Photo/Illutration Staff check signatures of the Aichi governor recall campaign on Nov. 3, 2020. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

In "The Red-Headed League" by Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), Sherlock Holmes is asked by a client to ascertain why he had been selected for a high-paying temporary job that required spending four hours each day just to copy the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Holmes solves the case, revealing how the job offer was tied directly to a crime.

Last autumn in the city of Saga, I wonder if nobody felt anything was a bit off when they got paid for transcribing lists of people's names, addresses and dates to a signature collection form.

As I understand it, nearly 100 people spent 10 days on this job.

The signatures were for the Aichi Governor's dismissal from office over an art festival exhibit.

Of the 435,000 names submitted, however, nearly 80 percent were suspected to be invalid. Many of them appeared to be in a single person's handwriting, and there also were names that were nowhere to be found on voter registration lists.

According to a colleague of mine who looked at about 50 sheets of collected signatures, even though there were several hundred names, they were written in only two distinctive hands--one neat and the other sloppy.

The sloppy writer had a habit of turning any kanji's square components into circles, and slanting upward the two horizontal strokes that make up the kanji for "two."

I was reminded of this old Chinese aphorism to the effect that obtaining unearned fame is more despicable than stealing money and property.

What happened in Saga could be regarded as a massive "theft of names," which could shake the very foundations of democracy.

Sherlock Holmes was fond of noting that the stranger the case is, the easier it is to see the truth. In the above-mentioned story, he immediately saw through the strange job offer as a cover for an elaborate crime.

I wonder what plot lay behind the suspicious transcription job in Saga.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 20

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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