"Do you support or oppose the abolition of the death penalty?" "According to a public opinion poll conducted in June 1942 71% opposed the abolition 16% supported it and 13% were undecided." "But you 71% who oppose the abolition... have you ever seen an execution chamber?" "Have you ever seen an execution?" "Have you ever seen an execution chamber?" "Have you ever seen an execution?" "The execution chamber is a tiny corner of the prison" "In order to screen it from the rest of the prison a flimsy wooden wall has been erected" "One enters through what is commonly called "the gate of hell"" "It is quite a small plot of land." "There is a garden and sometimes we see flowering cherries and azaleas according to the season" "The ground slopes away from the central building" "It is the execution chamber." "It looks like someone's house" "The size of an average bungalow, it is painted light cream." "The metal roof glints in the sun." "It looks like an ordinary house." "The interior is quite bright." "The walls are painted salmon pink." "There are five ordinary windows." "Everything is ordinary, right down to the basic concrete." "On the left is a sitting room with table, sofa and chairs." "This is where the various functionaries wait." "Beyond this, there is a toilet, but it is only for men." "Beyond that is the cell." "The condemned man is supposed to wait here, but it is never used." "There is only a urinal in the corner." "Then there is a narrow corridor and a door leading to the cell." "On the other side of the curtain, there is a small chapel." "The curtains are dark yellow." "This is where the last rites are performed." "On the left stand the prison officials and the Public Prosecutor, the Prosecutor's secretary and the prison staff." "The prison chaplain has accompanied the prisoner on his last walk." "Inside the chapel, there is a simple Buddhist shrine." "If the condemned is a Christian, the doors of the shrine remain closed." "The condemned is given the chance to pray for the last time." "He is asked, if he has made a will, and how he wishes to be buried, etc." "He can make a will and leave any messages he wishes." "Then he is given cakes and fruit for his last meal." "Then comes the last cup of tea, the final cigarette." "All that remains is to execute him." "The members of the staff blindfold and handcuff him." "Then the curtain hiding the execution chamber itself is drawn for the first time." "Everything is ready, and three hangmen are waiting." "All this is hidden from the blindfolded man." "In the middle of the execution chamber there is a trapdoor" "It is about three feet square." "Above it hangs the noose." "The rope passes over a pulley set in the ceiling." "The condemned is led to the trapdoor." "His last contact with the world is the brown carpet laid throughout chapel and execution chamber." "Meanwhile the witnesses have gone to a gallery and there they take their places overlooking the execution chamber." "From the gallery there are steps down to the basement." "The witnesses can thus see the condemned all the time." "When he is alive and immediately after he has been executed" "Next the knees of the condemned are pinioned." "The rope is adjusted round his neck" "The knot must be correctly placed" "It must fit snugly." "To open the trapdoor there is a lever, but it is usually button-operated." "The hangman pushes the button" "The trapdoor is opened and the condemned is hanged." "The basement, where the man will fall, is nine feet deep." "The length of rope leaves his feet one foot from the ground." "The two officials waiting in the basement steady the body and face it to the witnesses." "The doctor in charge times the death." "The blindfold and handcuffs are removed" "The doctor takes the pulse." "It stops after about 18 minutes, and death is pronounced." "Then the execution is considered completed." "THE BODY OF THE CONDEMNED MAN R REFUSES EXECUTION" "Doctor, hasn't it stopped yet?" "No, it is quite normal" "Anything wrong with the noose?" "No, nothing!" "Nothing wrong here, either" "I'm not responsible!" "What's happened?" "The heart usually stops after 15 minutes at most" "It has been 21 minutes already" "His pulse..." "He's only dead if it stops" "It's all over then and we take him down, but..." "This is not our responsibility!" "Doctor?" "It's not getting any weaker" "How long shall we let the Public Prosecutor wait?" "Shall we hang him again?" "We haven't even done it once" "That's right, sir!" "Is it in order, Public Prosecutor?" "I've come to witness, execution is your responsibility" "I understand" "So he's not dead yet?" "According to regulations, the rope mustn't come off until five minutes after death" "But the execution isn't accomplished yet" "Should we pray again?" "God would forbid that." "The last rites are over" "His poor soul has departed" "But his body lives" "I'm sure that in Section 479 of Regulations it is laid down that one who has been unsuccessfully hanged shall be judged demented and execution shall be stopped" "I suppose it means you can't execute an unconscious person, either" "If we do it again we might be breaking the law" "Why can't you execute a demented person, anyway?" "He must realize his guilt is being justly punished" "That's the true, moral, ethical purpose:" "It's not just a matter of killing him" "Although I'm no authority" "Doctor, is this true dementia?" "Yes, as you can see" "This kind of work has its failures, too." "Let's call it a day" "Just stop, you mean?" "Doctor, could you bring him around?" "Good idea!" "Bring him round, and once he's himself again and fully realizes his guilt once more..." "You're a very clever man!" "Please!" "Under these circumstances?" "It has to be" "But I only came to certify death." "I didn't bring anything" "Use artificial respiration, like on drowned people" "But he wasn't drowned, he was executed" "Stop it!" " Stop it at once!" " Harder!" "Harder!" "Stop it, please!" "We're trying to save his life!" "But only so that he can be killed afterwards!" "You take responsibility for all this, you know!" "Is this legal?" "Are you sure about it?" "Don't get so excited" "Come on, doctor, get on with your job" "Bring him back to life" "After he comes round we can think about the execution" "I remember a cage-like room full of sleeping people, some of them condemned to death" "That was during the war, in the colonies we used to have" "We wondered if we ought to wake the condemned" "If they were awakened, it was only to suffer" "Maybe it's better to die without being aware of it" "But all of these people were awakened to die" "Tell me about it" "In fact, death only has meaning if we know it is coming" "And yet, sometimes