One Image, Two Story Ideas: Tokyo Subway
Jen and Tina love writing prompts. Sometimes they turn into stories, sometimes they just get our creative juices flowing. Either way, they’re a lot of fun.
Jen’s Idea
Tokyo is on my long-term wish list, but it’s not a city that I’ve researched yet. Travel is in my wheelhouse, though, so I focused on tourists caught up in a mystery. I’m not sure how the story ends, but I’m having fun thinking about where it could go.
Tina’s Idea
My first reaction to this image was the one I went with–a thriller set in Tokyo! So much fun! I wanted to investigate how a polite and reserved Japanese woman might handle a geopolitical hot potato. This is one story I’d like to continue working on.
Jen’s Back Cover
Esther Thomas wakes alone in a tiny Tokyo hotel room. Again. She’s supposed to be traveling with Amelia, but her friend went off with some Australians last night and hasn’t come back. Maybe Esther should be worried, but this is the fourth time Amelia’s pulled a disappearing act, and Esther’s determined not to tie herself up in knots over her companion’s antics.
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, she tells herself as she gets ready to face another day of sightseeing alone. When Amelia called out of the blue, the offer was too good to refuse: Amelia would pay for everything if Esther would just keep her company on the 10-day trip. Amelia’s original traveling companion had to cancel at the last minute, and since the trip was prepaid, it was Esther’s for the taking. Amelia’s father even bought Esther’s ticket with frequent flier miles or something.
Esther follows the friends’ sightseeing itinerary and gets a message from Amelia as she’s waiting on the train platform: Sorry. Crashing. See you tonight. Dinner at 8?
Just like the other times. What did she expect?
Esther puts her phone away and commits to sightseeing. But when she gets back to the hotel room, Amelia is gone, along with all of her things. Esther is alone in a city she doesn’t understand, and when she tries to track down her friend, she discovers this trip isn’t what it seems.
Amelia’s parents haven’t heard from their daughter in months, and Esther’s call is the first they’ve heard of a trip to Japan. Amelia’s friend who canceled doesn’t exist. Esther reassures them there must be a misunderstanding, something she’s gotten wrong. Then she spots two men asking the concierge about Amelia.
Esther doesn’t know if her friend is on the run, the victim of a kidnapping, or pulling a scam. She doesn’t know the right move, but when she spots the guns the men aren’t trying hard to conceal, she knows she needs to get out. She’d love to go to the police, but Esther has secrets of her own she can’t risk coming to light.
Tina’s Back Cover: Next Stop Shibuya
In bustling Tokyo, where the sleek trains of the Japan railway system weave through the web of the city, a chance encounter between two strangers sparks a heart-pounding thriller. Hiroki, a mysterious man with a past shrouded in secrecy, boards the Shibuya train. He clutches his leather briefcase and takes a seat, looking around desperately for help, but the train is empty.
At the next stop, a beautiful woman in traditional garb and a caramel colored briefcase boards the train. She takes a seat across from him. From the folds of her kimono she pulls out her phone and texts home to let her children know she is running late. Little does she know, her seemingly ordinary journey is about to take a treacherous turn. As she puts her phone away, her eyes meet those of Hiroki. She is curious about this handsome yet anxious man, but she regains her composure and she finally looks away.
As the train hurtles through the city, Hiroki becomes increasingly paranoid, and he decides to confide in Yumi, hoping she can be an ally in his dangerous game. He moves to sit beside her and tries to explain as quickly as he can. The tension escalates as he reveals his tightly guarded briefcase containing classified information that governments and terrorist organizations will kill for. The contents of the briefcase could reshape the geopolitical landscape, and Hiroki is determined to ensure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Yumi is caught off guard. She refuses to help and politely but firmly asks him to leave her alone. He becomes more desperate, but she doesn’t relent.
As the train reaches the next stop, Hiroki looks through the window and panics at what he sees. He quickly but deftly grabs Yumi’s briefcase, leaves his on the floor beside her feet, and exits the train. As the doors close, Yumi hears a shot ring out. As the train departs the station, she sees Hiroki on the ground and a man running away with her briefcase.
Yumi is no longer a working single mother. She has been thrust into the center of a geopolitical storm. Can Yumi protect the briefcase and her children while the fate of nations rests in the balance?
Tina’s Response
I love how Jen took a city she doesn’t know and use it to her advantage. Esther doesn’t know the city either, and that’s what makes this story intriguing. The opportunities for discovery and mishap in a city like Tokyo are endless. This has enormous potential to be developed - I hope you keep working on this one, Jen!
Jen’s Response
I’m in awe of Tina’s ability to bring modern-day Japan to life in just a few short paragraphs. She’s caught me up in the lives of Hiroki and Yumi, and I want to know more about where this goes. It has hints of the cold war spy stories that I loved, but set against a backdrop that I haven’t seen in the thriller genre before. Tina, write this one!