Pathway to Japanese Literature

Discover Japan's stories—across time, across language.

Crossing the New SiberiaAuthor: Miyamoto Yuriko

Original Title	新しきシベリアを横切る
Author	宮本百合子
Genre	Modern Short Fiction
Author Type	Female Author
Summary	In October 1930, a Japanese woman prepares to depart Moscow after three years abroad, her final hours consumed by urgent errands and farewells. As she navigates bureaucratic hurdles and lingering suspicions—evident in a postal worker’s exasperation and a leather coat sparking unwelcome scrutiny—the Soviet Union’s contradictions unfold: bustling stations, affordable meals for workers, and butter factories plagued by mismanagement. Boarding the Trans-Siberian Railway, she documents a nation in flux—snow-dusted collective farms, industrializing Urals, and debates over milk quotas—while contending with delays, shattered windows from roadside troublemakers, and frigid nights. The journey reveals Siberia’s evolving identity: no longer a “lonely wilderness” but a frontier threaded with power lines and propaganda placards. As Vladivostok nears, anticipation mingles with weariness; the sea’s glint marks not just a voyage’s end but a reckoning with imperialism’s shadow. Through her eyes, the USSR emerges as a mosaic of ambition and fragility—a land where progress and tradition collide beneath endless Siberian skies.