Tokyo Express (Penguin Modern Classics)

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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'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.

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. 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. 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"

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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? 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. 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.

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.

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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. Seicho Matsumoto ( 松本清張, Matsumoto Seichō), December 21, 1909 – August 4, 1992) was a Japanese writer.

Front cover of the first English language translation published by Kodansha (orig. translation 1970). Image sourced from Goodreads. Non credo si possa apprezzare questo rapidissimo thriller scritto nel 1958 da Matsumoto senza essere mai stati in Giappone: risulterebbe incomprensibile.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. 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. 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. Il libro è velocissimo (come i treni giapponesi) ed è quasi interamente basato su coincidenze ferroviarie e intuizioni investigative. 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".