David Peace - Occupied City

6. I am early, he is late, it doesn’t matter wa-oh-wa-oh IN THIS FOREIGN CITY, IN THIS ALIEN CITY I enter the dancehall beat me mama, with that boogie-woogie beat, that Tokyo boogie-woogie, beat me, beat me ALL THINGS ARE FOREIGN TO ME, ALL PEOPLE ARE ALIEN Jungle music and tom-toms, yellow skin and Negroid hair the shadows lengthen, in time, the shades advance, in rhythm NEW DANCES, OLD TUNES The dance among the ruins, the dance of the living dead on the ashes of the really dead sakura boogie-woogie, jungle boogie-woogie NO LONGER HUMAN, NO LONGER LIVING Bones on skin, sticks on drums in borrowed dresses, to stolen songs DANCING NEW DANCES, HUMMING OLD TUNES In the lights, in the mirrors, everything is reflected we are always reflected REFLECTED, FRACTURED, DISFIGURED AND OTHER I see my wife, but is it her bows and ribbons in her hair YESTERDAY’S ENEMY IS TODAY’S FRIEND Every woman looks like her, every woman moves like her in the redness, in the heat THE BATTLE IS OVER NOW, THE WAR AT AN END I see my Japanese wife dancing with an American soldier in the smoke, in the fog WE PRAISE THEIR MARTIAL SKILLS I see them spin upon the floor, fall then roll around on and on, dancing and dancing, on and on, turning and turning THEY PRAISE OUR COURAGEOUS HEARTS Why don’t the gods blow out the sun, then everyone can roll around fucking and fucking him, her, hell, hell WITH FOND FAREWELLS AND SALUTES WE PART No, do it in bright daylight flesh, filth, man, woman, human, animal WHEELING TO THE LEFT, THEN TO THE RIGHT Do it like the flies on my hand in fields and in lewdness, in debauchery and in democracies IN NEW DANCES TO OLD TUNES The bastard, how he touches her up, how he feels her up, the slut she curtsies, he bows NO LONGER LIVING, NO LONGER HUMAN I get up from my chair, I cannot wait in this dancehall they clap their hands, their hands are hammers EVERYTHING FOREIGN HERE, EVERYONE ALIEN NOW I leave all the things of this world, they are evil things NOTHING IS SPARED, NO ONE IS SPARED

7. Detective Inspector H. gives me a new file, the Matsui File, and I read the Matsui File, cover to cover all men have secrets, all men tell lies BAD MEN, GOOD MEN His was the name-card presented at the Ebara branch of the Yasuda Bank, the name used in the rehearsal for the Shiinamachi branch of the Teikoku Bank somewhere to someone IN WARTIME, IN PEACETIME We have already questioned Dr Matsui Shigeru, we have already eliminated Dr Matsui Shigeru; his alibi checks out, his appearance doesn’t match all men are guilty, are guilty of something WAR CRIMES, PEACE CRIMES But there are things about Dr Matsui that don’t check out, there are things in his background that do match somehow, somewhere THE CLUES LIE IN THEIR WORDS Dr Matsui works for the Health and Welfare Ministry in Sendai, Dr Matsui served in the Imperial Army as chief of the Public Sanitation and Health Administration Department in Java, Indonesia crimes never stay secret, secrets never stay secret IN THEIR WORDS LIES THE EVIDENCE The newspapers printed the story of the rehearsal at the Ebara branch of the Yasuda Bank, the newspapers printed the details of Dr Matsui Shigeru and his name-card, the newspapers printed that Dr Matsui Shigeru was being interviewed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Board, the newspapers printed that Dr Matsui Shigeru was employed by the Health and Welfare Ministry, that he had served in the Imperial Army in Indonesia men always talk, talk to someone THE EVIDENCE OF THEIR LIES, THE EVIDENCE OF THEIR GUILT Two days after the newspapers printed their stories about Dr Matsui Shigeru, a letter arrived at the Special Team investigating the Teikoku Bank robbery, an anonymous letter, an anonymous letter about Dr Matsui Shigeru, about the things Dr Matsui Shigeru had done in Indonesia, the crimes Dr Matsui Shigeru had committed in Indonesia in confidence, in betrayal ALL MEN ARE GUILTY, ALL MEN ARE CULPABLE I keep reading the anonymous letter and I keep remembering this one fact: Dr Matsui’s card was the card used, Dr Matsui’s name was the name used; so the suspect had his card, so the suspect knew his name; so the suspect knows Dr Matsui Shigeru, so Dr Matsui Shigeru knows the suspect all men have secrets, all men are guilty IN WARTIME, IN PEACETIME I put down the letter, I close the Matsui File, I pick up the phone all men, always BAD MEN, BAD MEN

