mr. tomohiro okamoto, of the maritime department inthe japanese ministry of transport, now retired, told methat he and his junior colleague at the time, mr. atsurochiba, were in long beach, california – the americanwestern seaboard's main container port, near l.a. – onunrelated business when they were advised that a lonesurvivor of the japanese ship tsimtsum, which had vanishedwithout a trace in pacific international waters severalmonths before, was reported to have landed near the smalltown of tomatlán, on the coast of mexico. they wereinstructed by their department to go down to contact thesurvivor and see if any light could be shed on the fate ofthe ship. they bought a map of mexico and looked to seewhere tomatlán was. unfortunately for them, a fold of themap crossed baja california over a small coastal townnamed tomatlán, printed in small letters. mr. okamoto wasconvinced he read tomaflan. since it was less thanhalfway down baja california, he decided the fastest way toget there would be to drive.

they set off in their rented car. when they got totomatlán, eight hundred kilometres south of long beach,and saw that it was not tomatlán, mr. okamoto decidedthat they would continue to santa rosalia, two hundredkilometres further south, and catch the ferry across the gulfof california to guaymas. the ferry was late and slow. andfrom guaymas it was another thirteen hundred kilometresto tomatlán. the roads were bad. they had a flat tire.

their car broke down and the mechanic who fixed itsurreptitiously cannibalized the motor of parts, putting inused parts instead, for the replacement of which they hadto pay the rental company and which resulted in the carbreaking down a second time, on their way back. thesecond mechanic overcharged them. mr. okamoto admittedto me that they were very tired when they arrived at thebenito juarez infirmary in tomatlán, which is not at all inbaja california but a hundred kilometres south of puertovallarta, in the state of jalisco, nearly level with mexicocity. they had been travelling non-stop for forty-one hours.

"we work hard," mr. okamoto wrote.

he and mr. chiba spoke with piscine molitor pate/, inenglish, for close to three hours, taping the conversation.

what follows are excerpts from the verbatim transcript. iam grateful to mr. okamoto for having made available tome a copy of the tape and of his final report. for the sakeof clarity i have indicated who is speaking when it is notimmediately apparent. portions printed in a different fontwere spoken in japanese, which i had translated.