The Missing Stockbroker

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

A volunteer investigator searches the stairwell where Mr. Kurumizawa vanished, while the investigation itself turns into a meditation on missing time and uncertain identity.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The Wife’s Account The Wife’s Account from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". A Husband Missing Between Floors A precise last morning Mr.

A Husband Missing Between Floors A precise last morning Mr. Kurumizawa leaves the twenty-fourth floor after calming his mother, calls his wife for breakfast, and never reaches the twenty-sixth. An unlikely departure He has no wallet, watch, or identification. His wife rejects the police suggestion that he deliberately abandoned home.

The Unpaid Investigator The Unpaid Investigator from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". A Volunteer Takes the Case No ordinary fee The investigator agrees to look for Mr.

The Unpaid Investigator from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". A Volunteer Takes the Case No ordinary fee The investigator agrees to look for Mr.

A Volunteer Takes the Case No ordinary fee The investigator agrees to look for Mr. Kurumizawa but refuses payment, explaining that accepting money would make his work meaningless. The staircase as evidence He begins at the landing between the floors, studying the mirror, sofa, and spotless steps for traces of a passage.

Witnesses on the Stairs Witnesses on the Stairs from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". A Building in Motion Everyday users A runner and an elderly resident confirm that people regularly use the stairs, including Mr.

Witnesses on the Stairs from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". A Building in Motion Everyday users A runner and an elderly resident confirm that people regularly use the stairs, including Mr.

A Building in Motion Everyday users A runner and an elderly resident confirm that people regularly use the stairs, including Mr. Kurumizawa, who avoids elevators. Clues without names The stairwell contains ordinary traces but no decisive evidence. The building’s residents pass one another without knowing one another’s lives.

The Girl and the Unknown Object

A Search Joins Another Search A child’s questions A little girl says the landing mirror reflects a happier version of the investigator. She asks what he is looking for. Open possibilities He says it might be a door, umbrella, doughnut, or something else. The girl offers to help, making the search larger than the missing husband.

Found in Sendai Found in Sendai from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". Return Without Memory A distant recovery Police find Mr. Kurumizawa asleep at Sendai Station.

Found in Sendai from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". Return Without Memory A distant recovery Police find Mr. Kurumizawa asleep at Sendai Station.

Return Without Memory A distant recovery Police find Mr. Kurumizawa asleep at Sendai Station. He remembers leaving his mother’s apartment but nothing of the following twenty days. The mystery remains He returns safely, but neither the investigator nor his wife can explain the missing interval. The investigator records the facts and resumes his search for an unknown thing.

September 13, ten days after the disappearance

The day the wife requests help

During the investigator’s repeated visits

During a later afternoon on the twenty-fifth-floor landing

Twenty days after Mr. Kurumizawa disappeared