it is definitely intriguing and well done. 3,5
March 1, 2018
Videorecensione: https://youtu.be/XnmQRDGcSRA
January 1, 2023
Matsumoto Seicho è ormai etichettato come il Simenon giapponese per la mole della produzione (oltre 450 titoli) ed il genere praticato (il giallo).
Al di là di questa analogia, cliché e definizioni di comodo hanno sovente ben più solide fondamenta: anche Matsumoto come Simenon evade dalla gabbia della letteratura di genere o di intrattenimento e regala pagine assolutamente indimenticabili.
In questo giallo ferroviario, tutto giocato sugli orari dei treni giapponesi e le loro infallibili coincidenze, la pagina che ho trovato grandiosa è l'incontro dell'investigatore con la moglie malata del sospettato. Un ritratto delicatissimo di pochi paragrafi che restano stampati nella memoria, soprattutto alla luce dell'esito della vicenda.
Ormai Simenon è pacificamente accettato tra i grandi della letteratura del novecento, è giocoforza quindi seguire le prossime uscite adelfiane di Matsumoto di cui sono stati tradotte in italiano solo tre (su 450 !) delle sue opere.
Al di là di questa analogia, cliché e definizioni di comodo hanno sovente ben più solide fondamenta: anche Matsumoto come Simenon evade dalla gabbia della letteratura di genere o di intrattenimento e regala pagine assolutamente indimenticabili.
In questo giallo ferroviario, tutto giocato sugli orari dei treni giapponesi e le loro infallibili coincidenze, la pagina che ho trovato grandiosa è l'incontro dell'investigatore con la moglie malata del sospettato. Un ritratto delicatissimo di pochi paragrafi che restano stampati nella memoria, soprattutto alla luce dell'esito della vicenda.
Ormai Simenon è pacificamente accettato tra i grandi della letteratura del novecento, è giocoforza quindi seguire le prossime uscite adelfiane di Matsumoto di cui sono stati tradotte in italiano solo tre (su 450 !) delle sue opere.
May 7, 2020
Viste le recensioni piuttosto critiche (troppi nomi di città e orari) mi aspettavo un libro incomprensibile, al contrario, sono rimasta piacevolmente sorpresa.
-mi sono divertita ad analizzare i vari orari dei treni; inomi delle città (per quanto giapponesi, e quindi capisco possano essere complessi per qualcuno) non mi sono sembrati una cosa così complicata, per di più sono circa sempre gli stessi. Risoluzione di un caso tramite l'orario dei treni? Ben venga l'originalità
-ho apprezzato che l'autore non si sia concentrato troppo sui fatti personali degli investigatori, raccontandoci la rava e la fava su storie d'amore, un passato tormentato e altre robette che non mi dispiacciono di per sé ma non è che debbano monopolizzare tutti i gialli
-si deve considerare che il libro è un howdunit, non un whodunit
-mi sono divertita ad analizzare i vari orari dei treni; inomi delle città (per quanto giapponesi, e quindi capisco possano essere complessi per qualcuno) non mi sono sembrati una cosa così complicata, per di più sono circa sempre gli stessi. Risoluzione di un caso tramite l'orario dei treni? Ben venga l'originalità
-ho apprezzato che l'autore non si sia concentrato troppo sui fatti personali degli investigatori, raccontandoci la rava e la fava su storie d'amore, un passato tormentato e altre robette che non mi dispiacciono di per sé ma non è che debbano monopolizzare tutti i gialli
-si deve considerare che il libro è un howdunit, non un whodunit
August 8, 2021
Personalmente, la noia. Un elenco di orari di treni e stazioni di un paese a me sconosciuto e che una volta mi affascinava tanto mentre ora invece mi lascia tiepida, ma tant'è. Me lo avevano consigliato in tanti (non il Giappone, il libro) e poi ho ceduto. Il Simenon giapponese mi lascia svilita, quello originale solo tiepida.
Mi sono annoiata, l'avevo preso in mano per interrompere ogni tanto un indubbio capolavoro che però aveva bisogno di respiro. Mi sono imposta di finirlo dalla parrucchiera, dove già mi annoio a morte e il risultato è stato solo raddoppiare la noia.
Sicuramente non lo avrò capito io, visto che lo amate in tanti, ma ci ho provato. Not my cup of tea.
Mi sono annoiata, l'avevo preso in mano per interrompere ogni tanto un indubbio capolavoro che però aveva bisogno di respiro. Mi sono imposta di finirlo dalla parrucchiera, dove già mi annoio a morte e il risultato è stato solo raddoppiare la noia.
Sicuramente non lo avrò capito io, visto che lo amate in tanti, ma ci ho provato. Not my cup of tea.
