Yoshiko Komatsu

War between North Korea and Japan

Jin (Yakusho), a young, widowed police detective who is thinking of leaving the force to better take care of his 8 year old daughter Misaki (Kanno), by chance arrests Neko (Emoto), an accomplished middle aged burglar who has just fixed Misaki's bicycle. After Neko has several weeks to see Jin in the interrogation room, he decides to confess to Jin and teach him how to become a capable detective and worthy adversary. By the time Neko serves his 10 year sentence, Jin is a highly regarded detective and they can they start their contest in earnest.

Hano Tama was born in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, in 1897. Her biological mother died when she was two years old, and she was raised by her father and his stepmother. After graduating from a girls' school, she started working as a substitute teacher, but was fired and forced to leave her hometown of Iwakuni. Relying on relatives, she moved to Tokyo, where Tama became strongly conscious of her childhood dream, and by submitting a novel to a contest, she carved out her path as a writer.