Seicho Matsumoto (1909–1992) was a Japanese novelist born in Kokura, Fukuoka Prefecture. After working in a variety of jobs, including as a printer, he joined the Asahi Shimbun and began his literary career in earnest in his forties. He received the Akutagawa Prize in 1953 for "Aru 'Kokura Nikki' Den" and went on to write extensively across crime fiction, historical fiction, and nonfiction about modern Japanese history. His landmark novel "Ten to Sen" begins with the discovery of a man and woman apparently dead by suicide on the coast of Kyushu. As detectives investigate, they uncover murder and corruption concealed behind an elaborate railway-timetable alibi. By combining the mechanics of a detective story with bureaucracy, corruption, social status, and institutional power, the novel helped establish the socially engaged style of crime fiction for which Matsumoto became known.