there are people who aren't aware of it" "They are the ones who keep hoping to the last" "But this is all speculation on my part" "R DOES NOT ACCEPT BEING R" "Alive again!" "He was alive all the time." "He wasn't dead" "The executed man is alive" "R can you see me?" "Do you know, who it is?" "It's me!" "He doesn't seem to understand" "Now let's get it over quickly" "Shall we start with a prayer?" "His soul is no longer here" "You can't pray for a body without a soul!" "Don't move him!" "Why not?" "His eyes are open." "He's alive" "The eyes are the mirror of the soul" "We've kept well within the law so far." "Let's keep it that way" "Bring some tea and a cake" "You can't do that yet!" "Why don't you just start praying?" "When I first began this work I thought that a man could only be executed once" "I thought that if something went wrong he'd be saved" "But it's not so simple" "Merely a personal opinion, of course" "Tell me, Education Officer this condemned man was unusually co-operative, wasn't he?" "But he might not be, if we try it again" "No, but he might be, if he realizes how guilty he is" "What if he doesn't?" "His body has already refused, hasn't it?" "Yes... but body and soul are one" "If his soul refuses, what then?" "Look, he let himself be blindfolded." "His soul has already accepted" "Yes, but that R is not this R" "R's soul is no longer here" "The man here may be R but not the R that committed crime and admitted sin" "So you mean the real R isn't here and anything this R might admit won't really count" "In fact, this isn't our R at all!" "You didn't die!" "R, I'm the Education Officer, remember?" "We had lots of talks!" "Education Officer" "You recognize me!" "How are you?" "Where am I?" "It's your duty." "Tell him" "It's all very well to say tell him..." "I get it!" "If he knows, who he is, then..." "It's simple!" "What's your name?" "You are R. Your name is R!" "Where am I?" "Is it all right for him to stand up?" "Yes, it won't hurt him" "R, you know him." "He's in charge here" "I haven't seen you for a long time." "Why did he say that?" "Make him remember who he is" "He doesn't even know his name" "Let me do it" "You were executed here" "Security Officer!" "Yes?" "Oh, nothing" "I'd like to make him remember everything from the beginning" "There must be a better way" "He ought to be made to remember important things, like this!" "Doctor, is there a medical term for this condition?" "He has amnesia" "Do you think it will stay?" "I don't know." "This isn't an ordinary case" "I've never heard of amnesia after execution" "No books about it?" "Must we wait until he's himself again, then?" "We have to decide, what to do about him" "Well, I'll do my best to restore his memory" "Restore?" "It's sacrilege to bring back a soul once it's departed" "Possibly, but I'm doing this for humanitarian reasons" "It's more your province" "Enlighten R's soul, tell him, what's happened" "How can I enlighten a soul, that's already enlightened?" "It's like adding water to a fountain" "But you probably can't understand that" "It's like giving gonorrhea to a syphilitic" "R, do you remember this morning?" "You got up at six-twenty and had breakfast, didn't you?" "You had bean-curd, didn't you?" "You thanked God, and ate it all up" "Then you read, and then they came for you" "It was nine o'clock, when they came to get you, remember?" "What are you doing these days?" "Get the court verdict" "Of course!" "I've never thought of that!" "Where is it?" "Where is it?" "Ah, there it is!" ""Verdict:" "In-re R, worker..."" ""...for the forcible rape and premeditated murder of..."" "Understand?" "This is about you" ""This court pronounces the following verdict..." ""The condemned is sentenced to death"" "He has died!" ""The court orders the confiscation of one knife..."" "Where am I?" "Look, you have to understand!" "We can't do it like this" "Doctor, isn't there any other way?" "No, I don't think so" "How do you know there isn't?" "Well, we might try to communicate through his senses" "Through his body?" "You mean, by squeezing his neck again?" "Take it easy!" "Still, maybe we can communicate something that way" "Do something with his body" "Do something... but what?" "Listen!" "If you can make him admit his guilt somehow, that'll do" "I'll try" "R, remember, you strangled her like this" "Try it" "Not too hard!" "You see, it felt soft like that, though it was a girl" "Do you remember now?" "Education Officer, I haven't seen you for ages." "Are you keeping all right?" "You saw me, just before you were executed!" "If you want to help him you must be patient." "Go about it gently" "Explain everything to him" "What do you mean?" "You're enjoying this!" "You are evil!" "You are all demons!" "But you've made up your minds to do it, and you will!" "Why not hang yourself to find out how it feels?" "I'm not going to help you!" "You're on the river bank at sunset." "Very beautiful!" "You're on the way back from the baths." "It's spring" "You feel great!" "The spring breeze is wonderful!" "That's your bicycle bell." "You ring it, because you feel great!" "You're 18" "It's a warm spring night now" "Then you see this girl on a bike" "I'll follow her" "You pedal harder." "Her hair is blowing in the breeze" "You get nearer and nearer" "You ride side by side." "You can smell her hair" "That exciting smell!" "I wonder, if she'll sleep with me?" "I'm only guessing, you thought that" "At any rate, you decided to stop her" "She's very near now" "It's dark, no one can see you" "You grab her by the neck" "You're the girl!" "Can't you do it better?" "I haven't read the evidence." "I don't know what he did" "After all my effort!" "You knock her down and hold her on the ground!" "She struggles." "You feel her skin" "You feel her breathing, even smell her breath" "Something soft... her breast!" "A young girl's soft breast!" "He can't do it all by himself." "You be the girl" "Strangle me again" "Now you have to drag me around." "R, watch this!" "Now comes the rape" "Then the rape is over" "I begin to recover and say:" ""I won't tell anyone."" "(And me a family man)" "He wouldn't stand up like that." "Look for your towel, etc." "R look carefully!" "That man in white is you!" "The other one is a young girl, although she's near retiring age" "You have to catch me and get on top of me again" "Help!" "Help!" "You have to want to rape" "I quit." "I just can't feel like a rape all of a sudden" "Someone has to do it!" "Anyone want to try?" "Would you oblige?" "What a job this is!" "Chaplain, what are you doing, sitting there like that?" "What a staff I'm stuck with!" "I shouldn't have to do this" "Come, come on!" "Now you feel like rape, don't you?" "I don't