★ On a packed rush-hour train during the year-end holiday season, a drunk, large-built man collapsed onto the author after an emergency stop — crushing her kneecap. Over a year of recovery from a severe injury. This is not fiction — it is the author‘s own experience, told in graphic memoir form.
★ Station staff announced: “We made an emergency stop because a passenger touched the train on the platform.” — and then did nothing. The police gave up on finding the “culprit” almost immediately. The author didn’t even know how to find a lawyer — and no lawyer would take on mediation against a railway company.
★ First ambulance ride. First hospitalization. First surgery. First wheelchair. First rehab. Second surgery. An overwhelming flood of “firsts.” Medical bills piled up. Was her only option to swallow her loss in silence? The railway, the police, doctors, lawyers — who was on her side?
★ Author Yuniko is a “Graphic Facilitator®” — a professional who visualizes meetings and discussions in real time through drawing. During her hospital stay, she kept a picture diary in a pocket notebook — which led to this book. It was her first time drawing a full-length comic.
★ She didn’t want to fight — but it hurt too much, it was too sad. Tears, laughter, anger, despair, gratitude — a seven-times-falling, eight-times-rising struggle that finally led to mediation. A danger that could happen to anyone, right next to you.

It was like a domino collapse on a packed train.
A drunk, large-built man fell onto the author’s foot — and from there, one tragedy after another unfolded, beyond anything she could have imagined. This is “social learning” through comics.

On a packed train during the year-end rush hour, an emergency stop right after departure sent a man crashing down onto the author — crushing her kneecap.
The announcement said: “We made an emergency stop because a passenger touched the train on the platform.”
Yet the station staff did absolutely nothing.
The police gave up on finding the “culprit” almost immediately.
The author didn‘t even know how to find a lawyer — and no lawyer could be found who would take on mediation against a railway company.
The result: an injury requiring over a year of recovery. First ambulance ride. First hospitalization. First surgery. First wheelchair. First rehabilitation. Second surgery. A cascade of “firsts.” And the medical bills were no small sum.
Was her only option to swallow her loss in silence?
The railway, the police, doctors, lawyers — who was on her side?
Tears, laughter, anger, despair, gratitude — this is the record of a seven-times-falling, eight-times-rising struggle that finally led to mediation.
She didn‘t want to fight — but it hurt too much, it was too sad.

This is a graphic nonfiction essay that turns a danger that could happen to anyone — right next to you — into a comic based on the author’s real experience.

Yuniko (born 1973 in Tokyo) works as a “Graphic Facilitator®,” one of the first in Japan to practice this profession. She is commissioned by companies and projects to attend meetings and training sessions, where she visualizes the ambiguous thoughts and feelings that cannot be fully conveyed through words and text alone, in real time. Through drawing, she brings out the essential issues, unites diverse participants, and helps them envision the future they truly want to move toward. “Graphic Facilitator®” is her registered trademark.