A kinder gentler strangers on a train sort of tale that sees five people set out on a trip with certain expectations and then return with different points of view and new connections. Fans of this Japanese genre will enjoy it for the positive spirit. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. An easy read.

This reads like the book equivalent of plain mashed potatoes: generally inoffensive but bland.

The only characters I appreciated at all were the grandmother and the woman who cursed her ex-finance's wedding.
The social norms of Japan didn't really translate well to my American perspective; all the new romantic couples felt like they'd just stepped out of a middle school. And if my boyfriend flicked me on the forehead I'd tear him a new asshole.

All in all, this was not for me.

Finished a NetGalley ARC of the Passengers on the Hankyu Line by Hiro Arikawa! This was a cozy little slice of life book following a handful of passengers on a Japanese train and how their lives intertwine as they live and learn. I love reading about the impact we have on each other, even in small moments with strangers 🥰 Fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold will find a lot to like here.

This is a charming tale of passengers on this train line in Japan. We read about the dilemmas and lives of five passengers, We return five months later to see the resolutions. As the train moves forward so do these characters.

I think the premise and idea of following multiple strangers on a train is such a fun and interesting story. However, I assume some hard-hitting points and lyrical prose got lost in translation. Especially because the story starts with a play-on-words with life, and it probably made sense with Japanese characters, but went over my head with English.

That being said, it's lovely how the story also ends with the life ord play, coming full circle. All the characters in this slice of life story are relatable, and I saw a piece of myself in all of them. I especially loved the grandmother, just because she got a long-haired miniature dachshund. (Just like mine :).

This is my first intro to Japanese translated literature, so I don't have any comparisons. It was a nice break from my normally read genres, and I'm interested in checking out more translations.

The Passengers on the Hankyu Line is a cozy slice-of-life story following the lives of passengers on the titular train line. The train not only represents movement towards their physical destinations, but also towards the metaphorical destinations of where they each want to be in life.

The story is told in two parts. In part one, passengers are all traveling in one direction on the Hankyu Line. They all face some individual dilemma that will affect the trajectory of their life. For example, one character is a jilted woman who is traveling home after enacting some glorious revenge on her ex-fiancé and the woman who stole him. She has to decide whether to hold onto that pain, or find a way to reinvent herself and move forward. For others, it’s the decision whether to start a new relationship; to end relationships inherently toxic; or even to get a dog. Part two shows all of the passengers traveling in the opposite direction on the train, and the resolutions for each of the characters.

The strength of the story is in the characters. Each is relatable, and they each have a quiet dignity to them as they confront their individual dilemmas. It’s also fun to watch them interact with each other, because they tend to catalyze one another in small but profound ways to change.

The Passengers on the Hankyu Line is a sweet and heartfelt story. I highly recommend it!

The Passengers on the Hankyu Line is a novel about passengers traveling a Japanese train line between Takarazuka and Nishinomiya.

I wanted to read this novel because I love trains and stories about train travel. I was very excited to see a dachshund on the cover and assumed this was a dog story as well.

This is a lovely, quiet, leisurely read. I enjoyed the train setting and the variety of passengers who were featured. I was disappointed that the dachshund pictured on the cover only had a short appearance, very late in this book.

The Passengers on the Hankyu Line by Hiro Arikawa

This little book is chock full of learning experiences, life lessons, and cuteness. I have two mini dachshunds and one of them looks like the pup on the cover of my edition except that her face is all gray with age. I could not let this book pass me by.

Thankfully there is an index of main characters at the front of the book to help me keep track of who they are and their descriptions. I kept it close at hand via a picture on my phone since the fact that so many of the characters have unfamiliar to me first names that start with the same letter as other characters made it a little hard to remember who was who. But they are delightful people for the most part and I was very interested to see how they would change over the course of the story.

We meet them as they travel the Hankyu Line train. The characters lives intersect, whether they realize it or not at times, and those first intersections make a difference in the lives of the characters, which we will see when they travel the Hankyu Line train at a later date. These are slices of life that are so much more than they might appear at first sight. There are lessons to be learned, thought patterns to be changed, friendships and relationships to be made and unmade, and unhealthy life choices to be set free. I had to pay attention since this is a translation of a Japanese story so I didn't always understand some references immediately.

The story left me feeling happy, it's funny in many ways, bittersweet in others. And there is that cute dog who is adopted by granny, a very vocal and bossy granny, just the kind of granny to teach her little granddaughter the ins and outs of life. Getting to read this book with Jayme made it even more interesting since we were both ready for thriller twists of mayhem and murder, which never materialized, thank goodness. Our reading of thrillers makes us overly paranoid and suspicious, for better or worse, and it's nice to be proven wrong in our assumptions and expectations .

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC.

LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING

A large private railway line runs between the towns of Takarazuka and Nishinomiya, in a lovely, mountainous area of Japan. It’s called the Hankyu Line train, and it is known for its signature maroon cars, and distinctive retro interiors. It’s especially popular among railway buffs, and younger women.

This book is a series of vignettes about several passengers whose lives intersect as they step on and off of this train. 🚂

On the outward journey, we are introduced to five characters, as their fellow travelers speculate about what they THINK they are witnessing while onboard-and we learn about what is actually transpiring.

