Six Four

Six Four

Author	Hideo Yokoyama
Translator	Jonathan Lloyd-Davies
Language	Japanese
Series	Prefecture D Series
Genre	Crime thriller, mystery
Publisher	Bungeishunjū
Publication date	October 25, 2012
Publication place	Japan
Media type	Print
ISBN	1250160006
Followed by	Prefecture D

Six Four (Japanese: ロクヨン) is a crime/mystery novel written by Hideo Yokoyama in Japanese and published in 2012. It was the first of his novels to be translated into English.

The novel follows a man named Mikami, a disillusioned former detective, now police press director as he prepares for the visit of one of the top police officials in Japan. As Mikami tries to fulfill his obligations in his present role, he uncovers a dangerous secret about a mistake made in the fourteen year old "Six Four" kidnapping case, the reason for the police commissioner's visit to the prefecture. To further complicate matters, Mikami also has to worry about his missing daughter Ayumi, and the emotional state of his wife Minako. As he delves further into these uncertain and mysterious waters, Mikami is plagued by his responsibilities and the conflicts that arise among the reporters, Administrative Affairs, and Criminal Investigations.

The title Six Four refers to the year Showa 64 during which the main case took place. This is not a Gregorian calendar year but a year in the Japanese imperial era naming system, nengō.

Six Four is unique in the crime thriller genre for its "slow-burning" style that enthralls the reader within the "art of deduction".

Development

The original novel was composed over a period of ten years. Hideo Yokoyama was inspired by his own experience as a former reporter on police matters in Gunma.

Jonathan Lloyd-Davies said in an interview that it took him over a year to translate the novel into the English version. He worked independently of author Hideo Yokoyama and conducted research by reading Japanese police websites and online records. The length of the novel and the extensive number of characters posed as a challenge during the translation process.

Plot Summary

The novel begins with Mikami and his wife Minako meeting with a regional captain to examine a body of a young female which could be that of his daughter, Ayumi. Ayumi had run away a few months beforehand and they had been to see two other bodies in the last three months.

The next day, Mikami heads into his job at the police headquarters to find that members of the press have congregated in his office. While he sits at his desk, Mikami mentally recalls his transfer from Criminal Investigations to Media Relations, the department he now works in. The office of Media Relations fills up as the press club members voice their complaints. They demand to know why the police wouldn’t release the name of a woman involved in a car accident and get into a debate on the ethics of anonymity.

Mikami is called into the office of Director Akama, where they talk about his trip and how they could improve the search for Ayumi. Akama then tells Mikami of the visit from the commissioner general and its purpose being the Six Four case, a kidnapping case fourteen years prior that is regarded as the police department’s biggest failure. Akama tells Mikami he needs to get permission from the victim’s parents to allow the commissioner general to visit their home and have a walking interview. Mikami and his coworker Mikumo leave the office together to visit Amamiya, the father of the victim. Amamiya reveals his wife died before seeing her daughter’s killer jailed, and refuses to allow the visit. Mikami realizes he will have to convince the disappointed Amamiya before the scheduled date of the visit.

Back at the office, Mikami is informed by his coworker Suwa that the press club is submitting a written protest for the release of the woman’s name. Mikami leaves the office, thinking about the Six Four case. He visits Mochizuki, who had worked on the case, to figure out why Amamiya won’t allow the visit. Mochizuki mentions the Koda memo but does not know what it is. Suwa calls and tells Mikami the press are ready to submit a written protest to the captain. Mikami discusses possible solutions with his coworkers.

At dinner, Minako and Mikami talk about the Amamiya/Six Four situation. Mikami reflects on Ayumi and why she ran away. She had suffered extreme insecurities about resembling her father.

The next morning, Akama tells Mikami that the press situation is in line with the central government’s bill on individual rights. Mikami goes to Criminal Investigations and finds out about a gag order, which makes him suspicious. Mikami meets with Azusa, a member of the press club, and tells him of the Hakkaku Construction bid-rigging charges to get Akikawa off of the press issue. His plan fails, and the press club goes to deliver the protest to the captain. Mikami physically blocks their way, and they subsequently boycott the commissioner’s visit that was supposed to be highly-publicized.

