Yokoyama- Six Four
- Zebra Reads
- Aug 4, 2024
- 3 min read
Author: Yokoyama, Hideo
Title: Six Four
Genre: Mystery (Japanese)
Overview: Yoshinobu Mikami was a detective in a Japanese police force who has recently been transferred to heading the department of press relations, much to his dismay. He and his wife have also just been through the horrors of having had their only child, run away from home. Suddenly, a surprise visit from the Police Commissioner is announced and publicly it is supposedly intended as a way to spur action on a 14-year old kidnapping case where the kidnapper was never found and the child was cruelly murdered. While Makami’s job is really only to ensure that the press stay in line for the visit and the Commissioner’s route is secured, he senses a cover-up of some kind. The detective in him doggedly follows leads to get to the truth of the matter, inciting (and incited by) internal conflicts. When the truth finally outs Makami not only finds he understands the system much better, but he also finally begins to understand himself.
My Take: This book perfectly represents the reason that I took on this endeavor in the first place. If I am honest, it was an extremely frustrating book for me to get through because of the cultural differences between the US and Japan. I kept wanting the story to progress in a way that would be “normal” in US systems, but Japanese systems have so many different formalities and established protocols for social interactions, that I so unfamiliar with. I try very hard to recognize in my everyday life the different worldviews of those around me. As I continued to read and found myself more and more frustrated by the slow pace that was necessary to portray the everyday lives of Japanese citizens, it occurred to me how much of a struggle it is step away from our understanding of “self” and make room for “other.” So, the story itself was engaging and peripherally I enjoyed it, but it was honestly what I learned about myself that I felt was most valuable.
Who would love it: Quite honestly, getting past the frustrations of the described social interactions, the storyline itself was quite good. So, those who enjoy mysteries or detective stories would, I think, find it a compelling read. I did not guess the end and there were a lot of threads and I spent a lot of time confused about how it would all come together, but it did, rather nicely. I also think that anyone who is interested in how other countries organize their police forces would be very interested in this. There was quite a lot in this book about how police officers are assigned positions and who moves where and why. It was intriguing at how different it appears to be from the American system.
Who might avoid it: The main storyline revolves around a kidnapping and the subsequent murder of the kidnapped child (no that does not give away the end). In addition, there is also a side story line of a teenager in the throws of depression, who also runs away from home. The pain of the parents in both scenarios is clearly described and might be painful for anyone who has experienced this.
Bottom Line: Too often we allow our circumstances to dictate our paths, but forging our own paths is how we learn to really free ourselves.
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