The Passengers on the Hankyu Line

Sakasegawa Station

My goodness.

Tokié gazed casually at the young couple that stood waiting at the next boarding spot on the platform for the train bound for Takarazuka.

As one aged, the days seemed to fly by. A year passed without her even realizing it, and what happened six months ago felt like it was just yesterday.

Tokié immediately recalled having seen that enormous canvas tote bag, brightly printed with a certain internationally recognizable mouse.

Back then, the young woman carrying it had been on the opposite platform, midway up the stairs. And the young man standing next to her now had been trying earnestly to persuade her to accept an invitation somewhere, while she smiled back at him.

That heartwarming scene of budding romance that Tokié had just happened to witness appeared to have developed into a fully-fledged relationship. The two of them stood there now, fingers lightly interlaced, talking and laughing as they waited for the train.

Tokié herself was waiting for the train with her granddaughter Ami and holding the carrier for her miniature Dachshund. Ami had wanted to name the dog something vaguely genteel and French-sounding like Marron or Chocolat, but naming rights were the preserve of the pet’s owner.

Tokié would have preferred to get a Japanese dog breed but not many of them were small enough. She learned that a Shiba Inu, for instance, required a significant amount of daily exercise, and thus might not be the best breed for someone her age.

There was also a miniature version called the Mamé Shiba Inu, but Tokié had heard that some so-called mini Shiba Inu still grew to be the same size as a regular Shiba Inu, and that was a risk she wasn’t willing to take.

In the end, Tokié went with a breed that Ami had wanted, a black long-haired miniature Dachshund, though she would not budge on the dog’s name.

Ken was his name. It was the same as the Kai Ken that Tokié’s parents had long ago, who had lived until around the time when Tokié’s son had started nursery school. Her son seemed not to remember this detail – he had made the comment about the fact that since ‘ken’ was one way to read the kanji for dog, it wasn’t a very ingenious name.

Ami, for her part, was upset that Tokié hadn’t chosen a more charming name but Tokié was unmoved. She was certainly not the type of grandmother who would go to such lengths to indulge her granddaughter.

After about half a year had passed, though, Ami seemed to have come around to the name Ken. And the dog was fulfilling its purpose: Ami started staying over at Tokié’s house; in fact, the night before, her daughter-in-law had brought Ami over on the way home from nursery school, apologizing and asking whether Tokié minded taking care of her. Ever since she had got Ken, it seemed that Tokié’s home had been transformed into a de-facto overnight playschool.

‘Granny, let me hold Ken’s carrier!’

‘No, dear. You asked before and you wouldn’t have made it all the way down the staircase just now, would you?’

‘I can hold it just fine while we’re waiting!’

Not wanting Ami to make any more of a fuss before the train arrived, Tokié relented and handed the carrier to Ami.

‘Step back a little. You mustn’t drop the carrier. If it even looks like you aren’t holding it properly, I’ll make you give it right back to me.’

As expected, Ami wasn’t able to hold on to it for the duration of their wait.

‘Here, I’m giving it back,’ she said.

‘What did I tell you?’

Just as Tokié took the carrier back from Ami, they heard the signal at the crossing for the oncoming train.

As it turned out, there was absolutely no reason for Tokié to have been concerned about whether Ami would make a fuss before they got on the train.

Never in my life have I been on a train that was so unruly!

The moment the train doors opened, shrill female voices gushed forth, chattering and laughing. Had these belonged to young children or students, Tokié might have been willing to look the other way without giving it much further thought, but in this case she couldn’t help wondering why, when some women reached a certain age, they appeared to lose all sense of decency.

The train car seemed so full of their frisky cries, at first Tokié thought the ladies had taken over half of the seats, but in reality they only numbered five or six – their chitter-chatter was just that loud. It didn’t help that, despite the fact that they were sitting in a row along one bench, they were trying to have a single conversation together, so they were all shouting at the top of their lungs.

It was no coincidence that there were only a few other passengers sharing this car with them. Those who were riding with them appeared impatient or didn’t try to hide their annoyance, but the housewives kept babbling on, seemingly oblivious.

The din was such that when Tokié boarded the train, Ken whimpered through his nose, perhaps out of fear. One of the housewives actually seemed to notice, because she looked over at the carrier Tokié was holding and made a little frown.

The door through which they had boarded left them as close as possible to where the ladies were sitting and Tokié wanted to put some distance between them if possible. She took Ami by the hand and stood near the opposite door.

Ami was staring with keen interest at these ladies, squawking like tropical birds. It couldn’t be helped – young children were attracted by sound and light. And they were so raucous that even the grownups found it hard to ignore them.

Ami was at that vexing age when she insisted on asking why certain things were the way they were.