Mikami then visits multiple different people he knew from his time in Criminal Investigations, but has no luck in discovering anything. Mikami talks with Mizuki about Minako and she also tells him about Hiyoshi. Mikami calls the head of forensics and asks about Hiyoshi, who gives Mikami his address. Mikami visits Hiyoshi’s house and talks with his mother and discover’s how disastrous Hiyoshi’s life has become after Six-Four. Mikami writes an encouraging note to Hiyoshi and leaves it with his mother. Mikami calls Urushibara to ask about Hiyoshi and learns nothing.

Mikami goes to visit Kakinuma and instead finds his wife. She directs him to Kakinuma and Mikami interrogates him until he sees Koda working as a crossing guard. He asks Kakinuma about the Koda memo. It’s Koda’s account of the third call during the Six Four case that was covered up because the police messed up the recording. Mikami reflects on what he has learned and how serious the consequences are for the police force and how the press would represent it if it became public knowledge.

Mikami visits Amamiya again and cries in front of him. Mikami believes that Amamiya agrees to have the commissioner visit because of his emotional response in his home. After his visit, Mikami tells Akama about his success and asks about the purpose of the visit. Akama tells him nothing. After visiting Akama, Mikami talks with and then follows Futawatari. Mikami visits Osakabe after witnessing Futawatari visit him, but the visit is unfruitful. Then, Suwa calls Mikami to tell him the press situation is worsening. Mikami has to deal with a situation involving Detention Facilities and foul play. It is an supposed attack on Administrative Affairs, and the press is going to ask about the problems and how Administrative Affairs plans on solving them. There is a meeting with the press about the issue of anonymous reporting.

Mikami receives a call from Urushibara asking what he did to Koda, who is now missing. At the end of the call, Urushibara tells Mikami to go to Arakida’s office.

Then, Mikami is filled in on the issue of the detention facilities by Suwa just as the Toyo is planning to have a press conference with Akama about the issue. The press conference goes without an issue. Arakida asks Mikami to have the reporters continue with their boycott to preserve the role of director of Criminal Investigations, otherwise the NPA will take it over. Mikami now understands the commissioner’s visit is to absorb the post of director of Criminal Investigations into the NPA. Mikami goes to visit Captain Tsujiuchi and they talk about the commissioner’s visit. Mikami tries his best to argue for the retention of the role with Criminal Investigations, but Tsujiuchi dismisses him from his office. In a fit of rage Mikami punches a TV. Mikami then calls Futawatari to talk with him about the issue, but it becomes a discussion about Futawatari and Mikami’s suspicion that he was trying to avoid being the Director of Criminal Investigations.

Mikami is then given a heads-up from Itokawa about another leak with the Hakkaku construction case. When he arrives at his house, he finds Yamashina outside. He scolds him and enters his home. Minako tells him he’s missed a call from Odate. Mikami talks with Odate for just a brief moment.

The next day, Mikami calls in Mikumo, Suwa, and Kuramae and tells them he plans on removing the anonymous reporting of crimes. They will tell the press everything, but use their relationship to stress the importance of understanding when they should not report information about individuals. Suwa states his opinion on the matter and says that he thinks it can't be done. Mikami then tells them to stay in the office as he goes to address the reporters about anonymous reporting. As he begins his announcement to the press, Suwa, Kuramae, and Mikumo enter the room to prevent anyone from leaving. After Mikami finishes his announcement, the reporters ask for some proof to back up his claim. Mikami re-enters the room and begins to tell the press all of the details pertaining to the car accident. After delivering every single fact that Kuramae had found, Mikami asked the press to cover the visit with Amamiya. After the press conference, Mikami went back to his office and fell asleep at his desk. He was awoken thirty minutes later with the press presenting him their questions for the commissioner’s visit.

As he arrived home, Minako was standing outside because she had received another silent call. Mikami called the number back and discovered the call was from Hiyoshi himself. Mikami spoke to Hiyoshi and gave him some encouraging words. Minako reacts harshly to Mikami’s level of care for someone else’s child. Before he can talk to her, Suwa calls and tells him that he’ll talk to Akama on his behalf. Later in the night, Mikami and Minako talk about Ayumi and why she ran away. Minako says she thinks Ayumi ran away because they’re not the people she needs right now.