know exactly what to do" "First he straddled her then he caused her to lose consciousness by strangulation then he committed an act of rape in the course of which she died through pressure on the carotid artery" " Then what?" " That's the first crime" "R you killed someone just like this" "Like I did it" "Doesn't look like that did persuade him" "He's not understood a thing" "We prison officers should be trained to deal with loss of memory" "Shall we go on to the second crime?" "Why not." "Let's try it." "Yes, the second one's the only chance left." "Suppose he doesn't remember the second one either?" "We've only got two crimes." "I hope R will remember." "This is really too much for ordinary men like us" "His father brought him up as a catholic, you know" "R was a very religious lad before he died" "Son, are you R?" "You see, he's not R!" "He doesn't have R's soul" "If he doesn't have R's soul, he's not R" "Therefore, you can't execute him." "Crime is the work of the soul" "The body is merely punished for the soul" "If there is no soul, punishment is impossible" "It wouldn't even be punishment" "Therefore, R..." "You understand!" "You are just pretending to be R, and you know it" "You're cheating." "You're just pretending." "He is not R!" "He looks like R. His relatives would recognize him" "Are you pretending?" "Are you trying to fool us?" "How are you today?" "Can he really be so stupid?" "Well, if he's really just putting on an act..." "We'll never execute him if he acts like this" "War criminals used this trick!" "Let's put his head in the noose, that'll be a good test" "God has taken his soul" "Therefore, this is not R" "But on the other hand, if his soul were still there..." "Then what about God?" "God doesn't exist!" "Oh, God, I have doubted You!" "Even God himself can make mistakes, you know" "Shut up!" "You don't understand!" "Like me, R believed" "R, do you believe in God?" "He really isn't R!" "R or not, act or not, I'm tired of all this!" "Get on with the execution!" "Killers!" "It will be nothing less than plain murder!" "You're the one who's blasphemous now" "I can't work with someone like this!" "Nor I with you!" "Where are you going?" "He's not R, yet you kill him!" "That's not right!" "Right or not, you're needed here!" "R. ACKNOWLEDGES THE EXISTENCE OF R AS A STRANGER" ""Second crime: 17 August, 8.00 p." "M..." ""...accused thought of going swimming..." ""...then giving a new knife to his brother..." ""...to replace the borrowed knife he lost" ""Accused left the house and went to the Komatsugawa High School Building" ""He went up to the school's roof" ""He saw the girl pupil B, then 16 years old" ""She was sitting alone by a water tank, reading a book"" ""While he spoke to her, he remembered he had the knife"" ""No one else was there." "He felt carnal desire"" ""He thought of threatening B. With the knife, and raping her"" ""He grasped her right hand, and she became frightened"" ""He threatened her, and said:" "'Come here!" "'"" ""She said: 'What are you doing?" "'"" "What are you doing?" ""She tried to escape, but he dragged her under the clock tower"" ""She screamed, struggled and said:" "'Why don't you just kill me'"" ""Afraid that people would hear..."" "You should tell them that you aren't R You don't belong here!" "What are you doing?" "He says he is not R" "So?" "What?" "You really are R" "That R over there is acting out your crime" "Understand, R?" " What does R mean?" " Education Officer!" "R is your name." "A Korean name:" "R" "If you've got a Korean name, that means you're from Korea" "Do you know how old you are?" "Twenty-two" "You committed these crimes when you were 18:" "You've been here ever since..." "You used the Japanese name of Shimizu but your real name is R, Korean" "What is a Korean?" "What is a Ko..." "What kind of a question is that?" "Answer him!" "If he was a negro, or someone with different skin, it would be easier" "How can I explain it?" "Tell him simply." "It is a racial matter" "R, this is Japan, see, and we're all Japanese, born in Japan." "You were born here, too, but of Korean parents, and therefore, you're Korean" "Your explanation won't do." "You'll have to explain to him about races and nations" "You're a registered citizen of the new sovereign state of South Korea ...it's too complicated..." "But for the Japanese, you still belong to the old inferior Korean race." "So, you're Korean, and I'm Japanese, and that's that." "This Korean raped and killed two girls" "Why did he rape the girls?" "He wanted to rape them, that's why!" "What's rape?" "Well you see, it's like..." "It's like when you see a nice shapely girl and you want you want to go and hug her, that's how rape begins" "I've not felt that way for a long time" "Will one of you younger fellows explain?" "To rape a woman is..." "You're pretending you don't know, you criminal!" "You're condemned for murder, aren't you?" "Say yes!" "You're R, aren't you?" "You're not R" "You're ruining everything!" "Stop pretending!" "You are R!" "You aren't!" "You are!" " He's not!" " He is!" "Can you prove he is?" "May I, Sir?" "Look, R!" "This is you" ""Fearing she would identify him..."" ""...he killed her, and then decided to rape her"" "Remember my blood pressure!" "You can't kill like that" " You try it" " All right" "Chaplain, you're in on this, too, you know" ""He gripped her neck with his left hand..."" ""...pulled her down and began strangling her"" ""When she was half-dead, he dragged her out of sight..."" ""...and then recommenced the strangulation..."" ""...this time using his bath towel as a ligature"" ""After he had killed her, he raped her"" "That's how you murdered and raped a girl" "We're getting through to him." "Let's carry on" "Understand?" "Carnal desire made you do that!" "What is carnal desire?" "This instinct, not that it is bad, mind you, between husband and wife and sometimes, it can be between lovers too, of course but when it's not permitted between some men and women then it's vicious instinct, carnal desire, criminal desire" "Perhaps a person who gives in to it becomes a criminal" "It seems you didn't have anyone to help you out in such matters" "That was because of your environment" "Your boyhood, surroundings, family - apart from being Korean" "What is a family?" "Father, mother, children, all living together" "Suppose, I'm your father" "Help me, will you?" "Then this is my wife, your mother" "You had a lot of brothers and sisters." "How many?" "Anyway, a lot" "This here is a small, dirty room" "Everyone huddled around father and mother" "R, you're coming home now" "Say: "I'm back"" "Your father is drunk again" "A very bad environment." "Constant fighting" "Husband, don't