Note: The Japanese title of this novel, スプートニクの恋人, is transcribed as Supūtoniku no koibito in the Revised Hepburn notation, and means "Sputnik Sweetheart". It is composed of スプートニク, supūtoniku, the phonetic rendition of sputnik in kana, の, no, "of", and 恋人, koibito, "girlfriend", "sweetheart", "lover".