The next morning, Suwa told Mikami that the whole department of Criminal Investigations knew the purpose of the commissioner’s visit. Then, Akama called Mikami into his office. Akama asked him if he knew about Criminal Investigations and the commissioner’s visit and then confronted him about his allegiances. Mikami dismissed himself from the meeting to go to Amamiya’s house in order to plan out the events for the commissioner’s visit the next day. Amamiya was not home, and Mikami returned to his office.

At about 2:00 pm Suwa told Mikami he was going to the fifth floor because the First Division wasn’t answering any calls. After sending Mikumo and Kuramae to check on Second Division and Forensics and getting reports that there was only one person in each office, Mikami became worried. Mikami went up to the fifth floor and questioned the only person left in First Division, but with no results. Mikami then went outside and saw three people walking with a large object to the assembly hall.

Mikami finds two officers guarding the doors to the assembly hall. He then jabs one of them, Ashida, in the throat and enters the room. He’s then pulled out of the room and told to leave. Just before another fight occurs, Assistant Chief Mikura walks out and tells Mikami there has been another kidnapping.

After finding out about the kidnapping, Mikami had to get the press to sign a coverage agreement to ensure the safety of the victim. As part of the administrative affairs department, Mikami is responsible for informing the press of the case, which is strikingly similar to the Six Four case. Mikami asks Mikura questions and then demands to know the identities of the victim and her family, to no avail. Mikami then goes to Station G after he gives Kuramae and Mikumo orders to set up a conference room on the sixth floor. On the way to station G, Mikami began thinking about whether or not the case was a fabrication of Criminal Investigations as the anonymous report was almost impossible to verify.

After hiding in the bathroom of station G for multiple hours, Mikami caught Matsuoka and asked him to assist him in appeasing the press by giving him the names of the victim and her family. Matsuoka gives Mikami the name of the father and his store address, but nothing else. However, once Mikami had returned to the office, Suwa told him that the press would sign the coverage agreement. The conditions were to have an announcement every two hours and the press wanted Arakida to make the announcements. However, Ochiai from the Second Division was being ordered to fill in that role. The press then run Ochiai ragged by sending him to get answers to their questions as Criminal Investigations stonewalls all of their attempts. After a long struggle with trying to get information through conventional means,  Mikami then asks Matsuoko to join the police in the mobile command center that will monitor the father of the victim, a man named Mesaki, as he delivers the ransom money to the kidnapper. Matsuoka allows him to join and to report everything, as he understands the gravity of the situation, but asks that he establish a 20 minute buffer zone. Mikami then calls Suwa and shares with him the information that he can share after each 20 minute interval has passed. Mikami writes down every single piece of information as it occurs.

During the craziness of the situation, one of the officers in the truck said that Kasumi was in police custody in Genbu city. She had been arrested for shoplifting. Mikami and Matsuoka then disagreed on keeping the coverage agreement in place. After a short while, Matsuoka told Mikami that this was an extension of the Six-Four investigation. Mikami then realized that it was Amamiya who had been the person behind the silent calls. Amamiya had been calling every number in the phone book to find who had kidnapped and killed his daughter.

As Mesaki arrived at the Ai’ai Hair Salon, Mikami recognized the voice of the kidnapper as Kazuki Koda. Koda then told Mesaki to put all of the money into an oil drum and burn it. Then he had Mesaki go under the container of gasoline and matches and read a note from Amamiya. He then ate the top half of the note after his wife called to tell him his daughter wasn’t kidnapped.

Later, Mikami went to the phone booth where Amamiya had done all of his silent calls. Here, Mikami put all of the pieces of the puzzle together. Everything from his own silent calls, to his visit to Amamiya’s home, to the planning of Koda and Amamiya to enact their revenge on the date of the commissioner’s visit. Then, Mikami reflected on his time in the mobile command center and how Mesaki had slipped up and let the police suspect him as he tried to correct Koda about the Ai’ai hair salon. The major clue was the fact that Mesaki had eaten the top half of the note. The chance of the police using the note to prove Mesaki had kidnapped Shoko was improbable at best, but Mesaki had eaten it anyway because he was the kidnapper.

