“In our view of the world, individual justice can exist only after the larger society is in harmony. In fact we’re supposed to sacrifice our individual desires for the good of the family, the company, or the country. I’m curious about what motivates you to get involved in these mysteries.”
“I don’t know. I just get a feeling that something is wrong and I want to put it right. Until recently I acted like your description of the Confucian ideal. I subordinated my personal desires and took a safe path, a path with as little conflict as possible. I know that choice came from my mother, who always advised me not to make waves. Lately, I’ve found that it can be exciting to make waves. When I met Mariko it came as a shock to me that she was starting over in life, giving up a good job with a bank and trying to make a new career as an actress. I thought she was crazy.” That drew a smile from her. “But playing it safe didn’t work out for me. The company I worked for downsized me out of a job, and the work and sacrifices I made for that job seem pretty silly. Now I think I was crazy to play it safe. I know I’m influenced by my Japanese heritage, but I think I’m ready to take risks. I don’t know if that risk taking is Japanese or American, but it’s what I want now.”
17
On the return train trip to Tokyo, I had a lot to think about. My growing curiosity about the blades was now inflamed by Sonoda-san’s talk of treasure, and I mused about the possibility of solving the mystery. I had access to images of five of the six blades, but it wasn’t clear sailing.
First, one blade was still missing, and I didn’t have too many ideas about how I could find it. Next the clarity of the faxes of the Rotterdam and New York blades would present a challenge in seeing what was on those blades. The meaning of the long line on my blade still puzzled me. All the other patterns were pretty clear, in terms of identifying forest and temples and mountains, but the wandering line was a puzzle. Finally, I was still scared about the Yakuza catching me before I could leave Japan. Oh, and I had miscounted the number of socks to pack and I realized I was going to run out of clean socks before it was time to return home.
That last problem, at least, had solutions. I could fly home in dirty socks or have the hotel wash a couple of pair for me. The rest of the problems, however, stumped me, worried me, or just plain made me nervous.
During these musings I stared absently out the train window, trying to come up with some answers. Mariko sat next to me, and sensing my mood, silently read a book on kabuki in preparation for seeing a play in Tokyo’s Kabukiza Theater. As we sat together in silence it occurred to me that a good friend is someone you can stay with for hours without the compulsion to fill the voids with conversation. Mariko was more than a lover, she was a good friend, and in this life it’s often easier to find a lover than a true friend.
When we got back to Tokyo I sent a couple of pairs of socks down to the hotel laundry. One problem solved. Then I took out the faxes Junko had given me and studied them for several minutes. Although I’ve never done it myself, I thought the faxes might be candidates for computer enhancement. Of course, in Japan I didn’t even have a laptop computer, but I figured that when I returned to Los Angeles I might be able to hunt up someone who had the software and equipment to help me. If that didn’t look good, maybe I could get better copies of the originals by writing New York and Rotterdam.
The show sent a car for me three hours before airtime. Mariko was going to do some shopping and join me later at the studio, so I stopped at the hotel concierge and had him write down the studio name and address in Japanese for her. I didn’t want her ending up at some weird place like the guy in the match story.
When I got to the studio the first order of business was to sit down with Junko and tell her what I had learned about the blades from Sonoda-san. “Did Professor Hirota return my blade?” I asked when I finished.
“Just as he promised.”
“Did he also give us a rubbing of the blade?”
“He did.”
“Is there a number on the tang of my blade?”
“Yes there is. A six.”
“I knew it!”
“What are you excited about?”
I told her my theories about the blades forming a map. She seemed very interested, especially when I talked about the possibility of unraveling the mystery.
“Do you think that’s possible?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it ever since I got back from Kyoto and if the mystery can’t be solved completely, at least we can uncover a good deal more information about it in a rather short period of time.”
“How can that be true? The mystery is over four hundred years old. Why do you think more information can be developed now?”
“I think somebody else has done just that, that’s why the swords are being stolen. I can’t believe it’s a coincidence that these swords are being stolen within a relatively short period of time. One of the swords is missing, but I’ve also got my sword. If somebody is stealing the blades, they haven’t got mine yet. They’re probably also missing at least one other blade.
“If they’ve got the New York and Rotterdam blades, though, they do have a big advantage. The fax quality will make it difficult to bring out the patterns on the blades. I was thinking of contacting Rotterdam and New York to see if I could get them to mail me clearer copies, but that still might not help. I think the pictures have to be made a lot bigger and a lot clearer.”
“What are you talking about?”
“These fax pictures would be good candidates for computer enhancing to bring out the detail in the patterns on the blades. I haven’t done it myself, but I’m generally familiar with how computer enhancing works, and I think it can be done. Do you do that kind of work here at the station?”
“No, we don’t, but one of our sponsors is Nissan, and they have a research project going that uses that sort of technique. We’ve done a couple of pieces on it. The pieces were a combination of puff piece and genuine news story, but they were both well received. Nissan is developing a navigational system for cars, so they are putting together a digitized map of Japan from computerized satellite photographs. They’ve developed all sorts of software to analyze and enhance the photos and ways to turn pictures into digital images. It’s all high-tech stuff and Japanese tend to love high technology.”
“You also tend to love tradition. It’s a strange combination.”
“It is, but Japanese culture is full of strange combinations. That’s one thing that always seems to fascinate visitors.”
“I think it’s possible that high technology could be applied to this old mystery. I don’t have the resources myself, but maybe I could interest someone when I get back to Los Angeles.”
“How long do you think it would take to solve the mystery?”
“I didn’t say I could solve the mystery. I just said I could come up with a lot more information about it. There are often mysteries that can’t be solved. This might turn out to be one of them.”
“Would you mind if they asked you some questions about all this on tonight’s show?”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
“Great. What I’d like you to do now is review the lead-in clip. This is what we’ll show before the live interview with you. It runs about three minutes.” Junko popped a tape into a machine. I sat there watching the piece she’d put together to introduce my segment of the show as she translated the narrative. She had done a nice job combining stock footage of L.A. with newsreel clips to explain the murder case I’d solved.