January 26, 2023
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Tokyo Express presents its readers with an intriguing set-up that is somewhat let-down by the story giving away too much too soon. The premise made me think that this would be a whodunnit with some noir undertones, but it soon became apparent that the mystery driving the narrative was more of the whydunnit variety. There was a cat-and-mouse sort of dynamic that had the potential of elevating the story into the realms of a work of psychological suspense that is never utilised to its full potential (the characterization for both cat and the mouse is too surface-level). Nevertheless, the writing is concise and clear-cut, and the plot develops in a cogent manner. There are some unlikely coincidences (our detective is questioning someone who after claiming they can’t remember X or Y, all of a sudden come up with some vital bit of info). The atmosphere is the driving force of the story, as I found the setting (1950s Japan) and ambience in Tokyo Express to be strongly rendered.
Our unassuming detective, Torigai Jutaro, is convinced that the death of a young, attractive woman and man was not, contrary to what evidence suggests, a lover's suicide. Jutaro is certain that a key witness connecting the two deceased is somehow involved in their death. Trains and timetables are crucial to exposing this person, and Jutaro spends much of his investigation travelling trying to understand how to break his suspect’s alibi. Jutaro was kind of a blank, and I happen to prefer my detectives to be either pompous eccentrics or walking disasters. Jutaro has this vaguely hinted-at personality that doesn’t really emerge given the pace and brevity of the story. The culprit is revealed too early on, and I would have found Jutaro’s investigation more intriguing if that had not been the case. There is an attempt at a twist later on in the story which utilizes a femme fatale/vixen sort of figure, and I happen to have a love/hate relationship with this trope.
For the most part I enjoyed the train motif in this story even if it wasn't quite on the level of Agatha Christie's train-related whodunnits.
Still, Tokyo Express made for a quick and fairly engaging read that I would recommend to fans of Georges Simenon and Keigo Higashino.
Tokyo Express presents its readers with an intriguing set-up that is somewhat let-down by the story giving away too much too soon. The premise made me think that this would be a whodunnit with some noir undertones, but it soon became apparent that the mystery driving the narrative was more of the whydunnit variety. There was a cat-and-mouse sort of dynamic that had the potential of elevating the story into the realms of a work of psychological suspense that is never utilised to its full potential (the characterization for both cat and the mouse is too surface-level). Nevertheless, the writing is concise and clear-cut, and the plot develops in a cogent manner. There are some unlikely coincidences (our detective is questioning someone who after claiming they can’t remember X or Y, all of a sudden come up with some vital bit of info). The atmosphere is the driving force of the story, as I found the setting (1950s Japan) and ambience in Tokyo Express to be strongly rendered.
Our unassuming detective, Torigai Jutaro, is convinced that the death of a young, attractive woman and man was not, contrary to what evidence suggests, a lover's suicide. Jutaro is certain that a key witness connecting the two deceased is somehow involved in their death. Trains and timetables are crucial to exposing this person, and Jutaro spends much of his investigation travelling trying to understand how to break his suspect’s alibi. Jutaro was kind of a blank, and I happen to prefer my detectives to be either pompous eccentrics or walking disasters. Jutaro has this vaguely hinted-at personality that doesn’t really emerge given the pace and brevity of the story. The culprit is revealed too early on, and I would have found Jutaro’s investigation more intriguing if that had not been the case. There is an attempt at a twist later on in the story which utilizes a femme fatale/vixen sort of figure, and I happen to have a love/hate relationship with this trope.
For the most part I enjoyed the train motif in this story even if it wasn't quite on the level of Agatha Christie's train-related whodunnits.
Still, Tokyo Express made for a quick and fairly engaging read that I would recommend to fans of Georges Simenon and Keigo Higashino.
July 20, 2021
Πρόκειται για ένα από τα κλασικότερα αστυνομικά μυθιστορήματα της Ιαπωνικής λογοτεχνίας που έχει ως βασικό 'εργαλείο' το βιβλιαράκι των δρομολογίων των τρένων στο Τόκιο του 1957. Ο Ματσουμότο γνωρίζει το τρόπο να γράφει διαλόγους και πρόζα με σωστό μέτρο και να δημιουργεί αγωνία στο αναγνωστικό κοινό, ωστόσο ένα μεγάλο μέρος του βιβλίου περιέχει συνεχείς πληροφορίες για τα δρομολόγια, όπως και κάποια προβλέψιμα γεγονότα, στοιχεία που μπορεί, ενδεχομένως, να κουράσουν.
Αξίζει, όμως, να διαβαστεί, γιατί, εκτός από αυτά που ήδη αναφέρω πιο πάνω, η περιγραφή των γιαπωνέζικων τοπίων είναι αρκετά ατμοσφαιρική και υπάρχει και μια ανατροπή, κατά τη διαλεύκανση του μυστηρίου των 2 αυτοκτονιών!
Βαθμολογία: 4,1/5 ή 8,2/10.
Θα γίνει και εκτενέστερη κριτική.
Αξίζει, όμως, να διαβαστεί, γιατί, εκτός από αυτά που ήδη αναφέρω πιο πάνω, η περιγραφή των γιαπωνέζικων τοπίων είναι αρκετά ατμοσφαιρική και υπάρχει και μια ανατροπή, κατά τη διαλεύκανση του μυστηρίου των 2 αυτοκτονιών!