As Mikami returned to his cab to drive him home Matsuoka called. Mikami gave him a theory about the motive for Six-Four pertaining to the imported-car business and about the possibility of having a phone in the woods of Dragon’s hollow so that Mesaki could have worked alone. Matsuoka said he knew Mesaki was the kidnapper after seeing him the day before when he avoided his gaze.

Mikami arrived home and he talked with Minako about the kidnapping and her part. Mikami then told Minako of Amamiya’s method in discovering Mesaki and how their silent calls were Amamiya trying to hear Mikami’s voice. After their discussion about Ayumi, Mikami called Suwa for a final review. Then, he called Hiyoshi’s house and told him they had finally got a suspect.

The next week was Media Relations pushing and the press pushing back on the issue of Mesaki’s home address. Mikami had filled Suwa, Mikumo, and Kuramae in on the entire situation, and had let them know every detail.

The novel ends with Mikami asking a favor of Futawatari that he remain in Media Relations in the spring after the transfers.

Major Characters

• Yoshinobu Mikami - Press Director and inspector of Prefecture D, previously assistant chief of Second Division in Criminal Investigations, main character/protagonist of novel
• Minako - Wife of Mikami, ex-police, stays at home to await a call from Ayumi
• Ayumi - Daughter of Mikami and Minako who had run away from home and has been missing for three months
• Akama - Director of Administrative Affairs and the second-in-command of the Prefectural HQ
• Ishii - Division Chief of the Secretariat
• Shirota - Division Chief of Administrative Affairs
• Ikoma - Division Chief of Internal Affairs
• Shinji Futawatari - Inspector for Administrative Affairs, incites certain events of the plot
• Kinji Tsujiuchi - Captain of the Prefectural HQ, the man in charge of the prefecture and the favorite to become the next commissioner general
• Kozuka - commissioner general of the National Police Agency in Tokyo, the man in charge of all 260,000 police officers
• Suwa - section chief and assistant inspector in Media Relations, 3 years in Media relations
• Kuramae - sub-chief in Media Relations
• Mikumo - recent transfer to Media Relations from Transport
• Arakida - Director of Criminal Investigations
• Michio Osakabe - former Director of Criminal Investigations, has a record of never failing to close a case
• Inomata - head of Forensics
• Satake - Forensics, fingerprinting
• Katsutoshi Matsuoka - chief of First Division, possibly next Director of Criminal Investigations
• Mikura - assistant chief of First Division
• Ogata - detective in Violent Crime, First Division
• Shiratori (Burly) - detective in First Division
• Minegishi - detective in Special Investigations, First Division
• Kusano - colleague of Mikami who was part of the Six Four Investigative Team
• Ashida (Goggle Eyes) - section chief, Organized Crime
• Takeshi Tsuchigane - police inspector, sub-leader of Six Four Investigative Team
• Prefectural Press Club - organization of local news outlets to smooth over logistics in the relationship with Media Relations
  • News outlets that are Members of the Prefectural HQ Press Club
    • Asahi
    • Mainichi
    • Yomiuri
    • Tokyo Shimbun
    • Sankei
    • Toyo
      • Toshikazu Nonomura - head of Toyo local branch
      • Azusa - senior editor
      • Akikawa - chief, leader of the Press Club
      • Tejima - assistant chief
    • Zenken Times
      • Yamashina - provisional chief
    • D Daily
    • Kyodo News
    • Jiji Press
    • NHK
    • D Television
    • FM Kenmin
• Yoshio Amamiya - local businessman and father of the victim of the Six Four kidnapping case
• Toshiko Amamiya - wife of Yoshio
• Shoko - subject of the Six Four kidnapping case fourteen years earlier

Themes

Japanese culture

Reception

The novel was an instant hit and sold roughly a million copies within the first week of its 2012 publication in Japan. In 2013, Six Four ranked number 1 in the Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! annual list.

Upon its 2017 publication in the UK, the translated novel proved as popular as it had been in Japan, quickly ranking on the best seller's list in Britain. In 2016, it was shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger. In 2017, it appeared on the New York Times' 100 Notable Books of the Year list.