After a manager in Japan’s premier media company ends up dead in front of company headquarters, Detective Hiroshi enters the high-pressure, hard-driving world of Tokyo’s monolithic corporations to find the killer. Hiroshi scours the off-record spending, lavish entertaining and unspoken agreements that keep Japan, Inc. running with brutal efficiency through “zangyo” or unpaid overtime. Working overtime himself, Hiroshi probes the dark heart of Japanese business, a place he’s tried to avoid all his life.
Targeted Age Group:: 18 and over
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
As an American living in Tokyo, I’m stunned by how much work takes over people’s lives. “Zangyo” means overtime in Japanese, and it’s a commonly used word. As a teacher, I keep in touch with my students after they graduate and start working. They tell me how they are compelled to work long hours, up to the point they quit. That’s the background, but the specific inspiration was a tragic story of a young girl who killed herself after working over 100 hours of overtime, being criticized by her boss, and losing hope. Mysteries and detective stories are often editorials, skewed and darkly ironic ones, but with an opinion in there.