Act II

8. Dr Matsui Shigeru has already been questioned about the Teikoku murders, Dr Matsui Shigeru has already been eliminated as a potential suspect, but Dr Matsui Shigeru is still in our custody, still helping us with our inquiries you seem distracted, Detective DISPLACED We have drawn up lists, lists of the people to whom Dr Matsui Shigeru gave his name-card, the name-cards exchanged and the name-cards received is something troubling you, something on your mind FROM THE PAST, IN THE PRESENT, FOR THE FUTURE We have asked any member of the public who may have exchanged name-cards with Dr Matsui Shigeru to present themselves with the name-card of Dr Matsui Shigeru at their local police station trouble at home, with the wife DISLOCATED Now I ask Dr Matsui Shigeru to tell me the names of the people with whom he worked in Java, Indonesia, the names of the people with whom he served in the Imperial Army in the Public Sanitation and Health Administration Department in Java, Indonesia twenty days straight, no days off, it’s not easy, with a wife UNABLE TO FOCUS, UNABLE TO FORGET My memory is poor, Dr Matsui Shigeru tells me, it must be the effect of that South Asian climate, but I don’t remember them well, the people with whom I worked, the people with whom I served a wife much younger, a pretty little thing, with a young child, both left at home, to fend for themselves THE FUTURE, THE PRESENT, THE PAST Well one of them, at least, remembers you, and remembers you well, I tell Dr Matsui Shigeru and I pass him the letter, the anonymous letter naturally it must be a worry, a distraction, always there, at the back of your mind DISORIENTATED I’ll be seeing you again, I tell Dr Matsui Shigeru, so don’t be going anywhere now are you listening, Detective OUT OF PLACE, OUT OF TIME

9. In the bathhouse we are letting Dr Matsui Shigeru return to Sendai IN THE LOOKING-GLASS Men are shaving their faces as you know, Dr Matsui Shigeru suggested we interview his colleague, Mr Hoshi Shōji in Sendai I HAVE MY FINGERS IN MY EARS On their stools as you know, Detective T. interviewed Mr Hoshi Shōji in Sendai IN THE LOOKING-GLASS Men are washing each other as you know, Mr Hoshi Shōji’s alibi checks out, Mr Hoshi Shōji’s appearance doesn’t match BUT I CANNOT CLOSE MY EYES Buckets of water, over their heads, over their bodies as you know, Mr Hoshi Shōji suggested we interview Dr Matsui Shigeru’s former colleague from Indonesia, ex-medical Sergeant Major Karajima IN THE LOOKING-GLASS I pick up the soap, I lather the soap as you know, we issued an APB for ex-medical Sergeant Major Karajima MY BODY IS NOT MY OWN I wash the shoulders and the back of Detective Inspector H. as you know, the description of ex-medical Sergeant Major Karajima does not match that given by the survivors IN THE LOOKING-GLASS You always look so wrought, he says, you always seem so distracted, Detective N. so we are sending Dr Matsui Shigeru back to Sendai with Detective T., to search through his house, to go through his address book, to collect all his name-cards ALIEN, FOREIGN Harder, he says, rub harder, Detective to refresh his memory IN THE LOOKING-GLASS

