Inspector Imanishi Investigates

In the wee hours of a 1960s Tokyo morning, a dead body is found under the rails of a train, and the victim's face

is so badly damaged that police have a hard time figuring out the victim's identity. Only two clues surface: an

old man, overheard talking in a distinctive accent to a young man, and the word "kameda." Inspector Imanishi

leaves his beloved bonsai and his haiku and goes off to investigate-and runs up against a blank wall. Months

pass in fruitless questioning, in following up leads, until the case is closed, unsolved.

But Imanishi is dissatisfied, and a series of coincidences lead him back to the case. Why did a young woman

scatter pieces of white paper out of the window of a train? Why did a bar girl leave for home right after Imanishi

spoke to her? Why did an actor, on the verge of telling Imanishi something important, drop dead of a heart

attack? What can a group of nouveau young artists possibly have to do with the murder of a quiet and "saintly"

provincial old ex-policemen? Inspector Imanishi investigates.