drink so much!" "I have to work so hard" "No, his mother was deaf and mute" "Father, drinking again?" "I can't help it." "There's nothing else to do" "Can't you do it more..." "Korean-like?" "No can help drinking" "We haven't enough to eat" "Kids no talk like that to father!" "What have you been doing, anyway?" "Stealing again?" " What was he doing?" " Evening classes" "I was at evening university" "School, not university!" "I was at evening school" "What do I do now?" "Take out a book, you've stolen." "Read it!" "Probably Dostoyevsky or Goethe" "Understand now?" "This was your family" "Still, you were very bright for a Korean." "Top of your class" "Remember, telling me about winning the speech contest?" "You got the first prize when you were only 13!" ""Lincoln was born in a log cabin..."" ""...but he became President of the United States!" "That's enough of that!" "So, you worked all day, and went to school at night" "You wanted to read all the great books" "You could have gone on to university" "If you'd graduated, you might even have been a civil servant" "Our Security Officer here had a life a bit like yours" "What are you doing?" "I've heard that shock is good for amnesia" "Did you learn that at evening classes?" "Well, shall we start to hang him?" "We've tried everything else" "Give me a little more time" "What do you say?" "It's up to you" "You say, it's up to me but I'm no good at that sort of thing!" "Just a little more effort!" "I think, you'll find that R will agree with us in the end" "Please wait" "R, you and me were like father and son, weren't we?" "I understand a little bit" "Hooray!" "You understand something!" "Thank you!" "There was this poor Korean with this bad family ...therefore he killed a girl" "Then he was condemned to death" "Praise the Lord!" "Human trust is a beautiful thing!" "I knew, I just knew you would understand what I meant!" "Did you hear, what I said?" "Want your last meal now?" "Why my "last meal"?" "It's all right, if you don't want it, you know" "How about some tea?" "Shall we start?" "Yes, let's try it again, Sir!" "Chaplain?" "No!" "All right, I won't bother you then!" "R, will a Buddhist service do?" "You're Catholic, but we're are all alike really." "Our gods are the same" "You'll be satisfied, if I do the praying, won't you?" "I oppose Buddhism!" "I oppose Buddhism!" "R!" "I mean, non-R!" "You're going to be killed!" "They are going to execute you again" "The rope around your neck, the trapdoor sprung" "You'll be hanged." "Your neck will be broken." "You'll die" "Do you want to be killed?" "Do you want to die?" "Say one word:" "Oui or non?" "No!" "Oh, God, non-R doesn't want to die!" "But, you know everything, don't you?" "You're the poor young Korean" "You killed and raped two women." "That's you!" "That's R!" "I don't want to die" "You are a coward, trying to escape like you did before!" "You were proud of yourself, phoning the police and the press!" "Then maintaining killing is a fine art!" "You've no conscience!" "A cruel brutal animal - and you think, you're human?" "So, you mean, that R is me?" "Yes, I do!" "If you really think so, then maybe it's true" "But I don't think that I'm like him" "I don't think so but if I acted with you I might" "R TRIES TO BE R." "Yes, there!" "There's a door, you open it" "You're just back from work, hungry!" "In the room are your parents, your younger brother, and three sisters" "They have eaten all the food" "Now... get angry" "Get angry!" "It's not working" "Now, your elder brother comes home broke after being away for three days" "What's goin' on?" "Nobody welcomes me." "Same as usual, always the same!" " Anything to eat?" " Nothing to eat!" " Damn shit!" "R, get angry!" "Say: "Brother!"" "Now, there's a little rice left" "R, go and eat it!" "Idiot!" "Stop it!" "Are you crazy?" "You've come home broke!" "I'll show you!" "You're Korean." "Do it more like a Korean." "Be more vulgar!" "Now, R intervenes!" "Will someone clean up the mess?" "The mother ought to." "Will you do it, please?" "It'll fall off, if you do things like that!" "Stop it!" "Say it louder" "Stop it!" "Brother, just because you go to high school don't act so big!" "I can't stay here!" "Now carry on with your part" "Fuck off!" "Don't talk like that" "Shut up!" "You should bring money home" "That's right, hit him back!" "Now the father joins in!" "This is a Confucian family:" "The elders are always right" "Why do that?" "He's your elder brother." "Understand?" "It's very important" "What's important is, whether we can go on living" "What was that?" "How can we go on living?" "What are we going to do now?" "How can we rear the children?" "They're so young" "That's right!" "You're R!" "Answer me, father!" "I'm over sixty." "I'm worn out" "I came to Japan in 1931, but jobs were rare" "I was a miner for two years, then I arrived in Tokyo 40 years ago" "The big earthquake... the big war..." "Lots of things" "My days are done!" "I drink and do what I like until Christ calls me" "You have no right to complain!" "You drink." "They have only you, and no food!" ""In our northern mountain dyed red with blood"" ""Red blood flows on the banks of the Yalu River"" ""His glorious name for ever..." "Kim Il-Sung!"" "Stop it!" "You're spoiling everything!" "Go out!" "Out!" "Mother intervenes!" "Go!" "Go!" "Brother goes out!" "Mother starts to cry!" "Mother, you're deaf and dumb." "And can you cry more like a Korean, please?" "R, that's not a WC!" "Son, what do you think you're doing?" "It's a tapeworm" "He ate the tapeworm!" "Stop it!" "R wouldn't do that!" "Let's go on with the play" "Let's do a scene with your sisters now" "Is that all of my part?" " Don't we continue the last scene?" " Not again" "Let's do the scene with R's sisters" " Sister?" " May I..." "Ask him for money" " Brother, may I have some money?" " What for?" "Well... for the school excursion" "Do you want to go?" "Then I'll give you." "Close your eyes" "Now walk..." "I've bought the tickets." "Mind the steps" "Arinanya" "Damenoya" "Isononya" "Kobanga" "Kibogata..." "Kairanda" "Sadeishanoda" "Hirai" "Kameido" "Kishjo..." "Joruke..." "Asakusabashi" "Kyaba" " Now where?" " To the zoo." "Then we'll change for Ueno" "Here's the zoo." "Go, and see the animals" "I can't look, my eyes are closed" "Then let's go somewhere, that's nowhere" "Nowhere?" "That's right." "You can open your eyes" "Now we're in a big street." "There's a bookshop a fruiterers, a noodle shop..." " Is there a supermarket?" " Everything" "We haven't got any money" "Never mind:" "Everything is free here" "No shopkeepers?" "That's right" "That's one street." "The next street is all houses" "Such grand houses" "With record players?" "Yes, and