Six Four
| Author | Hideo Yokoyama |
|---|---|
| Original title | ロクヨン |
| Translator | Jonathan Lloyd-Davies |
| Language | Japanese |
| Series | Prefecture D Series |
| Genre | Crime thriller, mystery |
| Publisher | Bungeishunjū |
Publication date | October 25, 2012 |
| Publication place | Japan |
Published in English | February 7, 2017 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 576-656 pages depending on publisher |
| ISBN | 1250160006 |
| Followed by | Prefecture D |
Six Four (Japanese: ロクヨン) is a fictional crime/mystery novel written by Hideo Yokoyama in Japanese and published in 2012. [1] It was the first of his novels to be translated into English.[2]
The novel follows a man named Mikami, a police press director transferred from his role as a detective as he prepares for the visit of one of the top police officials in Japan.[2] As he tries to fulfill his duties, Mikami is plagued by his responsibilities and the conflicts that arise among the reporters, Administrative Affairs, and Criminal Investigations.[3]
The title Six Four refers to the year Showa 64 during which the main case took place.[4] This is not a Gregorian calendar year but a year in the Japanese imperial era naming system, nengō.[5]
Six Four is unique in the crime thriller genre for its "slow-burning" style that enthralls the reader within the "art of deduction". [6]
Development
The original novel was composed over a period of ten years.[1] Hideo Yokoyama was inspired by his own 12 years of experience as a former reporter on police matters in Gunma, and then as an editor.[4][7] He suffered a heart attack during the writing process but continued the novel anyway. [1]
Jonathan Lloyd-Davies said in an interview that it took him over a year to translate the novel into the English version.[8] He worked independently of author Hideo Yokoyama and conducted research by reading Japanese police websites and online records.[9] The length of the novel and the extensive number of characters posed as a challenge during the translation process. [8]
Plot Summary
The novel begins with Mikami and his wife Minako meeting with a regional captain to examine a body of a young female that could be his daughter, Ayumi, who had run away from home.
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 press ask that Mikami release the name of a woman involved in a serious car accident because they are making a stand on anonymity.
Mikami then goes to Akama's office and he tells Mikami about the visit from the commissioner general and its purpose being the Six Four case, a kidnapping cold case fourteen years old 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 visits the father of the victim, Amamiya, who reveals his wife died before seeing her daughter’s killer jailed and refuses to allow the visit.
Back at the office, Mikami is informed by his coworker Suwa that the press club is submitting a written protest to the captain for the release of the woman’s name.
The next morning, Mikami visits 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 about bid-rigging charges against Hakkaku Construction to get him 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 declare their intention to boycott the commissioner’s visit.
Mikami then visits multiple different people he knew from his time in Criminal Investigations, but has no luck in discovering anything about the Amamiya situation. While talking with a coworker, he finds out about a former forensics worker, Hiyoshi, who left after Six Four. He visits Hiyoshi’s house and talks with his mother, who reveals how disastrous Hiyoshi’s life has become after the failed Six Four case, and leaves a note for Hiyoshi.
Mikami goes to visit an officer named Kakinuma and instead finds his wife. She directs him to Kakinuma and Kakinuma tells Mikami that the Koda Memo is Koda’s account of the third call during the Six Four case that was covered up because the police messed up the recording.
Mikami visits Amamiya again and cries in front of him, prompting him to accept the commissioner's visit. Mikami then receives a call from Suwa informing him the press situation is worsening. Mikami receives a call from a man named Urushibara asking what he did to Koda, who is now missing. At the end of the call, Urushibara tells Mikami to see Arakida in the police HQ.
Arakida asks Mikami to have the press continue with their boycott of the commissioner's visit in order to preserve the role of Director of Criminal Investigations. 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 tries to argue for the retention of the role with Criminal Investigations, but Tsujiuchi dismisses him.
The next day, Mikami calls in Mikumo, Suwa, and Kuramae and tells them he plans on removing the anonymous reporting of crimes. He will tell the press everything, but use their relationship to stress the importance of understanding when they should not report information about individuals. 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, he asks the press to cover the visit with Amamiya. Later, the press club presents him their questions for the commissioner’s visit.
Mikami is told that there has been another kidnapping.
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 the identities of the victim and her family, to no avail. Mikami then goes to station G to talk to Matsuoka. Matsuoka gives Mikami the name of the father and his store address, but nothing else. The press then have an office named Ochiai going back and forth to get information form Criminal Investigations. Mikami desperately asks 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 it, but asks Mikami to establish a 20 minute buffer zone.