Βαθμολογία: 4,1/5 ή 8,2/10.
Θα γίνει και εκτενέστερη κριτική.
September 2, 2018
Ridicolo.
Se Adelphi comincia a proporre certi imbarazzi, siamo alla frutta. A parte il titolo che già da sé risulta fastidiosamente fuorviante... Appena si apre il volume salta all'occhio subito che per qualità, sta roba sembra scritta da un dodicenne. E non solo stilisticamente (anche se la costruzione dei periodi e il lessico basterebbero da soli*): lo svolgimento delle indagini è quanto meno imbarazzante. O meglio... l'idea è molto carina, ma qui i casi sono due: o sono immensamente intelligente e oggi posso proclamarmi un genio, oppure l'autore è immensamente tonto (oppure il suo investigatore, a scelta). Mai successo di assistere alla comprensione del delitto con tanto imbarazzo, misto a pietà per il ritardo di intuizioni da parte del cervellone di turno. Ma cosa volevo pretendere: già dal collega di uno che ha la prima folgorazione perché "non è tanto una questione di appetito, quanto di affetto" (???)...
*Nota: per non peccare di fraudolenza, riporto la frase/pensiero tipo che ricorrerà per tutto il libro: "Un momento!" Pensò. "Ma sarà andata davvero così?"
Se Adelphi comincia a proporre certi imbarazzi, siamo alla frutta. A parte il titolo che già da sé risulta fastidiosamente fuorviante... Appena si apre il volume salta all'occhio subito che per qualità, sta roba sembra scritta da un dodicenne. E non solo stilisticamente (anche se la costruzione dei periodi e il lessico basterebbero da soli*): lo svolgimento delle indagini è quanto meno imbarazzante. O meglio... l'idea è molto carina, ma qui i casi sono due: o sono immensamente intelligente e oggi posso proclamarmi un genio, oppure l'autore è immensamente tonto (oppure il suo investigatore, a scelta). Mai successo di assistere alla comprensione del delitto con tanto imbarazzo, misto a pietà per il ritardo di intuizioni da parte del cervellone di turno. Ma cosa volevo pretendere: già dal collega di uno che ha la prima folgorazione perché "non è tanto una questione di appetito, quanto di affetto" (???)...
*Nota: per non peccare di fraudolenza, riporto la frase/pensiero tipo che ricorrerà per tutto il libro: "Un momento!" Pensò. "Ma sarà andata davvero così?"
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July 5, 2023
The cover is bland; unassuming. It isn’t a book I’d really pick up based on that. Yes, judging books by covers is wrong (and that goes both ways) but sometimes it’s helpful. This cover is not helpful. In fact, it looks wholly boring.
Picked up after an online recommendation for some solid but easy-to-read crime, it was devoured almost immediately. The author was unknown and the authors they were compared to were also unknown, except of course for one: Agatha Christie. I am fairly new to classic or older crime (thrillers, mysteries and all the criminal genres within) and prefer them to be pretty quick reads and this was one like that.
First published in the 1950s, Tokyo Express follows the investigation after the discovery of two bodies on a beach in Southern Japan that, at first glance, is assumed to be a joint suicide. Two detectives, Torigai Jutaro, a senior detective, and Kiichi Mihara, a young gun from Tokyo, quickly realise that the suicide is actually double murder and the alibi of the main suspect must be unravelled through the minutae details.
Despite the time it was published, the story never feels outdated or left in the past: obviously there are no quick calls to each other on mobile phones or a cheeky online search for some obscure police procedure, but because the story is about human nature and how people interact with each other it feels absolutely timeless.
I think in reality, the story and plot is a 3 star, maybe dipping in to 2 stars sometimes. It’s pretty quick, but it is revealed a little too early and strangely, and it isn’t necessarily a straight-forward crime thriller. It’s less about who has murdered whom and more about why they did it. This delves more in to the True Crime kind of area, which is almost exclusively a look at why people murder as opposed to who, what and where.
But it’s a quick, easy and fun read. Despite my reticence at calling anything murder-related cosy or fun, nice or good, that’s pretty much what it is. The plot simmers and boils over occasionally and this is enjoyable. The writing style is easy to read and the translation never felt clunky or like it had missed out on the Japanese idioms and phrases that (I expect) were in the original.
Picked up after an online recommendation for some solid but easy-to-read crime, it was devoured almost immediately. The author was unknown and the authors they were compared to were also unknown, except of course for one: Agatha Christie. I am fairly new to classic or older crime (thrillers, mysteries and all the criminal genres within) and prefer them to be pretty quick reads and this was one like that.
First published in the 1950s, Tokyo Express follows the investigation after the discovery of two bodies on a beach in Southern Japan that, at first glance, is assumed to be a joint suicide. Two detectives, Torigai Jutaro, a senior detective, and Kiichi Mihara, a young gun from Tokyo, quickly realise that the suicide is actually double murder and the alibi of the main suspect must be unravelled through the minutae details.