‘Granny,’ she looked up at Tokié and then turned towards the housewives, ‘how come they’re making so much noise, even though they’re grownups?’

Worried that Tokié might not be able to hear her over the women’s talking, Ami had raised her own voice to pose her innocent question, making it audible to more people than she might have intended, and several of the other passengers let out an unsuccessfully suppressed giggle.

‘When we went on a field trip at nursery school, our teacher told us to be quiet on the train. But for grownups, it’s OK?’

Again, there were a few giggles.

Tokié looked down at her granddaughter and shrugged. I see that you too like to point out when things don’t make sense. I wonder where you get that from?

There was a pause in the housewives’ chatter as they looked over and glared, with brows arched.

‘Hey! What are you teaching that child?’

The one who lit the spark was sitting in the middle of the group, the apparent queenpin.

Now Tokié herself spun around to face them.

‘I am teaching my granddaughter the basic rules of civility.’

Tokié’s sharp retort elicited further sneers from other passengers, and the housewives’ faces flushed with anger.

‘Wha … What do you mean by “civility” when you’re the one bringing a dog onto the train?! If that’s what you think is civilized, then it’s easy to imagine what’s in store for that child!’

Well, I’ll be … Look who’s picking a fight.

What’s in store for this child is a matter of my son and his wife’s concern – and my own.

Holding Ken’s carrier in one hand and taking Ami’s hand with the other, Tokié briskly walked over to stand in front of the housewives.

Her assured step belied her age, and the women seemed to quaver ever so slightly. They must not have expected her to rise to the challenge.

‘Listen now,’ Tokié began speaking in a firm tone, like the one she used when she taught high school. ‘Provided that one pays the designated fare, one may rightfully bring a dog or a cat that is in a carrier onto the train. My granddaughter and I are in compliance with the rules of bringing a pet onto the train. Here is our ticket.’

Tokié took Ken’s pet-fare ticket out from her purse and held it up to show the women.

‘Your remarks that we are lacking in civility have no basis in fact. We are abiding by the rules and regulations of Hankyu Railway, so if you have any objections, bring those up with the railway company.’

The comeback came from another direction.

‘It stinks!’ cried the woman who had frowned at Tokié and Ami when they got on the train with the carrier. Rather than meet Tokié’s gaze, she locked eyes with Ami. ‘That dog stinks! I can’t stand the smell so keep it away from me!’

Ami’s face turned bright red.

‘He does not! I gave Ken a shampoo myself just yesterday! I bathe him regularly so he definitely does not stink!’

‘How can you even tell what the dog smells like?’ the voice of a young woman chimed in.

Without anyone noticing, that heartwarming couple had entered the fray. The voice belonged to the young woman carrying the canvas tote bag with the internationally recognized mouse on it.

‘The air in here reeks of so much perfume it makes me sneeze.’

‘It’s nauseating, isn’t it?’ Her boyfriend nodded in agreement.

The fresh young beauty flashed a smile at the band of housewives.

‘It seems you’re wearing quite expensive perfume but perhaps you don’t know the proper way to apply it? Just a dab behind the ears or on the wrists is enough. There’s no need to spray it on like deodorant. That will just be offensive to those around you. You may not even be aware that all of you seem to have lost your sense of smell, so if you think you can detect the stink of the dog, then your nose must be stronger than even that dog’s nose!’

She had hit the bull’s eye, because they all instantly blushed. There was no refuting what the young woman said.

‘In fact, the pup’s shampoo smells quite nice.’

She smiled at Ami, who nodded happily in agreement.

‘Ken’s shampoo smells like flowers!’

Very nice, indeed. The young woman turned back towards the housewives. Her expression was serious again.

‘Humans have an advantage over dogs. No matter how much noise they make, no one’s ever going to put them in a cage.’

This young woman seemed to have hijacked the argument away from Tokié, who was trying to think of a way to defuse the situation when the young woman’s boyfriend added his own punchline, with pitch-perfect delivery:

‘And you can’t buy good manners from a ticket machine, can you?’

Just then the announcement came over the speaker, ‘NEXT STOP, TAKARAZUKA-MINAMIGUCHI. TAKARA-ZUKA-MINAMIGUCHI.’

The queenpin of the housewives suddenly stood up.

‘Ladies, let’s get off here.’

‘Uh, but aren’t we supposed to be going to Takarazuka …?’

‘Thanks to all these people, I don’t feel like it any more. Let’s have our lunch today at the Takarazuka Hotel.’

As the train slowed, the housewives hurriedly prepared to disembark, and once the train stopped and the doors opened, they all filed out.

An absurdly heavy scent of perfume lingered after them.

The queenpin had namedropped the jewel of a hotel along the Imazu Line, which also seemed to linger.

‘Wow … having to deal with all of them could spell disaster for the hotel!’ the young man said.

