I decided to inhale Toshikazu Kawaguchi's three books at a go since the latest one has been released. It's not exactly necessary to read them in sequence, but it would be nice to. They are: 'Before the Coffee Gets Cold' (2015), 'Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe' (2017) and 'Before Your Memory Fades' (2018). All these books are recently translated by Geoffrey Trousselot.
All these tiny cafes have existed for a hundred years in various towns, serving coffee, and also offering its customers a chance to travel back or forth in time, with a set of special rules — they can only meet people who have visited the cafe in question, they can't change the past, and they must return before their coffee gets cold. Also, a person who has sat on the chair to travel through time once cannot do it a second time. Each person only receives a single chance.
Each book sees four new and different customers who do so. Theoretically, the customers could travel into the future too, but hardly anyone wants to do that. I grinned. These rules effectively remove all the paradoxes of time travel in science fiction as we know it, theoretically.
In all of them, the author asks us,
If you could go back, who would you want to meet?
'Before the Coffee Gets Cold' (2015)
In Tokyo's Cafe Funiculi Funicula that has existed since 1874, these four customers took up the cafe's offer to go back in time, some skeptical, some trusting: ‘The Lovers’, ‘Husband and Wife’, 'The Sisters', 'Mother and Child'.
Fumiko returned in time a week to confront her date Goro before he left for America for three years to work on his dream. She needed to know that he was indeed the man who loved her too, despite being so focused on work. She needed to know that him being away for three years wouldn’t kill their budding relationship. Fumiko was the first to anger the Ghost who sat in the chair; she tugged at her arm. The Ghost also uhhh scolded her. We’ll hear about this couple again in the next book.
Fusagi’s had early onset of Alzheimer's and was losing his memory. He remembered he had a wife but didn't remember that Kohtake was his wife although she was standing in front of him. He wanted to return to the past to deliver a letter to his wife. Kohtake was the one who returned to the past, to three years ago when Fusagi wanted to tell her about his illness but couldn't bring himself to do so. If you ask me, he sounds like idiot who doesn't know how to communicate with his wife. In that letter, was all the answer she needed to know that he loved her.
Hirai wanted to see her deceased younger sister Kumi for one last time in the past when she was alive. Hirai regretted not talking to Kumi each time the latter visited Tokyo to try to speak with her. Then in this same story, we see an unknown young girl come in to see Kei Tokita (lady boss of the cafe) and asked for a photo together. This might be the first instance of someone coming from the future to see a member of the family.
Kei Tokita herself sat in the chair to travel fifteen years to the future to meet the future daughter that she's currently pregnant with. Her husband Nagare Tokita is full of concern. This story explains the young unknown girl in the previous story. Kei met Miki, the daughter she died giving birth to. Kei has a weak heart but she was determined to carry on with the pregnancy. She needed to know if the daughter lived, and if she did, then her death from the birth would be worth it.
Different stories appeal to different readers. That's how the author tugs at the readers' heartstrings. Which story resonates? It's not about setting things right tangibly. Remember, you can't change the past to alter the current reality. These four people traveled to ease their conscience or to understand the regrets they now have. I don't know if their emotional burdens are lightened, but at the very least, apologies help. There's some form of closure that we all seek, I suppose. Nothing in the present changes, except for their own hearts and attitude/mindset.
We see another four customers with their four stories at Cafe Funiculi Funicula: 'The Best Friend', 'Mother and Son', 'The Lovers', 'The Married Couple'.
Only the women in the Tokita family of the owners of the cafe could pour the coffee for the customers to time-travel. Kazu Tokita poured coffee for everyone. She had poured coffee for her own mother Kaname, who decided to stay in the past and not return, and is now the ghost we see sitting in the cafe with a novel. Kei Tokita had passed away from birthing Miki. Miki now could take over Kazu's role as well, to pour coffee for time travelers.
