The Memory Police

Chapter 13 begins with the snow that started falling at the end of Chapter 12, its presence now reminding the reader of its long absence on the island. The narrator describes how the “hunt for memories became a daily activity in the midst of the snowstorm” (97). Random house searches become part of the Memory Police’s activities, and they take the old man.

R and the narrator discuss this abduction; R tries to persuade her to wait and pray. She tells him she will, but the next morning she visits the Memory Police headquarters. The HQ is in an old theater and guarded by men who won’t speak to her, but she opens the door and goes inside. There are “pennants emblazoned with the insignia of the Memory Police” everywhere (102), and the narrator approaches a man who seems to be the receptionist. She asks to give her package to the old man, in person. Ogawa does not reveal the old man’s name but states that the narrator repeats it.

The man behind the desk says the old man is in another branch office. When she continues to ask questions, two officers escort her to another man with many medals on his chest.