Tokyo Swindlers, the best-selling novel by Ko Shinjo and the basis for Netflix Japan’s newest crime series of the same name, will make its English-language debut November 12th.
Shinjo’s novel is a contemporary Japanese crime thriller that unravels an intricate web of deception and greed, inspired by recent land-fraud scandals.
In Tokyo Swindlers, Takumi, mourning the tragic loss of his family, gets involved in a real estate swindle orchestrated by the legendary scammer Harrison Yamanaka. The target is an unprecedented $70-million property. During his pursuit, Detective Tatsu, upright as ever but nearing retirement, discovers Harrison's strange connection to Takumi's past. As the high-stakes fraud unfolds, the convergence of motives leads to a shocking outcome in this intense game of deception versus truth.
Born in Tokyo in 1983, Ko Shinjo made his debut in 2012 with Narrow House (“Kyōshō Teitaku” in Japanese), which won the 36th Subaru Literature Award. In 2020, Shinjo’s Tokyo Swindlers (“Jimenshitachi” in Japanese) was nominated for the 23rd Haruhiko Oyabu Prize.
Tokyo Swindlers is translated from the Japanese by Charles De Wolf, a professor emeritus at Keio University and an accomplished translator of fiction and nonfiction as well as scholarly works.
Tokyo Swindlers by Ko Shinjo, translated by Charles de Wolf, will be available in both print and digital November 12th, 2024.
Get your copy here.
Read a sample from Tokyo Swindlers below:
Chapter 1
The property in question was a plot of land in southwest central Tokyo located near Ebisu Station. Its area was a little less than a tenth of an acre. The sales price of some 700 million yen had already been agreed upon with Mike Home. The price per tsubo was just under 7 million yen, quite a bargain when one considered the per-tsubo market price in the area was over 10 million yen.
The Shimazaki house was a two-story vacant building constructed more than fifty years before. The trees and plants in the garden were unkempt and overgrown. Despite its universally desirable prime location in the heart of the capital, there had been no complicated circumstances regarding rights, as the antiquated edifice, unmortgaged, had been inhabited by a lone elderly person. The owner’s unwillingness to sell the land notwithstanding, the property was constantly on the radar of real estate agents specializing in this part of the city.
The news that Shimazaki Ken’ichi had moved into a senior citizens’ home had not reached Takumi and his fellow swindlers until the end of the previous year, some six months later. Immediately they began scurrying about, making meticulous preparations and disseminating bogus information in every direction. Two months thereafter, they received word through a real estate broker that Mike Home was interested in buying the property.
Posing now as the seller’s agent, Takumi had launched negotiations, urging Mike Home to make the purchase, pointing to the substantial discount and hinting that there were many other potential buyers. Using a surreptitiously made duplicate key to show the property for inspection, Takumi was quickly able to conclude a sales contract and move toward settling the account that very day.
The judicial scrivener, who appeared to be the most steadfast of sorts, was going through the documents in the order he had received them from Takumi. Crossing his fingers in an attempt to maintain his composure, Takumi kept his eyes both on Gotō, who was examining and apparently assessing, one by one, the business cards they had received, and on Sasaki, who was sitting stiffly, looking nervously at those on the other side of the table. Before he knew it, Takumi began to sweat, as he again became acutely aware of the artificial film on his fingertips.
“Ah, you look so wonderfully young.” Gotō suddenly turned to the judicial scrivener, who, at being so abruptly addressed, was now noticeably flustered. He wore rimless glasses and appeared to be in his early thirties.
“So how long you been registered?”
The judicial scrivener winced at Gotō’s intrusive manner. A little over five years came the reply.
“Then that’ll mean you’ve taken the training renewal session only once. Professional ethics’re important. Can you really handle such an important job now? I don’t know, and you’ve got me a bit worried.”
The room fell into an uneasy silence.
The younger man modestly bowed his head at Gotō’s outburst, his face stiffening and showing dismay at what could only be a false accusation. Inspecting all of the documents by hand was an irksome chore. Did it seem he was going through the motions just to please Mike Home? With all eyes directed toward him, he nonetheless carried on. When he appeared to return to a document he had already checked, as though with a question about it, Gotō, who had been fretfully observing him, spoke up:
“Can’t you hurry it up now!! We’ve not got the time for this! My train’s not about to wait, you know…”
There was undisguised harshness in his voice.
“We’re sorry,” added Takumi politely, “but Shimazaki-san will be undergoing a routine health check in his nursing home this afternoon. So please … ”
The president, who himself had been watching the judicial scrivener with an air of impatience, nodded in acknowledgment. Takumi looked at him and remembered the president’s pleading words at the very first meeting with the Mike Home staff:
“By all means allow us to make the purchase!”
The real estate company’s major focus was on the development and sale of studio apartments intended for investment; launched seven years before, it had grown rapidly and now had more than sixty employees. Originally a real estate brokerage, it had evolved into a sales agency and exclusive wholesaler. This was the first time it was to develop its own properties.
The goal was to be listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and undertaking in-house development was a steppingstone in that direction. With that in mind, Mike Home had for some time been looking in Tokyo for a suitable condominium site but had been unable to find one in the heart of the city, where competition was fierce and where there was already a surfeit of development. So, when news got out that Shimazaki Ken’ichi’s prime site in Ebisu was for sale, it was no wonder that Mike Home would be most eager to pursue the deal.
If, for example, one were to construct a condominium on the site—based on an 80% building-to-land ratio, 400% floor-area ratio, 45-foot frontage road, and maximum-permitted 130-foot height—one would likely end up with 300-square-foot studios for single persons as well as some thirty larger units for families, all conforming to local ward regulations, even including the common areas. Here where the market rental price was over 20,000 yen per tsubo, an annual rental income of over 90 million yen could be expected when the property was fully occupied, and, after deducting expenses, the annual rental income would settle in at around 80 million yen. Assuming a yield of 3.5%, the condominium’s appraised value would thus be more than 2 billion yen.
The president might well have been painfully aware of an either-or: all the various benefits that a signing of the contract would bring on the one hand vs., on the other, the losses the company would incur if the effort were to fail. The lack of any apparent sign of caution on his part concerning the confirmation of the documents’ authenticity strongly suggested a desire to avoid upsetting the would-be seller in any way that might cause him to cancel the transaction.
The judicial scrivener, a thin and awkward smile on his face, turned to Sasaki:
“Well now, Shimazaki-san, please show us your photo ID so that we may verify who you are.
Tokyo Swindlers by Ko Shinjo, translated by Charles de Wolf, will be available in both print and digital November 12th, 2024.
Get your copy here.