everyone has TV and refrigerators" "Our house is the third on the left" "It has a veranda and two stories" "You are standing on the veranda all dressed up" "But I'm here" "There's another you, and the other you lives there" "Funny" "Isn't this fun?" "It's not fun at all!" "It's beside the point!" "Anyway, we have to leave the house now." "R, go on!" "It's a hot summer evening." "You're hungry." "You wonder where to go, what to do..." "You'd like to go swimming, but you haven't got enough money" "You'd like to meet a girl!" "You met that girl the other day." "You wonder, if it'll happen again." "You'd like a woman to come along, buy you a meal and take you off to a hotel" "That's the sort of thing you're imagining!" "Imagining... imagining!" "Imagining her body makes you want to play with yourself but you can't do it at home, because you're never alone" "You think of going to a lonely field" "But unfortunately... you didn't go there" "If you had, you wouldn't have killed her" "Anyway, there may be someone at the station" "This girl has nice breasts" "She's got a very nice figure." "You'd like to sleep with her!" "KEEP YOUR HOME DECENT." "PUT DIRTY BOOKS IN HERE" "HELP YOURSELF TO SMALL CHANGE" "You must insert the coin!" "Hello, I haven't seen you for ages." "Is Sachiko in?" "That's right!" "No one of that name lives there?" "That's strange" "I see... sorry to have bothered you" "She's pretty old!" "You don't mind, eh?" "You rather like them mature" "No money problems with them;" "they pay for everything!" "Speak now, then!" "But, no, you can't do it" "No self-confidence!" "You don't know women, certainly not nice women!" "Excuse me, please" "How do I get to Komatsugawa?" "I'm a stranger here myself" "I see..." "I'm a student there" ""I'm just no good!" You run and run and run" "When you get tired of running, you stop" "Stop now!" "Stop!" "It's nice to eat ice-cream after running." "But you must hurry on" "The ice doesn't satisfy you:" "It begins to taste like sand" "Water, please" "I see!" "It's her you wanted" "Unrequited love!" "Now you hurry to the school gate" "As though drawn to it, drawn to the fatal spot!" "You feel funny... sort of strange..." "It's the feeling which comes before carnal desire" "It's not six yet but some men and women are already doing it somewhere" "Why do I have to sit alone in this place?" "Something within me stirs!" "Now, up to the roof!" "Quickly up the fatal steps!" "Up to the roof!" "It is forbidden to go on the roof" "She's not here." "What's wrong?" "There she is!" "You stare at her" "You imagine her naked" "Her skin is quite soft" "Not yet!" "You're not desperate yet!" "You're joking!" "What do you want?" "You can't kill me." "That won't kill!" "Don't hesitate, someone's coming!" "Quick!" "Quick!" "Quick!" "You can hear someone coming!" "It'll be terrible, when she recovers!" "See, you've done this!" "Now you can do anything you like" "Someone's seen me!" "Come here!" "Help me hide her!" "R IS PROVED TO BE A KOREAN" "Are you going to kill me?" "Hang me?" "What are you talking about?" "I didn't mean to kill her!" "She's dead!" "I didn't mean to, really." "Please help me!" "Dead?" "What do you mean?" "There!" "Are you all right?" "There's nothing there" "But that there!" "It's here!" "Take it away!" "You mean, you think there's a woman's body here?" "Here!" "Of course!" "There's nothing" "Can't you see it?" "Look at what I'm touching!" "Her foot... her hand, so cold!" "Put his head under the shower" "You can see her, can't you?" "Can you?" "I am not a killer!" "You can see her!" "Can you?" "No, I'm sure he can't" "He's looking at it!" "You can see it!" "Good!" "I thought I was going mad" "But, R, what shall we do?" "I've killed her!" "They'll execute me!" "What shall I do?" "You're already condemned, but can you advise me?" "Wake up." "No one's going to kill you" "Wake up?" "I'm not asleep!" "It's there!" "What's where?" "Look at her carefully!" "Look!" "I can only see the concrete floor" "I'll make you touch her!" "It's there!" "I can see it now!" "You too?" "Three of us can see it" "Does this mean we're all dreaming?" "Maybe" "People don't dream together!" "But we have been imagining together" "If you imagine, does it come true?" "Yes, if you imagine it, as though it were real" "Then those who don't see don't imagine well enough?" "Didn't you hear that?" "We didn't start all this to begin imagining things with R" "R, do you now admit that you are R?" "I'm still imagining" "Stop imagining!" "You are R!" "I must say, I feel a little like R" "But I'm far from feeling really him." "Let's imagine some more..." "It ended when you killed her" "We kindly began with your childhood, unveiled both crime and cause" "But I feel something's missing still" "What's missing?" "For me to be really R" "I can see it now!" "You've seen it?" "What have you done?" "And you an Education Officer!" "I'm sorry!" "I got carried away!" "That's no excuse!" "Get rid of it!" "What are you doing?" "He's crazy, take no notice of him!" "If you can't see her, shut up!" " Can you men see her?" " From the beginning, Sir!" "Now, everyone, shall we keep this to ourselves?" "Otherwise, I'll loose my pension, I'll be hanged." "Why did you have to die?" "Why don't you wake up?" "Please, wake up for me!" "She's warm!" "She's not dead!" "She's alive!" "Thank you!" "I'll get my pension after all!" "Now go home and keep quiet." "Ordinary people don't come here" "R, I haven't seen you for ages" "Sister" "R, don't get confused!" "You didn't have an elder sister!" "Are you my sister?" "Yes, R, I am" "She should have never woken up!" "If she's really his sister, then R really isn't R at all" "I'm all mixed up." "Do you understand?" "No one understands you." "I understand." "I can see her right there" "Purely a personal opinion" "Sister, am I R?" "The R you've known?" "Yes, you are a Korean called R" "You used to be called by the Japanese name Shizuo" "But you began to use R after you were awakened to nationalism." "That's fine!" "Aren't you glad?" "I don't know who you are, but thank you!" "Thanks to your assistance, we can finally complete the ceremony" "I'm against capital punishment!" "I don't know whether to laugh or cry!" "R, you should not die" "Instead you should repent your guilt by getting better" "What are you doing, Education Officer?" "What she is saying is dangerous!" "What she is saying?" "We can't even see her!" "She opposes capital punishment" "Tell me what she says." "You can see her" "Priest, tell me, just the most important things" "I can't repent until I'm sure I'm R" "But you called me your sister so you must be R" "That's it!" "You are R!" "Listen to her!" "May I touch your hand?" "If I