Rainfall

pork. Nagano has a number of farming districts, and Yamaoto keeps the subsidies rolling in and is a vocal opponent of any relaxation of Japan’s refusal to allow foreign rice into the country. And three, he has a lot of support in the Shinto community.”

    “Shinto,” I said, musing. Shinto is a nature-worshiping religion that Japan’s nationalists turned into an ideology of Japaneseness before the war. Unlike Christianity and Buddhism, Shinto is native to Japan and isn’t practiced anywhere else. There was something about the connection that was bothering me, something I should have known. Then I realized.

    “That’s how they found out where I live,” I said. “No wonder I’ve been seeing priests begging for alms outside of stations on the Mita-sen. They blanketed me with static surveillance, traced me back to my neighborhood one step at a time. Goddamnit, how could I have missed it? I almost gave one of them a hundred yen the other day.”

    His eyes were worried. “How would they know to focus on the Mita line?”

    “They probably didn’t, for sure. But with a little luck, a little coincidence, a little Holtzer feeding them a dossier, maybe even military-era photographs, it could be done. If they placed me at the Kodokan, they would have assumed that I wouldn’t live too far from it. And there are only three train lines with stops within a reasonable distance from the building, so all they had to do was commit enough manpower at enough places for enough time. Shit, they really nailed me.”

    I had to give them credit; it was nicely done. Static surveillance is almost impossible to spot. Unlike the moving variety, you can’t get the person behind you to do something unnatural to give himself away. It’s more like a zone defense in basketball: no matter where the guy with the ball goes, there’s always someone new in the next zone to pick him up. If you can put enough people in place to make it work, it’s deadly.

    “What’s the basis for the Shinto connection?” I asked.

    “Shinto is a huge organization, with priests running shrines at the national, local, even neighborhood levels. As a result, the shrines take in a lot of donations and are well funded — so they’re in a position to dispense patronage to the politicians they favor. And Yamaoto wants a much bigger role for Shinto in Japan, which means more power for the priests.”

    “So the shrines are part of his funding?”

    “Yes, but it’s more than that. Shinto is part of Conviction’s program. The party wants it taught in schools; it wants to form an anticrime alliance between the police and the local shrines. Don’t forget, Shinto was at the center of prewar Japanese nationalism. It’s unique to Japan, and can easily be bent — has been bent — to foster the xenophobic cult of the
Yamato Gokoro
, the Japanese soul. And it’s on the rise in Japan today, although not many people realize it outside the country.”

    “You said their headquarters is in Shibakoen,” I said.

    “That’s right.”

    “Okay, then. While you’re having a crack at the lattice, I’m going to need some surveillance equipment — infrared and laser. And video. Also a transmitter in case I can get inside. I want to listen in on our friends at Conviction.”

    “Why?”

    “I need more information. Whose disk was this? Who’s trying to get it back? Why? Without that information, there’s not much I can do to protect myself. Or Midori.”

    “You need to get pretty close to the building to use that kind of equipment, never mind placing a transmitter. It’ll be dangerous. Why don’t you just give me some time with the lattice? Maybe everything you need is already in it.”

    “I don’t have time. It might take you a week to crack the code, or you might not be able to crack it at all. In the meantime, I’m up against the Agency, the
yakuza
, and an army of Shinto priests. They know where I live, and I’ve been flushed out into the open. Time is running against me — I’ve got to end this soon.”

    “Well, why don’t you just get out of the country? At least until I’m done with the lattice. What’s keeping you here?”

    “For one thing, I’ve got to take care of Midori, and she can’t leave. I don’t like the idea of her traveling under her own passport, and I doubt she’s got false papers handy.”

    He nodded as though he understood, then looked at me closely. “Is something going on between you two?”

    I didn’t