Honkaku: a century of the Japanese whodunnits keeping readers guessingEdogawa Rampo: honkaku author Tarō Hirai’s pen name was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe.The very first honkaku story is usually attributed to Tarō Hirai, who published The Two-Sen Copper Coin in 1923. Hirai wrote under the pen name Edogawa Rampo, a rough transliteration of Edgar Allen Poe. His Tokyo-based private detective, Kogoro Akechi, has a lot in common with Sherlock Holmes: eccentric and self-co
