THE PASSENGERS ON THE HANKYU LINE

The lives of 11 people intersect on a Japanese train line.

A handful of stories overlap as men, women, and children commute on the Hankyu Railway Line in a mountainous region in Japan. There are high schoolers commuting to and from school, university students going to class, employees traveling to work and weekend events and going home again, mothers and grandmothers, single people and married. And during their commutes these people touch each other’s lives, find love or friendship, find the strength to leave bad situations, and are gently reoriented on their life trajectories by small comments of support and aid rendered at just the right moment by their fellow travelers. Misa has a fight with her abusive boyfriend, who doesn’t hit her on the train—though he often does in private—and, when she disembarks, a small comment from a woman who had been sitting near them gives her strength to finally leave. “That good-for-nothing,” the woman says, and Misa realizes she’s right. “Why am I dating such a jerk?” Itoh, a housewife, doesn’t enjoy—and can’t really afford—to participate in group outings with her mom friends, and a show of kindness and support from a fellow traveler helps her realize her own priorities have become muddied. Two awkward college students who have never dated find one another—and their way—after a chance conversation. And many more stories of love, kindness, truth, clarity, and even revenge take place—offered by the author with clear eyes and a focus on the many foibles that make people individuals: sometimes anxious, sometimes nervous, sometimes profound, and often uncertain.

A gentle intertwining of small vignettes that evoke smiles in the characters—and the reader.