Despite the time it was published, the story never feels outdated or left in the past: obviously there are no quick calls to each other on mobile phones or a cheeky online search for some obscure police procedure, but because the story is about human nature and how people interact with each other it feels absolutely timeless.
I think in reality, the story and plot is a 3 star, maybe dipping in to 2 stars sometimes. It’s pretty quick, but it is revealed a little too early and strangely, and it isn’t necessarily a straight-forward crime thriller. It’s less about who has murdered whom and more about why they did it. This delves more in to the True Crime kind of area, which is almost exclusively a look at why people murder as opposed to who, what and where.
But it’s a quick, easy and fun read. Despite my reticence at calling anything murder-related cosy or fun, nice or good, that’s pretty much what it is. The plot simmers and boils over occasionally and this is enjoyable. The writing style is easy to read and the translation never felt clunky or like it had missed out on the Japanese idioms and phrases that (I expect) were in the original.
March 21, 2021
Un gran bel giallo ambientato nei meandri delle linee ferroviarie e aeree giapponesi.
Pur essendo un po’ antiquato (è stato scritto ed è ambientato negli anni 50’), Tokyo Express mantiene un ritmo incalzante dalla prima all’ultima pagina.
Oltre che per il giallo in sé, questo libro risulta molto interessante per la visione del Giappone di quegli anni, e di fatto propone un viaggio lungo l’intero paese: l’ambientazione passa dalla caotica Tokyo all’isola di Kyushu, più calda a sud, per finire addirittura nello Hokkaido nell’estremo nord in certe scene.
Per riassumere: questo libro piacerà agli amanti dei gialli, così come piacerà ai filo-giapponesi. Se poi amate entrambe le cose... gioia per gli occhi.
Pur essendo un po’ antiquato (è stato scritto ed è ambientato negli anni 50’), Tokyo Express mantiene un ritmo incalzante dalla prima all’ultima pagina.
Oltre che per il giallo in sé, questo libro risulta molto interessante per la visione del Giappone di quegli anni, e di fatto propone un viaggio lungo l’intero paese: l’ambientazione passa dalla caotica Tokyo all’isola di Kyushu, più calda a sud, per finire addirittura nello Hokkaido nell’estremo nord in certe scene.
Per riassumere: questo libro piacerà agli amanti dei gialli, così come piacerà ai filo-giapponesi. Se poi amate entrambe le cose... gioia per gli occhi.
June 6, 2023
A clever plot and a tight, taut mystery, but lacking in much emotion or characters that one could empathise with because we never really get to know them. Like a Simenson Maigret, but with all the humanity stripped away. Also strangely switches halfway through to become a novella of letters with 2 distant detectives writing to each other, an odd stylistic shift. Also far too long spent pouring over train timetables... Still a breezy crime read.
March 4, 2018
Un bel giallo à la Simenon: ben costruito e per nulla scontato! E poi gli scrittori giapponesi hanno secondo me una marcia in più, a prescindere.
March 12, 2018
«La qualità di un investigatore coincide con la sua ostinazione nel voler risolvere ogni caso, anche quelli che altri vorrebbero archiviare» .
Ed è così che un lettore abbastanza sprovveduto sulla onorevole precisione giapponese, si incanta al rovello dell’investigatore di turno che vuole seguire il proprio istinto intorno a un caso apparentemente semplice, e dunque frettolosamente archiviato, di un doppio suicidio passionale.
Le cose non stanno proprio così come sembrano, ma per venire a capo del busillis dobbiamo: 1. avere sott’occhio la cartina del Giappone (c’è alla fine del libro) e controllarne spesso la geografia e la nomenclatura; 2. farci una ragione del fatto che in Giappone i treni, da nord a sud, viaggiano rigorosamente puntuali. È difficile da credere per noi italiani, lo so, eppure è così: ce lo racconta Matsumoto Seicho in questo noir atipico e molto molto nipponico.
Con perseveranza esemplare l’investigatore Mihara cerca di scalfire un muro denso e spesso che gli impedisce di vedere la verità dei fatti, intorno alla quale minuziosi orari dei treni costruiscono una barriera ma anche un ferreo percorso a ostacoli, destinato a mostrare prima o poi la sua falla.
Asciutto e cerebrale, a suo modo avvincente, rimane però piuttosto distante da noi popoli del sud, abituati alle approssimazioni e agli eterni ritardi delle ferrovie.
Ed è così che un lettore abbastanza sprovveduto sulla onorevole precisione giapponese, si incanta al rovello dell’investigatore di turno che vuole seguire il proprio istinto intorno a un caso apparentemente semplice, e dunque frettolosamente archiviato, di un doppio suicidio passionale.
Le cose non stanno proprio così come sembrano, ma per venire a capo del busillis dobbiamo: 1. avere sott’occhio la cartina del Giappone (c’è alla fine del libro) e controllarne spesso la geografia e la nomenclatura; 2. farci una ragione del fatto che in Giappone i treni, da nord a sud, viaggiano rigorosamente puntuali. È difficile da credere per noi italiani, lo so, eppure è così: ce lo racconta Matsumoto Seicho in questo noir atipico e molto molto nipponico.
