**THE INSTANT TIMES BESTSELLER DISCOVER YOUR NEXT FEELGOOD JAPANESE NOVEL, BY THE AUTHOR OF THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES Over 1.4 million copies sold in Japan** 'You will be wrapped in laughter and tears' Reader review********* 'What I love about it is its Kindness' Reader review********* 'I wanted to tap the shoulders of the characters' Reader review******* ‘Imagine Murder on the Orient Express without the untimely fatalities and you'll be halfway towards this cosy and affecting read'** Harper's Bazaar _________ The contents of each traveller's heart is a mystery known only to themselves Trundling through the scenic countryside of Kyoto and Osaka is the Hankyu line, a burgundy-coloured electric train that has been carrying its commuters to their destinations for decades. Over the course of a single journey in springtime, and the return journey six months later just as the leaves begin to fall: \- a young man meets the woman who happens to take out the last copy of the library book he was about to borrow; \- an angry wedding guest dresses in a white gown to upstage the bride; \- a university student leaves home for the first time; \- a twenty-something finally grows the courage to walk away from an abusive partner \- a widow learns independence, as she and her granddaughter discuss their new dog. As the seasons and the landscapes change, passengers jostle and connect, as this timeless train carries each one forward towards the person they intend to become.
About the Author
HIRO ARIKAWA is the million-copy bestselling author of
ALLISON MARKIN POWELL is an award-winning literary translator. She maintains the database Japanese Literature in English (japaneseliteratureinenglish.com).
The Travelling Cat Chronicles
The Goodbye Cat
Hiro Arikawa
THE PASSENGERS ON THE HANKYU LINE
All manner of people from every walk of life – solo passengers, friends, couples, families, work colleagues – traverse the concourse at a brisk pace. But as they cross paths, the contents of each traveller’s heart are a mystery known only to themselves.
Author’s Note
At Takarazuka Station on the Hankyu Railway Line, the Takarazuka Line bound for Umeda in Osaka and the Imazu Line that connects with the Kobe Line at Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station converge in a ‘Y’ shape, which in railway terminology is called a wye. Here you can also transfer to the JR Takarazuka Line, which makes Takarazuka Station a fairly large junction of three railway lines for this relatively regional mountainous area in western Japan.
Hankyu is a large private commuter railway line that operates in Kansai – as the area surrounding Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe is known – and its signature maroon train cars with their distinctive retro interiors are very popular among railway buffs, as well as with young women.
This story takes place along the Imazu Line, perhaps one of the lesser known among Hankyu’s various train lines.
Dramatis Personae
(
Masashi, an office worker
Yuki, an office worker
Shoko, an office worker
Tokié, grandmother of Ami
Ami, granddaughter of Tokié
Misa, a student at a women’s college
Katsuya, a college student and Misa’s boyfriend
Etsuko (‘Et-chan’), a high-school student
Kei’ichi, a university student
Miho (‘Gon-chan’), a university student
Yasué (‘Itoh-san’), a housewife and mother
Bound for Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi
Takarazuka Station
Lone passengers, for the most part, show no expression, often appearing to be in their own world. They stare at the landscape whizzing by or at the ads hanging inside the car or, if their eyes do happen to wander around the carriage, they avoid meeting anyone else’s gaze. Otherwise, they pass their time on the train in the usual ways – reading a book or listening to music or staring at their mobile phone.
That is why
a person alone
without any kind of distraction
looking animated
is very conspicuous.
On this particular day, the young woman who got on at Takarazuka Station and sat next to Masashi looked familiar – or at least
If you were to transfer from the Imazu Line to the Takarazuka Line and ride one stop to Kiyoshikojin Station, you would find Takarazuka Central Library.
In the five years since Masashi had started working in an office, he would visit this library every two weeks or so. He did like to read and sometimes he had research to do for work, but on days off when he didn’t have plans and since he didn’t have a girlfriend, there wasn’t really much else to do.
So Masashi was enough of a regular that he soon got to know the library staff, as well as a couple of the other patrons. Enough to recognize when that pesky old guy was giving the librarian a hard time again, and so on.
He remembered the young woman with the long neat hair because he had once lost out to her in the scramble for a book.
It was a buzzy new book that happened to be back on the shelf.
This was only about a month after it had been published, so it seemed pretty lucky. In an instant, Masashi had reached for the book but, just as he did so, another hand suddenly snatched it away.
With a frown, he looked round to see who had nabbed the book – an attractive young woman, and so any impulse to complain vanished. Men are weak.
The young woman seemed unaware she had just snatched the book – she had not even seen him. Masashi watched, following after her for a few minutes, but gave up once it was obvious she was not letting it go.