I bought this book on a whim after seeing the movie "Kenji no Haru" or "Spring and Chaos" (US title) thich is based on the life story of Kenji Miyazawa. I think this book is the most inexepensive (and authentic) way to get his poems in English today. The poems were originally published in several, small, volumes years ago and are now out of print. This book is 255 pages including the following: about 120 poems and tanka, and 3 stories. The poems from the volumes: Spring and Asura volumes 1-4, and "Winter Sketches".
This is an excellent book. It really is. Poetry has never been one of my things, but now, I'v gotten an interest in it. My thesis paper this year is on Miyazawa, so reading and analyzing these poems are a delight. Most of them are about nature, and the way the he viewed the world around him. it is very personal, b/c you get the sense that this is what he actually saw. Also, in poems like "Koiwai Farm", the descriptive language is beautiful! I still do not understand why such and excellent poet has never been taught in western classrooms.
So, in short, this book is a must read for poetry enthusiasts, or people even midly interested in Miyazawa. I also recommend the movie "Spring and Chaos" (produced in the US under Tokyopop Producitons) for a very artistic approach to Kenji's life and art.

This fantastic story by Kenzi Miyazawa gives us a fresh emotion! One day there comes a boy to a class in the countryside.As he dosen't speak any word, his classmates don't know what his name is,nor where he came from. But with his special atmosphere, he makes friends with them and they name him "Matasburou".And since he came,there happens many miracles which makes them(and "us ",too)happy. But finally Matasaburo goes his way, like a wind,without saying goodbye. The image of fairy tale which happend in the nature and the childhood gives us some envies. "If ther were a boy like him when I was a child!" Probably some people regrt like this,the athoers remember that they had their "Matasaburo" in their chilhood. Ceveral years ago,in Japan,there was a T.V programme titled "the students of Kenji".In this programme the real students of Kenji Miyazawa( for some years he worked as a teacher in aagricultural school) told how he was for them. One "old boy " said " He was a very liberal teacher. He organized drama festivals or field works against principal's order" " I'm very sorry that he quited his job some years later.I'm sorry that he's dead young,too." siad the other. One said that "Matasaburo" was Miyazawa himself. Stressed by our works , borned by the usual life, we are looking for someone who change us,who pull us out of this situations. But I think if " Matazaburo" was Miyazawa himself and he eager to speak, he will surely say, " Don't wait that a Matasaburo comes from outsite of you! Be a Matasaburo! Look for a Matasaburo who lives in yourself!"

This is a very moving, poetic and beautiful book,which introduces a kind of magical word, in whichanimal talks, a child is in fact the son of the Wind, children travel in the Milky way...

Finally, this is Kenji Miyazawa put into English in all his psychotic glory. The translation is faithful, and the stories are spellbinding, and at times simply wierd. Just perfect.

A surreal dream journey combining religious and scientific imagery; this version includes some good B&W illustrations. However, for various reasons I am seeking out an alternate translation after buying this book. My first encounter with NIGHT ON THE GALACTIC RAILROAD (GINGA (Galaxy) TETSUDO (Railroad) NO YORU (Night)... the "Night" somehow dropped out of the title in this version) was with the gorgeous animated film, towards which my expectations are admittedly biased. Also, I don't read Japanese, so my comments on the translation must be taken with a grain of salt. However, one error stands out -- changing the character's Italian names to arbitrary Japanese equivalents. Did the translators really expect readers to be somehow confused by the fact that a Japanese author was writing about Italian characters, however universal or archetypal such characters are supposed to be? It's not a gripe that would destroy the story for a first-time reader, but for me, it leaves a negative impression.

This is the best of several available English translations of Japan's bestloved children's sci fi fantasy story. Although it takes the controversial step of simplifying the title and changing the characters' names to Japanese instead of the original Italian, it removes one layer of mystification from the story and simplifies our perceptions of a multifaceted work that appeals as easily to adults as to children. This tale of the friendship between a poor boy and a rich boy in a small country town in northern Japan and their journey to the heavens, from which only one returns, shows a small boy contending with social rejection, death and his place in the universe. Told in simple but sparkling prose, it is accompanied by illustrations by the eminent Japanese illustrator Ryu Okazaki, some of which are in the same order as works by such masters as Leonard Baskin and Rockwell Kent. The translators, Joseph Sigrist and D.M. Stroud, are both Americans who lived for many years in Japan and who are intimately acquainted with the geographic and literary milieu of the author.

This extremely well-written translation doesn't even sound like a translation most of the time. It is the best of the four available translations of the number-one Japanese children's classic of this century which has sold millions of copies in Japan. It is an inspiring tale of two young boys on a trip through the cosmos as one of them learns to deal with social ostracism (ijime), a missing father, the death of his best friend -- and finally with the meaning of life.