Con perseveranza esemplare l’investigatore Mihara cerca di scalfire un muro denso e spesso che gli impedisce di vedere la verità dei fatti, intorno alla quale minuziosi orari dei treni costruiscono una barriera ma anche un ferreo percorso a ostacoli, destinato a mostrare prima o poi la sua falla.
Asciutto e cerebrale, a suo modo avvincente, rimane però piuttosto distante da noi popoli del sud, abituati alle approssimazioni e agli eterni ritardi delle ferrovie.
December 3, 2017
Βαθμολογία: ★★
Δεν είχα υψηλές προσδοκίες και δεν απογοητεύτηκα, αλλά ούτε μπορώ να πω ότι μου άρεσε. Ο συγγραφέας έστησε ένα μυστήριο τόσο περίπλοκο, αλλά και δυσνόητο, που με έκανε να βαρεθώ σε μερικά σημεία. Δυσκολεύτηκα να παρακολουθήσω τις ημερομηνίες και τις ώρες και δεν με έκανε να θέλω να προσπαθήσω. Πάντως, ήταν κάτι το διαφορετικό και δεν μετανιώνω που το διάβασα.
Δεν είχα υψηλές προσδοκίες και δεν απογοητεύτηκα, αλλά ούτε μπορώ να πω ότι μου άρεσε. Ο συγγραφέας έστησε ένα μυστήριο τόσο περίπλοκο, αλλά και δυσνόητο, που με έκανε να βαρεθώ σε μερικά σημεία. Δυσκολεύτηκα να παρακολουθήσω τις ημερομηνίες και τις ώρες και δεν με έκανε να θέλω να προσπαθήσω. Πάντως, ήταν κάτι το διαφορετικό και δεν μετανιώνω που το διάβασα.
May 24, 2018
quattro stelle, in onore:
- dei treni giapponesi, puliti, puntuali, dove non si può parlare al cellulare e col capostazione che fischia la partenza e fa l'inchino
- della mancanza di dettagli sulla vita privata e sulle condizioni psichiche dei detective che svolgono l'indagine
- dei treni giapponesi, puliti, puntuali, dove non si può parlare al cellulare e col capostazione che fischia la partenza e fa l'inchino
- della mancanza di dettagli sulla vita privata e sulle condizioni psichiche dei detective che svolgono l'indagine
June 24, 2023
Tokyo Express certainly has echoes of Seisho Yokomizo's locked room mysteries. When you are faced with what seems like an impossible conundrum then the plot has to get quite complex. Thankfully we're not overwhelmed with characters but unless you're a regular train user I'd try not to think too hard about the timetables that our detective pores over to find out what really happened.
What begins as a sad case of suicide becomes a complex unravelling of the truth.
Despite Tokyo Express being a short book it is certainly packed with detail. As usual I guessed the end wrong every time, which always means I enjoy a book all the more.
If you enjoy Yokomizo, Christie or Carr you will, no doubt, enjoy this. There may not quite be a locked room but a beach at the end of Kyushu is just as claustrophobic.
I enjoyed this very much. Whereas Yokomizo often overwhelms with family dynamics here we have very few characters but a complex timeline to make up for it. Enjoy!
What begins as a sad case of suicide becomes a complex unravelling of the truth.
Despite Tokyo Express being a short book it is certainly packed with detail. As usual I guessed the end wrong every time, which always means I enjoy a book all the more.
If you enjoy Yokomizo, Christie or Carr you will, no doubt, enjoy this. There may not quite be a locked room but a beach at the end of Kyushu is just as claustrophobic.
I enjoyed this very much. Whereas Yokomizo often overwhelms with family dynamics here we have very few characters but a complex timeline to make up for it. Enjoy!
May 31, 2023
Bardzo dobrze spędziłam przy niej czas.
October 26, 2020
Ενα απλό καλογραμμένο βιβλίο με μια όμορφη και ενδιαφέρουσα ιστορία που σε κρατά σε αγωνία απο την αρχή ως το τέλος ώσπου να βρεθεί ο ένοχος των δύο ατόμων. Διότι δεν είναι διπλή αυτοκτονία και ο αστυνομικός Μιχαρα προσπαθεί να βρει τον πραγματικό ένοχο. Υπάρχει αγωνία σε αυτή την δύσκολη υπόθεση και την εξιχνίαση της απο τον έμπειρο αστυνομικό Μιχαρα. Συνηθως τα πολλά ονόματα σε ενα βιβλίο με κουράζουν όμως εδω δεν ειναι πολλά και ετσι η ανάγνωση είναι ευχάριστη. Συμβουλευτηκα λίγο και έναν χάρτη της Ιαπωνίας διότι έτσι κατάφερα να καταλάβω τις περιοχές που αναφέρονται. Ηταν ενα σατανικό σχεδιο που δεν θα μπορούσε κάποιος εύκολα να συλλάβει!!