understand you, sister, perhaps I'll understand myself" "He just touched her" "Where?" "His hand is on her flesh" "Her skin flushes" ""Those who look at a woman with lust, have already sinned with her in their hearts."" "Did she say that?" "No, Christ did:" "He knew the meaning of sexual desire, too" "R, you are touching the Korean skin which bears the long, painful history of the Korean race." "When the race is sad, we women are especially sad" "There are no women of my age from the Southern part of Korea, who do not bear scars." "They were beaten by their fathers, or injured by their husbands and some of them committed suicide, slitting their wrists." ""The history of the Korean people comprises a five-thousand year occupation by other races." ""Especially in modern times, its cities have been ransacked and its people murdered," ""as victims of Japanese imperialism for 36 years..."" "Where's his hand now?" "It's slowly moving, then it stops" "Her excitement makes her talk like this" "Sister..." "You remember?" "You remember your mother?" "I feel strange..." "My head is..." "How?" "Slightly sick" "Rest your head on me" "Now his head is on her knee." "Higher than her knee!" "I can see her!" "Talk to me" "R, how do you feel?" "My head is still a bit dizzy" ""Like Cain, long pursued, his sadness is profound" ""Even though it makes a beast of me, I will endure this suffering"" "The Korean poet Yu Chi-han wrote that" "I remembered it when I saw your father's face" "I visited your home" "I saw the grape vine for the first time" "The grapes hung purple, glowing in the dark" "R, after you graduated from junior high school you worked for a factory, and went to night school." "A young Korean among the Japanese" "We've already covered that part!" "Your job is to make R realize he's the condemned man" "Let him admit his sin and die properly" "You repent by living" "R now knows, who he is:" "He knows his Korean race!" ""She is saying that R will prove himself to be a fine man by striving for the unification and prosperity of his country and thus will atone for his crime."" "That's what she's saying." "I'm only repeating it" "R doesn't have another life." "The law is the law after all" "The unity of your county is all very well, but law is law" "But that is Japanese law!" "Certainly." "R committed his crimes in Japan" "R did not want to be born in Japan!" "No Korean does!" "His father was brought to Japan as a serf" "We covered that, too." "We also know his mother was deaf and mute" "You Japanese will never understand how we Koreans feel!" "R's crime was caused by Japanese imperialism!" "Thus, Japan has no right whatsoever to punish him" "If we follow your logic, 600,000 Koreans living in Japan must all commit murders" "If every one of them killed two Japanese... 1.2 millions would lose their lives..." "our population problem would be solved" "Japan has not enough execution chambers for that!" "You're going too fast" "Look, this is an execution chamber" "It's neither time nor place to debate with an imaginary woman" "This won't do." "If you can see her, remove her!" "Then I'll go with R" "We're going to work for the unity of our country" "Nowadays they even use sex for politics" "Sex comes first." "To hide it people talk politics" "It's interesting." "Too bad you can't see" "The Public Prosecutor can't see her, either!" "I still can't see her." "Does this mean I'm not fit for my job?" "How are you?" "Can you stand up?" "Will you follow me?" "Why don't you answer?" "In your letter you said you'd join our ranks, didn't you?" "Maybe." "I don't remember very well" "And now?" "Being a revolutionary doesn't seem to fit R" "Though I'm trying to be and think like him" "You mean, you don't care about the unification of your country?" "It doesn't fit..." "When did you change your mind?" "R, you're no longer R!" "You're no longer a Korean!" "I've said that all along." "Pretty smart for a woman!" "Who are you?" "What right do you have to talk like this?" "I'm a Korean in Japan." "I'm sad and angry that he's become like this" "You've lost R's spirit, and you've lost the Korean spirit!" "You're now simply a culprit!" "A murderer!" "You would not have been able to commit a deed like this" "After he killed, the real R telephoned the police as if he had been challenging all Japan." "How about that?" "R's crime was a Korean crime!" "Your crime is the only way for a Korean to wreak revenge upon the Japanese" "In the name of the Japanese nation, the Japanese have murdered innumerable Koreans!" "However, we, who belong nowhere, can only take personal revenge upon the Japanese!" "The world is upside down." "But the pride and sorrow of Korea are subsumed into this murder" "R, isn't this the only way, to understand your crime?" "Answer me!" "Sister, if what you described is really the way R is... then I'm not R at all" "Who has done this to him?" "You!" "All of you!" "What do you mean?" "We've done our best to turn R back into R!" "Why, I almost killed a woman, when I tried to be helpful" "That's a lie!" "R is not R!" "As a Korean I reject him!" "I've said he's not R all along!" "Go ahead and execute R!" "It is Japanese imperialism that has stripped R and the Koreans of their racial pride" "And this crude imperialism still thrives today... among you, officials, you representatives of Japan... who are nothing but blood hounds of imperial authority!" "All right, let's get on with it" "It doesn't seem right to hang him now, after all our efforts" "Go ahead, I'll watch!" "Wait!" "What's that?" "Now you've seen her" "This woman, I see her!" "She's crying, I can even hear her" "I wonder if I'm fit for this job?" "She's holding on to him, to delay the execution" "But according to section 447, paragraph 2 no one may enter here without permission" "We can't permit anyone invisible!" "If that's the case, I hereby order her to be executed." "You can rely on my decision" "Kill her?" "Yes!" "Yes, Sir!" "R FINALLY BECOMES R" "Come on, priest, dance!" "He's not used to drink" "But we all get worked up on execution days, don't we?" "Alright, buddy..." "I know how it is!" "Want another one?" "I'm going to get stinking drunk!" " Am I dreaming?" " No, you're not" "I didn't know you fancied boys" "Prosecutor, don't you think it's best to abolish capital punishment..." "Just a personal opinion, mind you." "What do you think, Sir?" "I didn't know you felt like that" "Actually, I don't know much about it, but you, who work here..." "All right, you're a dog!" "Lick away!" "You, who've made a fine reputation here you are all right, no doubt you'll be retiring soon" "But I have to carry on here, so I think about things a lot" "About this capital punishment