Night Train to the Stars

Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933) was born and raised in Iwate, a rural part of Northern Japan, largely cut off from the modern world. As a boy he was fascinated by glimpses of the modern industrial world – train lines and telegraph poles running into the distance – and he hoarded scientific information. His stories often contain fantastical descriptions of landscape alongside technological details. He was also deeply connected to the folk tales of Japan and interested in both Buddhism and Christianity.

After graduation from agricultural college, he moved to Tokyo to write and work as a proofreader. When his sister became ill, he returned to Iwate to care for her and remained there for the rest of his life. He devoted himself to the education and protection of the local farming community, even eating the same poor diet in solidarity with his neighbours contributing to his early death from tuberculosis at the age of 37. Only two of Miyazawa’s works were published during his lifetime. His success and fame as a writer came posthumously but his poetry and stories are popular in Japan to this day.

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David Mitchell is a BAFTA Award-winning actor, writer and comedian who has starred in many of the UK’s best-loved TV shows, including Peep Show, That Mitchell and Webb Look and Upstart Crow. He is a team captain on Would I Lie to You? (BBC One), the host of The Unbelievable Truth on Radio 4 and one of the Observer‘s most popular columnists. Unruly: A History of England’s Kings and Queens is his first history book.

Kaori Nagai is a Research Associate at the University of Kent and author of Empire of Analogies (2006).