Kyoto

**Kyoto** (京都, *Kyōto*), officially known as **Kyoto City** (京都市, *Kyōto-shi*) is a city of Japan, located in the prefecture of the same name. Throughout the drama series, it is where majority of investigations and cases take place.

## Security

*Main article: Kyoto Prefectural Police*
Domestic security within the city is mainly provided by the Kyoto Prefectural Police. During assaults, crimes, and other order disturbances in the city, its Investigation Division is dispatched to crime scenes and for further investigations, comprising of detective inspectors and forensic investigators.

The Kyoto Prefectural Police — Investigation First Division is headed by inspector Hisashi Nabeshima and includes assistant inspector Nozomi Ono, assistant inspector Osamu Sokabe, inspector Keiichi Sakashita, and other inspectors and policemen. This division is eponymously responsible for the investigation of the crime scene per se, scrutinising possible evidence and connecting certain possibilities in the case in order to find the criminal as soon and as accurate as possible. They work together with the Forensic Division, who collects evidence and captures images of the crime scene and other present elements that may aid in later proofs and investigation. In special or extreme cases of crime, the aid of criminologist Hideo Himura and mystery writer Alice Arisugawa is usually sought, utilising the two civilians' highly-demanded inferential skills to help solve the case.

## Locations

### Alice Arisugawa's Flat

This is where Alice Arisugawa lives, as well as where Hideo Himura once visited to stay for the night during a heavy rain. The flat also has a neighbouring room, occupied by a teacher.

### Belle Jardinière

It is a flower shop somewhere in Kyoto, specifically in a street called Haseizimachi (巴清寺町). This is where Takako Matsuno stopped by one night and where Chisa Mizuo bought a bouquet of flowers prior to her death.

In French, *belle jardinière* means "beautiful planter", a reference to the shop being a flower shop.

### Children's Park

This unnamed children's park is where Shiori Yamano was murdered on 5 January 2016 at the hands of the infamous Night Prowler in the wake of his random assaults. It is rather unpopular among the residents.

### Eito University

*Main article: Eito University*

Eito University is an academic institute for tertiary education, where Himura teachers as an associate professor under the Department of Sociology. This college is where Akemi Kijima, Chihiro Shibuya, Takako Matsuno, and Mana Domoto study under Himura's criminology class. Established at least 12 years before the drama series' main timeline, it is also where Himura and Alice first met and graduated as students from the Department of Sociology.

### Forest

This is an unnamed forest within the city where Mai Kawaguchi was murdered by Night Prowler on the night of 29 December 2015. It is said to be rather unpopular.

### Hotel Cadenza

*Main article: Hotel Cadenza*

Hotel Cadenza is an eponymous establishment where spiritual artist Nick Hallelujah held one of his shows in 2016. It seems to be a luxury hotel that houses various rooms and suites, which also has a mini theatre and a bar at the top floor, said to sell expensive beverages and liquor. Nick's room was also the site where Julia Kaneko was murdered on the night of the aforementioned spiritual art show.

### Kyoto Prefectural Police Headquarters

The Kyoto Prefectural Police Headquarters is the office where the aforementioned organisation operates and performs several duties, including holding meetings regarding cases, investigations, and background checks. One of the rooms in the HQ allows several investigators — optionally by affiliated persons — to be briefed by their superiors and upperclassmen.

### Kyōyama University Hospital

Kyōyama University Hospital is a medical institute where Eiji Ōwada was hospitalised following a car accident. Besides the medical rooms it contains, there is also an open space outside in a specific wing of the hospital building. Hinting from its name, it may be assumed that it is affiliated with Kyōyama University.

### Park

This is an unnamed park located in the city, which is a vast, open space with deciduous trees, bushes and plants, and bicycle parking. The park appears to be a walk's distance away from the flower shop Belle Jardinière. Moreover, it seems that people rarely visit or stay in the location, an advantage that contributed to Chisa Mizuo's murder, the third of the Night Prowler assaults, as no witnesses where present at the time. After the incident, it is closed to the public and seemingly placed under the police's jurisdictional territory, complete with barricade tapes, police cones, evidence markers, and the like, indicative of an ongoing investigation.

### T. M. M. Building

Also stylised as T.M.M. BLD. on its façade, this is a commercial building in Kyoto that houses Simbalinx, a video game producer, on the 6th floor. This seems to be where games are being developed by its producers and individual developers. Other running operations in the building include Kinen Electronics Industry, a stock association, on the 5th floor, as well as the office of Sōgō Midō, a tax accountant corporation, on the 7th floor.

### Tokie Shinomiya's Boarding House

Tokie Shinomiya runs an old-fashioned boarding house located in Kita-shirakawa, where Himura rents. Occasionally, Alice visits the place to spend some time with Himura and Tokie, even sometimes spending the night and sleeping in the boarding house. Notably, Tokie takes the phone calls made to the place; usually, she receives calls from the Kyoto Prefectural Police, seeking the help of Himura and Alice on specific cases.

In the novels, the boarding house was initially ran by Tokie's husband. After his death, Tokie took over the business and succeeded him as the landlady. It was also stated that Himura is the only one renting the place.

## Trivia

* In the novels, the setting is not limited to Kyoto as with the drama. Crime scenes and investigations extended to Osaka and Hyōgo.

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 *Screaming Castle Murder Case*
2. ↑ *ABC Killer*
3. ↑ *Detective, Blue Era*
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 作家アリスシリーズ — Wikipedia (Japanese)