Osaka

Osaka is a key location in Kido’s investigation into the identity exchange between the real Daisuké Taniguchi and X. An address in the city provides a link between Daisuké’s earlier life and his disappearance, shifting the inquiry from speculation toward a concrete account of how his identity may have been taken.

The address in Kita

The address recorded in an attachment to Daisuké’s family register led Kido to a very inexpensive, neglected apartment in Osaka City’s Kita district. It was Daisuké’s residence before he moved to Town S. After discussing the lead with Rié and Kyoichi, Kido proposed that the three of them go to the building together, but Kyoichi said he had business in Osaka and visited the management company himself.

What the building manager recognized

The company president, after hearing Kyoichi’s account and examining a photograph of Daisuké, said he was fairly sure Daisuké had lived in the apartment. When Kyoichi showed him a photograph of X as well, the president did not recognize that face. The contrast gave the address its investigative importance: it suggested Daisuké had remained himself while living there, rather than already having assumed X’s identity.

A turning point in the search

Kyoichi concluded that Daisuké had encountered X after leaving the apartment and that X had taken his name and family-register identity. This simple inquiry deepened Kyoichi’s anger at the police, who had not pursued the lead. When he asked for Daisuké’s forwarding address and telephone number, the initially cooperative company president became wary and said evasively that he would check whether the old records were still available. Kyoichi suspected he did not want to become involved in trouble, and heard nothing further from him.

Narrative significance

The Osaka address makes place function as a surviving trace in a case where official records and lived identity contradict one another. The register points to a real former residence; the manager’s recognition of Daisuké but not X helps establish a before-and-after in the identity exchange. Yet the records that might have carried the investigation onward prove uncertain, leaving the apartment as a meaningful clue rather than a complete answer.