problem" "You make it sound as though I'm some sort of killer" "Come, come, now!" "You shouldn't talk like that!" "Well, maybe there just might be some killer among us" "Maybe the doctor!" "I don't dislike hangings, you know" " Are you my sister?" " Yes, you are R" "If you are my sister..." "I am really R" "So it's no dream" "No, it's not, it's real" ""That's the one who killed Pierre!"" "Koreans were the only foreigners I ever killed!" "She was accusing me" "In 1946 I was about to be repatriated from Saigon" "It was a beautiful evening, the sun was setting" ""Non, je ne sais pas, non!"" "But the old woman's finger pointed at me!" ""You killed Pierre, your prisoner!" But I didn't kill him!" "Let's not talk about killings" "Some other time" "I can't stop now!" "Every day for three years:" ""You killed Pierre!"" "I didn't, but I had to think about it every day" "Our army was disbanded, so they couldn't give evidence on my behalf" "Even the emperor..." "No one helped anyone in those days" "You were the one!" "You came up to me one day" ""Won't you help a poor sick prisoner, doctor?"" "You lied!" "All I do here is see whether they are dead or not!" "You knew what was involved" "I explained it all when I offered you the job" "That night I went home drunk, my girl was waiting" "I told her all about it" "I told her I'd be getting a much better salary just for saying if they were dead or not" "Until then, I had to take work as a salesman" "She never came back." "In all, 29 girls haven't come back!" "Don't speak to him like that!" "Why not?" "I'm only an official loyal to Japanese law" "Official!" "That makes me laugh!" "But the girls don't laugh, they get angry" "They cry, then they leave" "Tonight another girl will be waiting for me" "Very nice, Doctor!" "Please go home and get on with it!" "Get on with it?" "When the trap is sprung, that's when the girls run away" "It's not natural, but it's just then, after an execution I need a woman most" "I see." "It means that you personally hate executions" "Not at all!" "I chose this job because I like it!" "I'd go to Vietnam or Korea or the Philippines to work in the death cells, if they didn't hang here!" "Shut up!" "You're insane!" "Death by hanging!" "Sister, you're touching me" "It makes me tremble" "This isn't a dream, it's real" "Yet it's like a dream" "A dream seems real, reality seems a dream..." "Such things happen, don't they?" "Are you confusing dreams and reality?" "Isn't that a weakness of yours?" "Maybe it's bad to imagine doing something to a girl" "When I play with myself, I sometimes look at the photo of an actress" "Looking excites me at first, but it's only a photo, really" "So I imagine tearing off her clothes, to make her different" "Nothing happens really but my imagination is changing, spreading" "Spreading?" "Don't you think that sex controls the soul more than the body?" "Bodies have limitations, imaginations have none" "Some people even love chickens" "There was a man, who made love to his wife every day but still raped and killed" "R!" "Imagination is limitless" "In imagination, I fantasize of a girl with a bathing suit on" "I let her refuse me, seduce me and I even kill her" "Stop it!" "Why didn't you have an ordinary love affair?" "I stabbed all of you, there was blood everywhere!" "Then, somehow, got stabbed, too" "Then I caught you, embraced you, we fell down" "You were very heavy, heavy as though you were the earth itself" "Then I woke up" "It was a dream, but my hands were sticky with blood" "It was merely my own sweat." "This happens every night" "I'm sorry I talked about you that way but you were so poor and you were Korean" "You only had dreams to live on" "I began living in dreams long ago" "I wanted good food nice clothes" "But you can't admit it" "You learn to give up, really" "But you imagine you get the food you get the nice clothes, you can be happy in your imagination" "So when, as a man, you want a woman, you're used to imagining things" "Of course imagination doesn't satisfy" "I follow girls I steal" "But that excites the imagination even more" "When I was trying to be R just now, I felt I'd done such things" "But whether real or only imaginary, I don't know" "Because in my imagination I've done crimes like those over and over again" "But why does your imagination do this?" "When men are miserable they usually wish for pleasant things" "Maybe, but it was different with me" "My imaginary scenes were all like that" "Maybe imagination had already disturbed my mind" "When I repeat my crime, in my imagination I feel more confident" "For example, I imagined a girl coming along on a bike and raped her" "I would repeat this imagination" "Then one day it happened in reality" "The girl rides along just as I imagined so I feel very confident" "I imagined her coming from the right" "So I hesitate" "If she does not come from the right it's neither imaginary nor real" "At this moment I do not have any sexual desire" "I just have a desire to combine the real and the imaginary" "Unless she comes from the right, I can stop" "But then I change my position, so that she is coming from the right" "Now the real and the imaginary are one" "Then I'm ready" "I'm confident" "Just as I imagined I pull her off the bike" "It's a dream, as always, isn't it?" "I've seen as many as 15 or 20, all in a line machine-gunned to death." "That really stimulated me!" "But it was my job, to write the official report:" ""Fifty enemies killed"" "You saw it?" "It was you who killed them!" "Yes, I remember the first seven but after them I didn't feel anything much" "How did you feel?" "Nothing." "I had this gun, so naturally I killed" "This was in the war, remember..." "Japan's war!" "And I was called a war criminal!" "He did what he did for the sake of his country" "Even being a war criminal" "Thank you, soldiers brave, who work for your country's sake!" "But I don't understand, why this crime of mine should feel so dreamlike" "I imagined it, then went and did it, imagining it" "Then I imagined it again afterwards" "And so, feeling as I do I can't really feel that the people I killed were real" "When I think of them, they're so vague and misty" "I wonder why" "Sister, I met you during such a moment" "Met me?" "Met you" "Sister I met you, didn't I?" "Yes, you did, R" "R?" "R!" "Yes, sister, I meet you during such moments" "I've become very fond of you ...and I began to worry" "You'd hurt your foot, I remember yet you still came to see me" "You got off the bus... before the right stop" "You had to walk to my house" "It was dangerous:" "Lots of criminals like me around" "If anything happened to you my heart would stop" "...my sister" "And if you were killed and raped like