Free The Japanese Corpse by Janwillem van de Wetering

stable. It may also be a continuation of Deshima. They have always traded through and with us."
    "They also made war on us," the commissaris said, wiping his thin lips with a damask napkin and studying an arrangement of oranges and bananas on a side table. "They destroyed our Far East fleet in a matter of hours, captured our army and killed most of our officers in workcamps, and kept our women and children behind barbed wire for nearly five years."
    "They have forgotten. Most Japanese never even knew we were in the war too. They know about America and England. The fact is that they are involved with us now. But there is also the drug traffic that interferes with their reputation here, and there is the matter of stolen art. The Japanese are very proud of their art. Most Chinese antique art has disappeared or become unobtainable because of the revolution, but the Japanese have a good supply, both Chinese which they imported many years ago and original which has been created since then by their own great painters and sculptors and calligraphers and potters and so on. Most art is kept in temples, in some of the great complexes of Buddhist buildings where monks are being trained by masters. It's safe in those buildings; the monks and priests wouldn't dream of selling it and the people know about the treasures and come to see the art on certain days when the buildings are open to the public. But there are tens of thousands of temples in Japan and there is a shortage of monks and priests. Some temples are being taken care of by fake priests, men without training who have landed the job through some influence or other. Some caretakers are paid by the state and can be easily corrupted. And there will be degenerate priests, of course, men the yakusa can prey on. The yakusa are clever psychologists and they are powerful. The fact is that they managed to get hold of absolute treasures that will command a fortune at the Amsterdam auctions.
    "It has been suggested to me that I might use my influence to interfere with and, it is hoped, terminate the Amsterdam channel. It has also been suggested that I collect funds to restore the island of Deshima, which has fallen into some disrepair. But my efforts have met with failure so far. Our government has no funds to repair buildings on an island. So now the Portuguese are paying for some of the restoration, ridiculous really. The Portuguese have also been on Deshima, but that was before our time and they were told to leave when they started trying to convert the Japanese to Christianity. We should pay, we, the Dutch, but we are too damned stingy. The Japanese don't like that; they are capable of great gestures themselves and expect it of others. But we have another chance now to save face."
    The iced cake had arrived and the commissaris, glaring at his plate, grabbed his spoon. He was planning to cut the cake into two equal pieces with one cut. The conversation was annoying him, although he had already admitted to himself that he liked the ambassador. He had always had a low opinion of diplomats and had expected a chinless drunk who would ramble aimlessly for hours, but the large figure looming opposite him seemed in perfect control of himself, and although his flow of words was steady there was clearly a purpose behind the flow.
    "Yes," the commissaris said briskly. "Quite, quite. Well, we will do our best. My men are deep into the case already and the drugs detectives are alerted and have undoubtedly started their investigations today. The killers of Mr. Nagai may have left the country by now, but it should be possible to arrest them later. We have their names and we even have a fairly good photograph of the pair strolling down a street in Amsterdam. I am reasonably sure we can collect enough evidence to bring them to court, and if the Japanese don't want to return them to us, should they have managed to escape from here, they can be tried in Japan somewhere. I believe they are from Kobe.