Point Zero 

By Matsumoto Seichi

Translated by Loise Heal Kawai

(1959, translated 2024)

Bitter Lemon Press

Matsumoto Seichi is the creator of the famed detective Inspector Imanishi, but in Point Zero, he steps away from the trope of the relentless male sleuth to present us with an extraordinary protagonist, Itane Teiko, a twenty-six year old office worker who lives alone with her mother. Her life changes when a matchmaker delivers the marriage offer of Uhara Kenichi. Though ten years her senior, Kenichi is a good match. He works in a Tokyo advertising agency; he is handsome, polite, and reserved, and he travels in business for many days each month. Teiko, who is very much a modern woman, has been involved with men before but never experienced a desire to continue a relationship or even love, yet, after a brief period of chaperoned meetings, she commits to marrying Kenichi. She is excited to know more about her husband, and her husband’s unexpected passion on honeymoon inspires confidence that he will be a man she will enjoy getting to know. Unfortunately, days into their marriage, white on a business trip to a remote coastal village, Kenichi goes missing. Determined to learn the truth of his disappearance, she and Kenichi’s brother-in-law travel to Kanazawa to consult with the local police and to begin their own investigation. Like Matsumoto’s A Quiet Place, in which a husband becomes obsessed with discovering why his ailing wife dropped dead midway up a precipitously steep street in a part of Tokyo the couple never visited, he focuses on a spouse’s self doubt, guilt, and overwhelming need to know the truth about the death of their beloved. Teiko is remarkably determined and tenacious. She grieves, but prioritises her need to discover all she can about her husband, solve the case, and honor his memory. Matsumoto reveals that the young bride of the missing man is both beautiful and empathetic. Various potential heroes emerge, eager to protect and accompany her on her investigation. Naive, she is slow to catch on, though she benefits as much as she suffers from the attention of her champions. She has few clues: a map of the region’s rail system, a train schedule, and two photographs she discovers tucked away in one of her husband’s books. The novel takes a turn when she discovers that after the war, Kenichi spent two years working as a beat cop in the neighborhoods around a busy American base. Matsumoto exposes a great deal of post-war and mid-century classicism and the changes the war, social upheaval, and poverty wrought on traditional relationships between men and women. Teiko is no Lady Vengeance; she is level-headed, focused, and what truly sets her apart from most heroes of detection is her dedication to seeking justice for a man she barely knew and the relentless empathy for the people she encounters, high and low.

“It wasn’t that she had fallen in love at first sight. In reality, she was far from that feeling, since she knew little about him except the name of his agency, the kind of work he did, and the fact that he lived with his brother. But wasn’t this normal? When you married someone, wasn’t it often on the basis of a rather vague understanding? A woman can be afraid of the unknown part of her partner but at the same time feel a fascination to learn more. After the marriage, as they get to know each other, the fear vanishes, and the fascination gives way to everyday life. At least, that was what Teiko believed.”