Αν σας αρέσουν τα αστυνομικά, τότε αυτό σίγουρα θα σας ενθουσιάσει!!
Αν σας αρέσουν τα αστυνομικά, τότε αυτό σίγουρα θα σας ενθουσιάσει!!
March 4, 2018
Recensione su Chibiistheway
Tokyo Express mi ha catturata fin dalle prime pagine e mi sono ritrovata a viaggiare in treno per il Giappone indagando con Torigai Jūtarō e Mihara Kiichi. In una cala rocciosa vengono ritrovati i corpi di due giovani. Si tratta senz’altro di un suicidio d’amore, la polizia di Fukuoka sembra quasi delusa ma Jūtarō non riesce a togliersi dalla testa un dettaglio che stride con tutto il resto. Un caso intricato incentrato sugli orari dei treni e su piccoli dettagli apparentemente insignificanti. Mi sono sentita dentro l’indagine grazie anche alla cartina alla fine del libro e mi è sembrato di viaggiare nonostante fossi comodamente sul divano insieme al mio gatto.
Tokyo Express mi ha catturata fin dalle prime pagine e mi sono ritrovata a viaggiare in treno per il Giappone indagando con Torigai Jūtarō e Mihara Kiichi. In una cala rocciosa vengono ritrovati i corpi di due giovani. Si tratta senz’altro di un suicidio d’amore, la polizia di Fukuoka sembra quasi delusa ma Jūtarō non riesce a togliersi dalla testa un dettaglio che stride con tutto il resto. Un caso intricato incentrato sugli orari dei treni e su piccoli dettagli apparentemente insignificanti. Mi sono sentita dentro l’indagine grazie anche alla cartina alla fine del libro e mi è sembrato di viaggiare nonostante fossi comodamente sul divano insieme al mio gatto.
October 16, 2018
This is my third Matsumoto and I'm beginning to see patterns emerging in his mystieries: he has an interest in Japanese government ministries; his sleuths solve mysteries through dogged perseverance; he has a fascination with train timetables; clues left in newspaper articles and on ticket stubs always turn out to be important, and if the perps hadn't been so diligent in covering their tracks, they would have got away with it. A well-written mystery of its age, still worth a read for its glimpses of 1970s Japan, even if the solution to the puzzle is frustratingly obvious to the modern reader.
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Download my starter library for free here - http://eepurl.com/bFkt0X - and receive my monthly newsletter with book recommendations galore for the Japanophile, crime-fiction-lover in all of us.
January 14, 2020
Un thriller senza colpi di scena! E' un puzzle da costruire dettaglio dopo dettaglio, con precisione matematica. Ogni particolare deve andare al suo posto per risolvere il caso, anche se poi non vince nessuno, nè i buoni nè i cattivi. La soluzione del caso è scientifica, ma non da soddisfazione. Comunque, una lettura interessante con uno stile diverso dal solito.
December 22, 2022
Breaking an Alibi
Review of the Penguin Modern Classics paperback (2022) translated by Jesse Kirkwood from the Japanese language original 点と線 (Points and Lines) (1958)
Seichō Matsumoto (1909-1992) was so prolific a writer with 450 published works that he was known as the Georges Simenon of Japan. Many of these were in the crime and mystery fiction genre, although he also wrote historical fiction and non-fiction. His writing themes often reflected his personal feelings in opposition to American and Japanese corruption.
Tokyo Express is the 2nd English language translation of one of his most popular works, following the first translation of 1970. It is very much a piece of its time (it was originally serialized in 1957) and almost quaint in the way that the investigating detectives are often walking to various destinations and are reliant on telegrams for long range communications and have only very minimal forensic assistance. There isn't a lot of mystery to it, the culprit is obvious from the start but has an apparently cast-iron alibi due to his various meticulous manipulations and setups of alibi witnesses. The detectives on the case spend the better part of the book working to break that alibi which involves the timetable schedules of various trains, ferries and airplanes. It is a short and quick read.
Front cover of the first English language translation published by Kodansha (orig. translation 1970). Image sourced from Goodreads.
I read Tokyo Express through its inclusion in the 2022 Year of Reading subscription from the English language bookstore Shakespeare and Company in Paris, France.
Trivia and Links
The latest editions of Penguin Modern Classics have quite lovely cover designs with a photo or an artwork on a grey matte finish. Other recent issues have been Yukio Mishima's Beautiful Star (orig. 1962/trans. 2022) and Tove Ditlevsen's The Trouble with Happiness: and Other Stories (orig. 1962 & others/trans. 2022).
Review of the Penguin Modern Classics paperback (2022) translated by Jesse Kirkwood from the Japanese language original 点と線 (Points and Lines) (1958)
Seichō Matsumoto (1909-1992) was so prolific a writer with 450 published works that he was known as the Georges Simenon of Japan. Many of these were in the crime and mystery fiction genre, although he also wrote historical fiction and non-fiction. His writing themes often reflected his personal feelings in opposition to American and Japanese corruption.
