Obake Neko* (H) (P)

Obake Neko (“Ghost Cat” in Japanese) is a tale of murder and revenge set in 1925 Hawai’i. Kazue is a picture bride living in a sugar plantation camp in Kamuela on the Big Island of Hawaii. Her husband, Tamotsu, is no good. He drinks, gambles, has a violent temper, and is having an affair with Sumi, a former Geisha back in Japan who uses her looks to get what she wants. It is a lonely life for Kazue, who aside from her friend, Aiko, spends what little free time she has caring for a black cat she names Kimi, who Tamotsu cannot stand and who has threatened to shoot it. After Tamotsu quits his job he seeks to steal money from a local store using Aiko’s lazy husband, Hitoshi, as his unwilling partner. When their robbery doesn’t happen due to a downpour that foils their plans, Tamotsu gets drunk, and when Kazue doesn’t respond to his overtures, he beats her savagely and has his way with her anyway. Aiko tries to convince Kazue to go to the local police but she refuses, fearing her family back in Japan will be shamed. But after Tamotsu succeeds in robbing the store, she knows she must leave and considers taking his money when he is away so that she and Aiko can leave their husbands and go to Honolulu. But Tamotsu discovers her plan and in a drunken rage, beats her to death. But as Kazue’s body lies bleeding on the floor, the cat, Kimi, licks the blood off of her face. This will serve to transform Kazue into the Obake Neko, who returns from the dead to haunt both Tamotsu and Sumi and threaten their lives. Writer: Edward Sakamoto. Pages: 61.