Haruka na Machi e

Fourty-eight-year-old salaryman Hiroshi Nakahara finds himself on the wrong train to Tokyo following a business trip in Kyoto. Accepting his mishap, he relaxes once he realizes the train is heading towards his hometown of Kurayoshi. Walking through his childhood neighborhood, Hiroshi notices significant changes that have occurred over the 20 years since his mother's death. Visiting her grave at Genzen Temple, he experiences an unexpected turn of events: he is transported back into the body of his 14-year-old self. Retaining all the memories and wisdom of his middle-aged mind, he now finds himself as an eighth grader in junior high school. This newfound youth offers Hiroshi an escape from his adult responsibilities as a man with a wife and two daughters. With no clear way to return to his original time, he starts to relive his adolescence. During this period, Hiroshi seeks to understand the reasons behind his father's abandonment of the family, hoping to gain insight into his father's actions. "Haruka na Machi e" was published in English as "A Distant Neighborhood" by Ponent Mon/Fanfare in 2009, and later in a hardcover edition on September 15, 2016. It was also published in Spanish by Ponent Mon from May 2003 to October 2003 (republished as a 2-in-1 omnibus in November 2009), and in Polish by Hanami in a one-volume edition in March 2010. The series was adapted into a live-action French film which was released in Europe in 2010.