‘Maybe I was a bit harsh.’ The young woman’s expression was contrite.

Tokié broke into their conversation.

‘Don’t worry – that hotel has history and prestige on its side. They’ll know exactly how to handle them.’

‘I certainly hope so,’ the young woman said pleasantly, making no move to sit in any of the still vacant seats, instead heading towards the far door, in an attempt to escape the intense lingering odour.

‘I must express my appreciation. Thank you for coming to our aid.’

‘Not at all, it wasn’t …’ The young woman looked down, sheepishly.

Her boyfriend nudged her. ‘You can be surprisingly feisty,’ he laughed. ‘Without always thinking about the consequences, which can be a worry sometimes!’

And you there, you’ve got quite the sharp edge yourself, Tokié murmured under her breath.

‘Yes, but today I figured it was justified to wade in,’ the young woman said.

Seems like she’s got the reins firmly in hand, Tokié thought.

‘Well, I’m grateful to you for jumping in.’

‘I was afraid you’d think I was meddling.’

Her boyfriend laughed puckishly.

‘I’m sure you have the firepower to have defeated them on your own, but it’s better that you had reinforcements from your granddaughter and her pup to lay siege to those old ladies.’

‘That’s right – thanks to you, it was over in a flash.’

‘It’s true, winning is about believing you can win,’ said the young man with another amused smile.

The young woman stooped down to meet Ami’s gaze, and then she peeked into the carrier.

‘So cute, is that a miniature Dachshund? Is he your dog?’

Ami was about to nod happily in response to the young woman’s question – whereupon Tokié chimed in.

‘No. This dog belongs to my husband and me.’

Ami pouted melodramatically. ‘I take care of him too …’

‘Yes, dear, you do help but that’s all. The dog is mine and Gramps’s.’

‘But Gramps is in the cemetery …’

‘Ken still belongs to Gramps and me. Like I always tell you.’ When it came to this matter, Tokié never budged an inch. ‘If you want to have a dog of your own, first you must demonstrate the ability to be responsible for taking care of the dog by yourself.’

‘But I love Ken.’

The couple that had given them ground support watched, wide-eyed, as Tokié and Ami did battle. Perhaps they thought that the relationship between the two of them was rather more idiosyncratic than a typical grandmother and granddaughter.

Tokié was aware that everyone seemed to think that grandchildren ought to be doted upon constantly. When she had tea with friends in her neighbourhood, they were all amazed by the way she treated Ami, always telling her that she ought not to take for granted how often Ami came over to spend time with her.

‘No, dear. Ken is Gramps’s and my dog, and that’s final.’

Ken the Kai Ken is the one who bit my husband on the backside and made him fearful of dogs. That’s why I got a smaller dog this time, so that he wouldn’t be afraid of this Ken.

‘You’re being mean, Granny! You’re a meanie!’

‘If I’m mean, then all well and good. But you’d better stop making a fuss on the train. If you throw a tantrum, we won’t go to the dog run. We won’t get any ice cream on Hana Road either.’

Hana Road was a promenade that ran between Takarazuka Station and the Takarazuka theatre, and it was landscaped with seasonal flowers. Beside the promenade, there was a mall with genteel shops and boutiques, among which was a candy shop that sold Ami’s favourite soft-serve ice cream.

‘Meanie …’ Ami may have been unhappy about the situation but she spoke more softly now.

The young man burst out laughing.

‘Gran, you’re merciless to your granddaughter! And here was I thinking grannies were supposed to spoil their grandchildren.’

‘You may find that I deviate somewhat from conventional standards.’

Tokié’s response seemed to send the young man into another fit of laughter. At which point the young woman tugged on his sleeve.

‘Masashi-kun … sorry, but I don’t feel well.’

At some point the young woman’s face had gone pale.

‘Ah, it must be the perfume making you sick. Should we move to another car?’

The young man put his arm around the young woman but then he turned back to Tokié.

‘Excuse us – she gets motion sickness. And those women’s perfume was awfully strong. We’re going to move to the next car.’

The housewives’ perfume still wafted, if only faintly, around the seats they had vacated but it did seem to have made the young woman ill.

‘No need to apologize, thank you again for your support despite your queasiness.’

The young woman raised her pale face. ‘No. To put it bluntly, I found those people terribly rude. But I was the meanie. What was I thinking, telling them they didn’t know how to apply perfume? I think I wanted to humiliate them.’

‘You’ve got guts,’ Tokié said. She decided against telling the young woman that she reminded Tokié of herself at that age.

‘Bye then.’

The young man gave a slight bow and kept his arm around the young woman as they walked towards the rear of the carriage.

The young man’s name was Masashi-kun.

It’s a pity that I didn’t ask the young woman her name.