In the middle of the observation, an officer reports that the missing girl, Kasumi, was in police custody in Genbu city for shoplifting. After a short while, Matsuoka reveals to Mikami that this was an extension of the Six-Four investigation. Mikami then realizes that it was Amamiya who had been the person behind the silent calls.
As Mesaki arrived at the Ai’ai Hair Salon, Mikami recognizes the voice of the "kidnapper" on the phone as Koda. Koda instructs Mesaki to put all of the money into an oil drum and burn it, then to read a note from Amamiya. His wife calls, telling him his daughter wasn’t kidnapped. Mesaki tears and eats the top half of the note.
The next week, Media Relations and the press are debating about the decision to keep the suspected Six Four kidnapper Mesaki's home address anonymous.
The novel ends with Mikami asking Futawatari to let him remain in Media Relations in the spring.
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
- 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
- Katsutoshi Matsuoka - chief of First Division, possibly next Director of Criminal Investigations
- Akikawa - chief reporter of the Toyo, leader of the Press Club and instigator of press conflicts
- Yoshio Amamiya - local businessman and father of the victim of the Six Four kidnapping case
Content and Style
Multiple reviews have commented on the culturally-dense nature of Six Four. The novel reveals many different aspects of Japanese culture, such as authority, hierarchy, and family structures. The novel has been praised for its accurate portrayal of Japanese conventions, with The Guardian calling it a "guide book to Japan".[2] Additionally, the book has received acknowledgement as a culturally expressive book that delves into the politics of the police and their procedural practices.[10] Instances of cultural practices such as bowing and attending the funeral of a victim's family member are put throughout the novel and allow an examination of particular aspects of Japanese culture.[3]
The "unusual focus on the PR side of police work" and the overall policing give Six Four "unexpected heat" that allows the novel to be a hit.[11] As one of Yokoyama's own countrymen writes, "Yokoyama’s strength lies in his portrayal of the police...", the basis of Six Four's success in both Japan and abroad is associated with the "true police-procedural fashion" that also delivers a slow, timely resolution of the plot.[7]
Six Four has also achieved equal renown for its uniquely special style of using the "slow-burn crime novel". Yokoyama doesn't follow the usual manner of writing a slow burn novel. He slows the already "slow-burn" down even more, allowing the reader to be drawn into smaller, different issues and problems over the course of the novel and its progression of the major plot line.[10] The novel has been quoted as a "...gripping mystery..." with readers enjoying "...the slow-burning art of deduction."[6]
Reception
The novel was an instant hit and sold roughly a million copies within the first week of its 2012 publication in Japan.[2] In 2013, Six Four ranked number 1 in the Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! annual list, receiving the title The Best Japanese Crime Fiction of the Year.[12]
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. [4] 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 and was called on of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Literary Hub.[13][14]
References
- ^ a b c "Can we recommend: Hideo Yokoyama - Six Four". www.stornowaygazette.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
- ^ a b c d Lawson, Mark (2016-03-04). "Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama – the crime thriller that is a publishing phenomenon in Japan". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
- ^ a b Drabelle, Dennis. "none | 'Six Four' avoids every crime-fiction cliche. The reward is a gripping novel". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
- ^ a b c Rich, Motoko (2017-02-02). "A Japanese Crime Thriller in Which Crime Is the Least of It". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
- ^ "Japanese Calendrical Systems". Duke University Libraries. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Subscribe to read | Financial Times". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
{{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help) - ^ a b O'Donoghue, J. J. (2016-04-16). "'Six Four' is a haunted, complex novel by Japan's heavyweight crime writer". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
- ^ a b "The Gap Between Languages". Work in Progress. 2017-03-16. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
- ^ Barron, Michael. ""Translators Have Strange Google Histories" — Jonathan Lloyd-Davies on Translating 'Six Four'". Culture Trip. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
- ^ a b Flood, Alison (2016-03-01). "Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama review – riveting, slow-burn thriller". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
- ^ "Review: "Six Four" by Hideo Yokoyama". Time. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
- ^ "Hideo Yokoyama", Wikipedia, 2020-01-23, retrieved 2020-04-15
- ^ "100 Notable Books of 2017". The New York Times. 2017-11-22. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
- ^ "Six Four | Hideo Yokoyama | Macmillan". US Macmillan. Retrieved 2020-04-15.