Mikawashima officer and ice-vendor / Told to write up report and attach to Hirasawa file / Told to move on to other files to re-check for re-interview / So re-check, re-check, re-check / To re-interview, re-interview, re-interview.
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The Fifth Period (the fifth twenty days of the investigation; 15 April to 4 May, 1948) –
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The Sixth Period (the sixth twenty days of the investigation; 5 May to 24 May, 1948) –
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The Seventh Period (the seventh twenty days of the investigation; 25 May to 13 June, 1948) –
1948/5/25; 06.00: Warm / Meeting of Robbery Room Name-card Team / Inspector Iki-i gives us the news we’ve all been waiting to hear / Permission granted and budget approved for travel to Tōhoku and Hokkaido to interview each individual with whom Matsui had exchanged name-cards / Ordered to confirm and detail situation in which each name-card was exchanged / Ordered to retrieve each Matsui name-card from each individual / 128 cards in total / Detectives liga and Fukushi assigned the seventy-seven cards exchanged in the Tōhoku area / Assigned with Inspector Iki-i to investigate the fifty-one cards exchanged in Hokkaido / Top of the list: Hirasawa Sadamichi / Told to expect to be away for one month / Return home to pack.
1948/5/26; 06.00: Warm / Leave Ueno Station for Hokkaido.
1948/5/27; 06.00: Cool, slight breeze / Sapporo, Hokkaido / Begin investigation.
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Every day a different bus or a different train to a different town and a different interview / Every interview, a different high-ranking local government official / Every official produces the card Dr Matsui gave them in exchange for their own / Every day, another name crossed off the list / Another report to write up, another call back to Tokyo / Every night, a different inn or the floor of a different police station or kōban / Every night, the same dream, the same name / Kuro-kuro / Hirasawa Sadamichi / Blacker and blacker / Every day, nearer and nearer / Guiltier and guiltier…
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1948/6/6; 08.00: Humid / Shikinai-chō, Otaru, Hokkaido / Residence of Hirasawa Sadamichi’s father / The second floor of the house / Hirasawa’s father sat before the unlit stove in the first room, smoking a pipe / Hirasawa sat in a kimono in the next room, before a canvas of poppies / ‘You start painting very early…’ / ‘It is my habit to start early every day. Today is no exception.’ / Note: paint on the canvas is dry and hard / ‘Do you only paint flowers?’ / ‘I went to an exhibition at the Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo on the day of the Teigin incident. I am not the killer.’ / ‘We didn’t say you were. We are only here to ask you about Dr Matsui’s name-card.’ / ‘I am not the man you are looking for.’ / ‘Well then, that day on the ferry, did you exchange cards with anyone else other than Dr Matsui?’ / ‘I do not remember.’ / ‘Can you tell us why you stay here, even though your wife and children live in Tokyo?’ / ‘My father could pass away soon. So this is my last obligation as a good son to his aged father.’ / Note: Hirasawa’s father is a former colonel in the Kempeitai and appears in good health / Conversation continues in circles / Hirasawa claims forgetfulness, pleads ignorance / Evasive / Ask Hirasawa for a photograph to take back to Tokyo to show eye-witnesses for purposes of elimination / ‘I do not have any photographs.’ / Conclude interview / In the genkan, canvas shoulder bag hanging from a peg / Note: Teigin killer reported to have carried a canvas shoulder bag / ‘Is that your bag?’ / ‘No.’ / 09.00: Leave Hirasawa residence / Stand for a long time outside Hirasawa’s house / Kuro-kuro / Inspector Iki-i agrees Hirasawa’s behaviour and statements suspicious / Blacker and blacker / Iki-i agrees Hirasawa strongly resembles composite drawing of Teigin suspect / Guiltier and guiltier.
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1948/6/12; 18.00: Hot, rainy / Investigation of fifty-one name-cards complete / Return to Tokyo via Otaru / Hatch plan to take photograph of Hirasawa / Re-visit Hirasawa residence / Invite Hirasawa to local restaurant for dinner / Hirasawa readily accepts invitation / ‘But please