I did to them?" "All day long, my heart pounded until it hurt" "And that night I remembered these girls" "It was as though I'd been hit very hard" "The girls I killed they've disappeared all for my sake" "Too bad about the Koreans." "They fought for their country, too." "They are very But let's not talk about that today" "Koreans are no good!" "Kill the lot!" "600,000 in Japan" "They could be killed!" ""Not enough execution chambers"." "But when you're police chief..." "I'm talking about Korean communists!" "I think of the red flag flying at Pusan" "The Japanese have done plenty to the Koreans" "When the red flag is strong enough, they'll come for us" "Revenging themselves for all we did to them" "All our women will be raped, of course but I'll be killed before then" "Public Prosecutor, you're not saying anything." "What do you think?" "Older people seem to share your opinion" "Don't you believe it?" "Well, we lawyers don't usually think about problems between nations" "Don't you?" "I thought you were headed for the Supreme Court!" "Because he doesn't think, he's sure to get there" "He's a good man" "Well, we all do our best for our country" "Killing people" "A lot's happened today, but I've learned one thing from you all" "It's patriotic to kill a man here, or shoot him in war" "It's all the same" "This sort of work is just a job but, personally, we hate war and execution" "Let's pray for the day when there'll be neither war, nor execution" "Am I right, Public Prosecutor?" "Yes, let's drink a toast to that" "Get up, priest!" "Time for a toast!" ""Lest the wine be soured, all we weak sinners ask compassion."" "Cheers!" "Sister, don't cry" "In my imagination it is me who cries and you comfort me" "I've come to love my sister" "I wonder why I confuse my sister with my victims" "I mix them all up in my head" "When I think of someone I love dying I suddenly realize the true meaning of death" "Maybe I killed two people" "Now that I've come to like you so much my mind is no longer merely imagination" "It contains a world that others can enter..." "Because now, when I think about my victims who were previously so vague and misty they now seem more real to me" "Not only the victims themselves but what I did, and thus what I am ...this, too, I see more realistically, more objectively" "Now, for the first time in your life you are able to face reality" "A young Korean in Japan" "Now, I think, I can die" "That's right, let the old R die, let the new R live on" "But the old R killed in reality" "But now I know more, more about my place in the world" "Careful, careful." "You will fall!" "No, I'm not, I'm all right" "I'll tickle you, sister!" "R ACCEPTS BEING R FOR THE SAKE OF ALL Rs" "I have understood." "I am R" "Hurray!" "This sort of thing makes the job worthwhile!" "You admit being R?" "Don't question too much." "Discussions are fruitless" "Let's execute him now" "All right, let's get on with it" "I shouldn't be executed" "This is what I hate about the job!" "Why shouldn't you be executed?" "I am R, but I am not the R you've been thinking of" "R!" "Keep God out of this, or we'll have another non-R!" "Sure, I'm the R who did all those things" "But..." "You don't feel guilty?" "I don't feel guilty" "You, convicted man, don't talk like that!" "R is guilty, all right, but he's different from me" "Now he's good, thanks to all your efforts" ""The accused is condemned to death"" ""I felt carnal desire..." ""I decided to rape her..."" "Only I didn't" ""Fearing she might remember..." ""I was afraid she might identify me..." ""I decided to kill her and rape her"." "But I didn't!" "You did!" "No, that R is not me" "Those are just set phrases, maybe they're not quite appropriate" "Maybe "carnal desire" and "rape" aren't quite what you had in mind" "The important fact is that you killed two girls" "Yes, I'll admit to that" "At last!" "So it's only natural you should be executed" "Is it wrong to kill?" "Yes, it is wrong to kill" "Really?" "Then, killing me is wrong, isn't it?" "Such questions are the result of all this post-war education!" "A fine idea." "First we kill the murderer then, being murderers, we'll be killed, and so on and so on" "Don't say such things!" "We're legal executioners!" "It's the nation that does not permit you to live" "I don't accept that." "What is a nation?" "Show me one!" "I don't want to be killed by an abstraction" "The Public Prosecutor represents the nation" "Then you are my murderers" "I'm only a Security Officer" "A small part, not the whole thing" "Then who is?" "Are you?" "But my rank is only a little bit higher than his" "Public Prosecutor?" "If you were the whole thing, you would be evil for killing me" "The next Prosecutor will kill you, and he'll be killed in turn and finally no one will be left" "What slippery talk is this?" "You'd make a good lawyer!" "I killed two people but not like it says" "You say I'm guilty" "But this is only to get at me..." "to kill me" "Enough!" "Stop!" "But it wasn't me, who killed" "So you think, you're not guilty?" "I'm not guilty" "As long as you feel not guilty, you're not" "We won't execute you" "If this gets out..." "R, you are not guilty" "You are free to go" "Go!" "What's the matter R?" "You've stopped." "You can't go?" "You've seen God's light, and now you feel guilty." "You didn't feel like this before!" "R, do you understand why you stopped there?" "Out there is the nation..." "This also is the nation" "You said that the nation is invisible" "But now you see it, and cannot escape its existence" "The nation is in your mind, and as long as it exists there, you feel guilty" "Just now you realized that you should be executed" "He's a great man!" "I've never seen such a great Prosecutor in my whole career!" "You could even be Prime Minister!" "Happy Japan!" "Though I may not live to see it" "Wait!" "Wait a moment!" "R, you are lucky to have met such a great Prosecutor" "Tell us, how you feel:" "It will comfort those who follow you" "Something like:" ""Oh, the morning sky is clear"" "Or:" ""Love to mother"" "I'm not guilty!" "You can't retract!" "For a time I thought that maybe I was guilty, somehow" "But I remain innocent" "Because I'm not R!" "A nation cannot make me guilty." "Well, with such ideas you shall not be allowed to live" "I know, that is why I admit it" "For all Rs, including you, I'll courageously admit to being R and I will die now" "I thank you very much" "You've done a good job" "Education Officer, thank you for taking part in this execution." "Security Officer, thank you for taking part in this execution." "And you..." "And you..." "And you..." "And you..." "And you, dear spectators, thank you for taking part in this execution."