10. I turn a corner, blue hope in my pockets, I climb the stairs, my damp hate pulled low, I walk along the corridor, I put out my cigarette, I knock on the door the city is upside down HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE JAPAN Comrade Horie opens the door, Comrade Horie laughs, Oh, no! It’s the cops! Hide the books! Hide the pamphlets! Everybody run for your life the city is inside out WITH ALL MY HEART But Comrade Horie’s one-room apartment is empty, the meeting has already broken up, the party faithful have already left, just stale smoke in the air the whole country, the whole world A DWARF WHOSE HEART IS TOO BIG FOR HIS BODY I push past Comrade Horie into the room, the windowless, book-lined room, I squat down on the floor, and I say, Very funny upside down, inside out HOW MUCH DO YOU HATE AMERICA Comrade Horie shuts the door, Comrade Horie leans against it, Where have you been, Comrade. We’ve been very worried about you, worried you’d had a change of heart back to front WITH ALL MY HEART Don’t you read the newspapers, I ask the sun rises with the dusk A GIANT WHOSE HEART IS TOO SMALL FOR HIS BODY Not the papers you read, no with the dusk the moon sets I WANT TO HOPE, I WANT TO BELIEVE But you’ve heard about what happened at the Teikoku Bank in Shiinamachi, I ask, the mass-poison murder-case animals on two legs, men on all fours WITH ALL MY HEART That your case, asks Comrade Horie a horse rides a man down the Ginza IN THE POSSIBILITY OF A UTOPIA Not just mine, I laugh, every single detective in Tokyo is on the case, every other investigation suspended a boy laps rain water from a drain IF I CANNOT HOPE, IF I CANNOT BELIEVE And do you have a suspect yet a cow milks a woman’s tit WITH ALL MY HEART Not yet, but it seems there could be a link back to the Americans, I say, at the very least it seems that the killer had access to Occupation information, that he’s possibly even employed by them a woman shits in the street IN THE POSSIBILITY OF A UTOPIA Comrade Horie sits down opposite me now, the jokes finished, Really. Now that is very interesting, that could be very useful upside down, inside out THEN THIS IS PETRIFICATION Useful, I ask him, useful for whom back to front THEN THIS IS PARALYSIS The movement, you idiot, he laughs, I should introduce you to Comrade X a cat kisses a dog in front of a department store THE PETRIFICATION OF HOPE, THE PARALYSIS OF BELIEF Who is Comrade X, I ask a man bites the ear off another man in an alley A NEW ICE AGE He is a correspondent for Izvestia a hen dances with a pig in a ballroom IN THE GORGON’S GAZE You’re joking, I say, not laughing, no chance two women fight over a fish in a ditch ALL WOMEN TURN TO STONE Listen, hisses Comrade Horie, if you’re serious about helping us, helping the movement, then you need to start giving us things I see a rat wearing a suit ALL MEN TURN TO STONE What kind of things, I ask a family living in a hole ALL HEARTS Information a flea buying a cake PETRIFIED, PARALYSED And what kind of information do you think I could possibly have, I ask Comrade Horie a child scratching itself raw WITH DESPAIR, WITH HATRED About GHQ, about crimes, about conspiracies lice eating off silver I LOVE JAPAN, I DESPAIR OF JAPAN About conspiracies, I repeat, what conspiracies mothers eating their young I HATE AMERICA, I’M AFRAID OF AMERICA Comrade Horie throws his head back, hands in the air, Oh, wake up! Open your eyes, cop! It’s like the war never happened upside down, inside out NO POSSIBILITY, NO HOPE Like the war never happened, I say, it’s you who should wake up, comrade! You who should open your eyes! This city, this country, was destroyed. People are homeless, people are starving. We were defeated! We are occupied back to front ONLY PETRIFICATION, ONLY PARALYSIS Exactly, grins Horie now, exactly! But for what. So the same political gangs, the same financial houses, the same military cliques, the same Emperor can stay in power. The more things change, the more they stay the same on two legs, on all fours THE DWARF WHOSE HEART IS TOO BIG FOR HIS BODY Tell that to our former prime minister, I say animals are men, men are animals THE GIANT WHOSE HEART IS TOO SMALL FOR HIS BODY Old Tojo, laughs Horie, he’s not important. He never was. He’s just a scapegoat. Maybe a martyr, the way things are going detectives are suspects, suspects are detectives ALL HEARTS ARE STONE I shake my head, I light a cigarette, I cough and cough criminals are judges, judges are criminals IN THE GORGON’S GAZE Listen, says Comrade Horie, things are changing fast and not for the better. Things are moving backwards. The Americans are scared to death of communism, of what’s happening on the mainland. The Americans want things back the way they were before the war. And the Americans are taking steps to ensure that’s what’ll happen, you watch, they’ll be knocking on that door any day now, locking us all back up, throwing away the keys again. Unless we act now, Comrade Detective, we need to wake the Japanese people up! And we need to wake them up before it’s too late! Need to do it now! Need to show the people what’s happening! And you, Comrade Detective, you can help us show them. Because you can provide us with the proof the past is bad, the future is good COLD WARS, ICE AGES Proof of what, I ask him the present is not what it seems, and seems is not what is present IN THE GORGON’S GAZE Are you listening, shouts Horie now, proof that the Americans are colluding and conspiring with the old pre-war elites to stifle and extinguish democracy. To destroy and to bury socialism back to front THE PETRIFICATION OF HOPE, THE PARALYSIS OF BELIEF But what exactly is the proof that you think I possess, I ask upside down, inside out WITH ALL MY HEART You’ll find it, whispers Comrade Horie, I know you will the moon rises with the dawn I CANNOT HOPE, I CANNOT BELIEVE I cough once again, I hold my chest, I close my eyes, I see smoke again, animals in the smoke with the dawn the sun sets AN ICE AGE IN MY HEART