Tokyo Express is the 2nd English language translation of one of his most popular works, following the first translation of 1970. It is very much a piece of its time (it was originally serialized in 1957) and almost quaint in the way that the investigating detectives are often walking to various destinations and are reliant on telegrams for long range communications and have only very minimal forensic assistance. There isn't a lot of mystery to it, the culprit is obvious from the start but has an apparently cast-iron alibi due to his various meticulous manipulations and setups of alibi witnesses. The detectives on the case spend the better part of the book working to break that alibi which involves the timetable schedules of various trains, ferries and airplanes. It is a short and quick read.
Front cover of the first English language translation published by Kodansha (orig. translation 1970). Image sourced from Goodreads.
I read Tokyo Express through its inclusion in the 2022 Year of Reading subscription from the English language bookstore Shakespeare and Company in Paris, France.
Trivia and Links
The latest editions of Penguin Modern Classics have quite lovely cover designs with a photo or an artwork on a grey matte finish. Other recent issues have been Yukio Mishima's Beautiful Star (orig. 1962/trans. 2022) and Tove Ditlevsen's The Trouble with Happiness: and Other Stories (orig. 1962 & others/trans. 2022).
May 9, 2024
First, the translation. This book has been translated at least twice (and possibly thrice?) under two different titles:
1.) as Points and Lines, translated by Makiko Yamamoto and Paul C. Blum in 1970;
2.) and more recently (2023) as "Tokyo Express" by J. Kirkwood. I believe there was also an early Tokyo Express published, and believe I have seen it -- though I cannot find it now.
This causes some confusion for readers. Most importantly, the recent translation is FAR inferior to the 1970 translation which is pitch perfect, and some of the dissatisfaction I see in some of the commentary may be the result of reading the Kirkwood version. Read Points and Lines. It is fabulous.
This is an outstandingly intelligent, no frills, early example of a pure police procedural (nothing 'cosy' about it, as Amazon seems to think) - perfectly constructed like a jigsaw puzzle. I read it this time (a second read 10 years apart) with the intention of using it in college course -- and so, I had to read it very carefully, taking detailed notes -- and I thought it was flawless. No tricks, no gimmicks, no slips. An absolute gem and exemplum of the perfect mystery. There is a good reason why Matsumoto is so popular in Japan.
Detective Imanishi is also very good -- not quite as "no frills"; A Quiet Place, less so (as I recall it). Another book, Point Zero, has just been released in a new translation by Louise Heal Kawai -- who also translated the The Honjin Murders (as well as Death on Gokumon Island) of Yokomizo Seishi -- which (Honjin) is an outstanding translation.
I hope that people who had questions about this book (or about T.E.) revisit it in this older translation.
1.) as Points and Lines, translated by Makiko Yamamoto and Paul C. Blum in 1970;
2.) and more recently (2023) as "Tokyo Express" by J. Kirkwood. I believe there was also an early Tokyo Express published, and believe I have seen it -- though I cannot find it now.
This causes some confusion for readers. Most importantly, the recent translation is FAR inferior to the 1970 translation which is pitch perfect, and some of the dissatisfaction I see in some of the commentary may be the result of reading the Kirkwood version. Read Points and Lines. It is fabulous.
This is an outstandingly intelligent, no frills, early example of a pure police procedural (nothing 'cosy' about it, as Amazon seems to think) - perfectly constructed like a jigsaw puzzle. I read it this time (a second read 10 years apart) with the intention of using it in college course -- and so, I had to read it very carefully, taking detailed notes -- and I thought it was flawless. No tricks, no gimmicks, no slips. An absolute gem and exemplum of the perfect mystery. There is a good reason why Matsumoto is so popular in Japan.
Detective Imanishi is also very good -- not quite as "no frills"; A Quiet Place, less so (as I recall it). Another book, Point Zero, has just been released in a new translation by Louise Heal Kawai -- who also translated the The Honjin Murders (as well as Death on Gokumon Island) of Yokomizo Seishi -- which (Honjin) is an outstanding translation.
I hope that people who had questions about this book (or about T.E.) revisit it in this older translation.
May 5, 2018
"Tokyo Express", romanzo d'esordio di Seicho Matsumoto, scritto nel 1958 è un compendio di diversi stilemi del giallo classico, non ultimo quello del "giallo ferroviario" (anche se qui il crimine non avviene in treno ma la ferrovia fornisce l'alibi) frequentato dai più grandi giallisti a partire da Agatha Christie con "Assassinio sull'Orient Express" ma anche con "Il mistero del treno azzurro" e altri racconti, oppure da Freeman Wills Crofts con "Il mistero dell’espresso della notte".
Diversamente dal giallo all'inglese però non è un "whodunit" perché il colpevole si intuisce quasi subito ma una "inverted detective story" o "howcatchem" (à la "Colombo") dove il nucleo d'interesse del plot è capire come il crimine sia potuto accadere e soprattutto trovare le prove necessarie.
