The story starts with our tritagonists entering the train station then boarding the train. Moving along through the rows of chairs, the gangway connections, politely making their way through various people. It provides a full immersion experience as you can sense the same uncertain tension when among many strangers. Shady eyes as those sitting look at the new people entering and walking around. Cautiously observing your whereabouts and hyper-focusing on any strange objects people are carrying. And the same way our tritagonists were observed, they in return project the same beady eyes at others entering the train after them. The train ride is long, taking them through the city and outskirts of town. Highways, trees, mountains, and apartment buildings. Each setting providing a unique perspective on how the train is viewed.
What Yokoyama illustrates masterfully in this work is his use of perspective. Specifically the perspective of the various characters. One scene in which the train is moving through a dense forest, the bright sun casts large shadows via the trees into the train. With the train moving, so do the shadows, making the shadows dance on all of the passengers' faces. In another scene, one of our protagonists is calmly looking through the window. The window provides a bit of a reflection in which our protagonist is actually staring at a passenger in the other aisle. Observing closely as the passenger reaches into his jacket only to pull out a book. A suspenseful fake out. But the passenger was not ignorant of his being watched and glanced right back at reflection in the window alerting our protagonist. Yokoyama also provides multiple angles of the same shot creating a vivid narrative. In a different scene the train passes under a bridge, the bridge itself has a different train on top. The angle switches and we can see someone on the top train staring down making quick eye contact with a different protagonist before it leaves.
All of this combined with Yokoyama's unique style of bold shapes and lines creates a masterful story in the art of wordless narratives. It's fair to say you don't read Travel, rather you experience Travel, as one would experience travel in real life. This is by far Yokoyama's best story to date published in English.
