This film is adapted from the 1928 novel of the same name by Japanese mystery novelist Edogawa Ranpo. French professor Alex Fayol (Benoît Magimel) is an expert on the mysterious Japanese dark detective novelist Hirata Ichiro. Alex's own detective novel was a huge success after being published in Japan. He was invited to Kyoto to participate in a publicity event. He told Honda (Gen Shimaoka) of the publisher that he really wanted to meet Ichiro Hirata, but his efforts were in vain. At a dinner, Alex met the famous Kyoto geisha Tamako (Lika Minamoto) and couldn't help falling in love. Tamako told Alex that her old lover was Ichiro Hirata. Alex, moved by love, tried his best to help Tamako eliminate danger, but he didn't expect that he was caught in an unexpected conspiracy... This film was nominated for the Golden Lion Award at the 2008 Venice Film Festival.