Tokyo, July 1949. President Shimoyama, Head of the National Railways of Japan, goes missing.

American Detective Harry Sweeney leads the missing person's investigation. Fifteen years later, the city prepares for the 1964 Olympics and the global spotlight. Hideki Murota, a private investigator, is given a case which forces him to confront a crime he's been hiding from.

Over twenty years on, late 1988. The Emperor Showa is dying. Donald Reichenbach, an ageing American, knows the final reckoning of the greatest mystery of the Showa Era is down to him.