Quello che colpisce di questo giallo è la fiducia totale nell'affidabilità delle ferrovie nipponiche (nel 1958), in quanto tutto il meccanismo dell'inganno ruota su una finestra di quattro minuti di vuoto nella grande stazione di Tokyo. Un'altra peculiarità è l'abduzione che consente ai tenaci investigatori di risolvere il caso, non essendoci nessuna prova contraria alla teoria iniziale del doppio suicidio.
In definitiva è un giallo che convince e anche quelle tabelle orario delle ferrovie hanno un certo fascino nonostante la complessità della rete considerando che tra Fukuoka e Sapporo ci sono più di 2.000 chilometri.
Ciò non sorprende visto che Matsumoto in Giappone ha la stessa fama di celebri giallisti come Ellery Queen o la stessa Agatha Christie.
Diversamente dal giallo all'inglese però non è un "whodunit" perché il colpevole si intuisce quasi subito ma una "inverted detective story" o "howcatchem" (à la "Colombo") dove il nucleo d'interesse del plot è capire come il crimine sia potuto accadere e soprattutto trovare le prove necessarie.
Quello che colpisce di questo giallo è la fiducia totale nell'affidabilità delle ferrovie nipponiche (nel 1958), in quanto tutto il meccanismo dell'inganno ruota su una finestra di quattro minuti di vuoto nella grande stazione di Tokyo. Un'altra peculiarità è l'abduzione che consente ai tenaci investigatori di risolvere il caso, non essendoci nessuna prova contraria alla teoria iniziale del doppio suicidio.
In definitiva è un giallo che convince e anche quelle tabelle orario delle ferrovie hanno un certo fascino nonostante la complessità della rete considerando che tra Fukuoka e Sapporo ci sono più di 2.000 chilometri.
Ciò non sorprende visto che Matsumoto in Giappone ha la stessa fama di celebri giallisti come Ellery Queen o la stessa Agatha Christie.
November 10, 2021
3.5⭐️
“Tic toc, tic toc” il tempo scorre inesorabile e ogni ora, minuto, secondo alla stazione di Tokyo si ferma un treno ogni binario, ciascuno con una precisa destinazione.
La precisione è un requisito fondamentale per i mezzi di trasporto in Giappone e Seichō Matsumoto utilizza questo espediente per costruire l’intera narrazione: Tokyo Express è infatti un romanzo breve in cui un due persone, giudicate da tutti amanti, apparentemente si sono suicidate.
I cadaveri vengono rinvenuti su una spiaggia, vicino ad una stazione da cui sono stato visti scendere ad un’ora precisa.
Talvolta però le prime impressioni ingannano e possono nascondere dettagli che in superficie non si notano, e due ispettori della polizia decidono di indagare più a fondo, sospettando un delitto.
Ma le cose sono davvero più complicate oppure a volte sono proprio come appaiono? E se si, come fare a dimostrarlo? I treni partono sempre alla stessa ora o c’è un piccolo lasso di tempo tra due viaggi che potrebbe ribaltare la vicenda?
L’autore costruisce una narrazione breve ma intensa, puntando tutto su un’espediente intelligente che non risulta mai banale, bensì riesce a tenere alta la tensione e la curiosità del lettore, invogliandolo ad andare avanti per scoprire la verità, se ne esiste una.
La scrittura è incalzante, ricca di dialoghi, riflessioni e calcoli, tuttavia sembra come circondata da un alone di mistero in quanto non intende mai scoprire le sue carte fino alla fine, pur facendoti sospettare e parteggiare per la giustizia.
“Tic toc, tic toc” il tempo scorre inesorabile e ogni ora, minuto, secondo alla stazione di Tokyo si ferma un treno ogni binario, ciascuno con una precisa destinazione.
La precisione è un requisito fondamentale per i mezzi di trasporto in Giappone e Seichō Matsumoto utilizza questo espediente per costruire l’intera narrazione: Tokyo Express è infatti un romanzo breve in cui un due persone, giudicate da tutti amanti, apparentemente si sono suicidate.
I cadaveri vengono rinvenuti su una spiaggia, vicino ad una stazione da cui sono stato visti scendere ad un’ora precisa.
Talvolta però le prime impressioni ingannano e possono nascondere dettagli che in superficie non si notano, e due ispettori della polizia decidono di indagare più a fondo, sospettando un delitto.
Ma le cose sono davvero più complicate oppure a volte sono proprio come appaiono? E se si, come fare a dimostrarlo? I treni partono sempre alla stessa ora o c’è un piccolo lasso di tempo tra due viaggi che potrebbe ribaltare la vicenda?
L’autore costruisce una narrazione breve ma intensa, puntando tutto su un’espediente intelligente che non risulta mai banale, bensì riesce a tenere alta la tensione e la curiosità del lettore, invogliandolo ad andare avanti per scoprire la verità, se ne esiste una.
La scrittura è incalzante, ricca di dialoghi, riflessioni e calcoli, tuttavia sembra come circondata da un alone di mistero in quanto non intende mai scoprire le sue carte fino alla fine, pur facendoti sospettare e parteggiare per la giustizia.
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