On the return journey SIX MONTHS later, we learn the resolutions to their stories.

I enjoyed a glimpse into the Japanese culture, learning about what sets it apart from our part of the World, and seeing that some things seem to be the same for all human beings-no matter how far apart we may live!

Charming and thought provoking, this quick commute can be read in one sitting.

Expected publication date: June 3, 2025

Thank You to Berkley for the invitation to read this title, provided through NetGalley. As always, these are my candid thoughts!

Hiro Arikawa's, The Passengers on the Hankyu Line, presents a seemingly uncomplicated premise: fleeting encounters among strangers aboard a commuter train. Yet, within this everyday setting, Arikawa crafts a narrative of profound emotional resonance, transforming the simplicity of shared journeys into a tapestry of human connection. The ease with which the stories unfold belies the depth of feeling they evoke, creating a reading experience that is both gentle and deeply touching.
The novel gracefully navigates multiple perspectives, each offering a unique window into the passengers' lives, joys, and vulnerabilities. While some voices resonate more prominently than others, every viewpoint, however brief, contributes a vital hue to the overall portrait. These shifting narratives, like glimpses caught through a train window, layer upon one another, adding richness and dimension to the interconnected human experience unfolding along the Hankyu Line. We witness heartbreak, burgeoning romance, quiet acts of kindness, and unspoken anxieties, all woven together by the common thread of their shared commute.
Arikawa masterfully captures the subtle yet significant impact these seemingly random interactions have on individual lives. The narrative unfolds with quiet grace, allowing the emotional weight of each character's story to accumulate organically. The novel's beauty lies in its ability to find the extraordinary within the ordinary, revealing the hidden connections that bind us together, even in the most transient encounters. "The Passengers on the Hankyu Line" is a testament to the power of human empathy and quiet poetry in everyday life. It is a heartwarming and insightful read that lingers long after the final stop. I look forward to more from this author. Highly recommend.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #BerkleyPublishing for the DRC of #ThePassengersOnTheHankyuLine. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

This is a delightful, quick read of interconnected stories, following different passengers on the Hankyu train line in Japan. Each vignette focuses on a specific passenger and gives a little peak into their life. Each seems to be at a turning point personally and as they interact with the other passengers, we see that a chance encounter with another person can have a positive, lasting impact.

Unusual storyline. Setting is primarily on a train in Japan. Multiple people are followed by how their lives connect through their contact from the train. I was given an advanced reader copy of this book by NetGalley and I am freely sharing my review. #netgalley #hiroarikawa #berkleypublishing

The sensitive, misunderstood souls who ride the Hankyu train line long for connection to others. In this sweet example of Japanese "light fiction," random, everyday encounters, such as the kind one has on a commuter train, lead to valuable realizations and even, in some cases, lasting love.

I found the novel's intertwining plotlines charming, if at times a little hard to follow.

Recommended for readers who are interested in modern Japanese culture.

Hiro Arikawa won me over with "The Travelling Cat Chronicles" and has quickly become one of my favorite authors. These sweet stories offering glimpses into peoples everyday life are so endearing to - reminding me a bit of the old "Tales of the City" books by Armistad Maupin. Absolutely delightful!

This is a touching and sweet read (though not every character is touching and sweet and the dog gets barely any screen time!) Sure, some nuance might get lost in translation, but at its heart this is a book about how we touch other people's lives even when we interact with them in small ways.

The book is a series of stories told from a different character's perspective as they are riding the train. In each story, the main character notices or interacts with someone else on the train who we then follow in the NEXT story. It's a cool approach. These small interactions with strangers provide the impetus for love, change or understanding.

We revisit these characters multiple times and get to see them change and grow over time. And then...the book just....stops.

This abrupt ending really surprised me (I kept tapping on my Kindle like, "surely that's not it!") I wasn't expecting a tidy resolution for these characters, but I was expecting some sort of wrap up. Instead a couple agrees to live together because it will be cheaper for them (so romantic!) and the scene/book ends.

Overall, I'm glad I read it. The characters were interesting (the men were all mean to the women though...even if they loved them...which bummed me out. Maybe that's a translation or cultural thing) and the setting seemed pretty magical to this non-train riding American.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute series of short stories. I like how the characters were visited in reverse in the second part of the novel. It's amazing how attached you can get to characters in a short amount of time when the writing is well done. Library patrons should enjoy this title.

This is a short book about different people who ride a certain train line. Each section of the train's journey focuses on one or two different people and how they interact with another character's story. I'd say it's slice-of-life, but a very small slice. Some of the story lines are more in-depth than others, but not get too deep.

CW: cheating, domestic violence

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital review copy.

beautiful and feel-good story about an assortment of characters in a train line and their connections with each other. very episodic. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

A feel-good story following several sets of passengers whose journeys overlap on a train line in Japan. The second half, on another ride six months later, shows how the connections they made affected them.

A pleasant slice of life, touching on a variety of concerns and issues in a light but thoughtful manner.

Various individual stories overlap and affect each other while passengers ride the Japanese trains. Random encounters create positive change.