About the Author
HIRO ARIKAWA is the million-copy bestselling author of The Travelling Cat Chronicles and The Goodbye Cat. Passing through a scenic mountainous region of Japan, the famous Hankyu Line is a privately run railway that connects Osaka and Kyoto and is well known for its maroon vintage-style carriages. One of its much-visited stops is the city of Takarazuka, where the author of this book lives. Published twenty years ago, this enduring Japanese classic has sold 1.4 million copies and has been published worldwide.
ALLISON MARKIN POWELL is an award-winning literary translator. She maintains the database Japanese Literature in English (japaneseliteratureinenglish.com).
Also by Hiro Arikawa
The Travelling Cat Chronicles
The Goodbye Cat
Hiro Arikawa
THE PASSENGERS ON THE HANKYU LINE
Translated from Japanese by Allison Markin Powell
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.
Hiro Arikawa
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
(in order of appearance)
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 he recognized her.
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.
At the time, the young woman had been carrying a canvas tote bag featuring a certain internationally recognizable mouse. He had found it a bit childish for someone her age – but then again, maybe it was the sturdiest bag she owned, or one that she didn’t care if it got ruined. When lugging around the maximum number of books you could borrow from the library, a flimsier or more tasteful bag would soon get damaged.
Which meant that she must come here pretty often.
His assumption was right on the money – since he came to the library fairly often himself, he started noticing her there more frequently. He’d spot her by her bag, emblazoned with the image of that mouse, its mouth wide open in a smile. She really was Masashi’s type, though and, although hard to admit, he quickly got used to seeking out the rodent.
Having lost out to her that one time, Masashi considered her a rival, so whenever he saw her around, he’d scour the library’s shelves pre-emptively for any special books that might be available.
He soon realized they shared similar tastes.
She had a knack for discovering interesting books and, as he threw a grudging glance at her selection, he’d consider borrowing them himself after she returned them. But he never made a note of the titles and soon forgot what any of them were.
He only ever bumped into her at the library – until now, they had never found themselves on the same train home.
At Kiyoshikojin Station, she had got on the train headed for Takarazuka Station, boarding the same car as Masashi, her tote with the smiling happy-go-lucky mouse bulging as always. Not that Masashi was one to talk – his leather backpack was filled to bursting.
But only Masashi seemed to have noticed.
At Takarazuka Station, where the train terminates, there are three options: leave the station, or transfer to the JR line, or to the other train line for Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi, known as Nishi-Kita.
No way, she can’t be heading for Nishi-Kita … he thought, but as their train pulled into the station, her gaze was locked on the opposite platform.
And sure enough, as soon as they arrived, she scurried over towards the train that was sitting at the platform across the way. On weekends, due to the popularity of the Hanshin Racecourse at Nigawa, all four tracks would often be occupied, with trains for Umeda and Takarazuka, and Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi and Takarazuka, respectively, sitting opposite each other. So, the transfer time was minimal.
The same track, even? His eyes followed her with vague annoyance, and he decided to travel in a different carriage.