The man Gohtaro who goes back to see his best friend Shuichi who died 22 years ago, to confess that he raised their orphaned daughter responsibly and with dedication as his own. However, Gohtaro never told her about her real parents. // // The son Yukio who was unable to attend his own mother’s Kinuyo's funeral. He had been swindled and carried a huge debt in order to realize his dream of being a potter at his own studio. He didn't have the money for the fare from Kyoto back to Tokyo. He wanted to stay on in the past and die there. But he realized that would break his dead mother's heart. So he returned to the now and lived, as tough as it was.
Katsuki travelled to the future to see the girl Asami whom he loved but couldn't marry because he fell ill and died in six months. He wanted to know how she was doing, and if she was well. // // The old detective Kiyoshi who never gave his wife Kimiko that birthday gift and she died in helping out someone in a botched mugging/escape. He was full of regrets and wanted to return to the past to give his wife the intended birthday gift of a modest diamond necklace.
Their stories all carry personal guilt, actions that must be confessed decades later. In these stories, our emotional burdens revolve around moral judgements and the eventual decisions we make. There's no criminality involved. It's all about personal choices, consequences and regrets.
I had to wait for weeks for this book. Dohhhh. There were like 172 people waiting to read a digital copy of it. In this release, the author changed a venue. We moved away from Tokyo to a tiny cafe in Hokkaido, located at the base of Mount Hakodate. It's named Cafe Donna Donna.
The story began with a throwback to the first book in this whole series. It's dead-not-dead Kei Tokita who had traveled 15 years into the future to Tokyo while her husband Nagare Tokita was still in Hokkaido. So we're set in this older timeline. Nagare knew but he stayed in Hokkaido, allowing his deceased wife to meet with his daughter, which was the whole point of Kei going to the future to make her decision about her pregnancy.
Cafe Donna Donna is owned by Yukari Tokita. Nagare is her son. The 'ghost' occupying the special seat in this instance is an elderly gentleman dressed in black. Sachi, Kazu's seven-year-old daughter wields the power in the pour of her coffee. The introduction and backstory were really draggy. Had to wade through these to get to the actual story. So you wouldn't really need to read the other two books before reading this third one.
Yayoi Seto nursed a grudge against her parents for dying in a car accident that left her an orphan, unwanted by her aunts and ended up living at a children's home. She begrudges them for leaving her all alone. When she traveled back to the past, she met them with her baby, her infant-self. They were happy. She learnt about her mother Miyuki's sad childhood and tough growing up years. She didn't stay in the past. She returned to the present. And then Miyuki traveled into the future, to see Yayoi. Miyuki back then had wanted to take her own life too. // // Hayashida and Todoroki are a famous comedic duo. Todoroki's long-time love and wife Setsuko died, and he didn't want to live without her. He went back in time to tell her of his achievements. She didn't let him stay in the past and die. She told him to live because she would be with him always. Todoroki did so.
Reiko Nunokawa missed her elder sister Yukika who had passed away three months ago from sudden illness. Reiko could no longer go through with her own forthcoming wedding, and could only sit at Cafe Donna Donna reliving the happy moments with her sister. The grief is all-consuming. On a dark and stormy evening, Yukika traveled from the past to the future, to this present when she has died, to comfort Reiko — the hope to live — the best way to make Yukika happy was for Reiko to work towards her own happiness.
When Reiji returned from Tokyo to sign his contract to become a full-fledged paid comedian, he learnt his childhood friend Nanako had fallen ill with a rare blood disease and had gone to America with her parents to seek treatment. Nanako realized that she loved Reiji more than as a friend, but didn't get a chance to tell him. Reiji didn't realize it till she has gone to America. Reiji returned to the past, to the day they had last met in person. They never married, but this jaunt to the past allowed them to admit their feelings to each other. Nanako eventually died. Reiji fulfilled his dreams and success as a comedian, fuelled by his love for Nanako and her confidence in him.
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Now, the author originally debuted these stories as a play, and then wrote his first book. Then there was a film adaptation done in 2018.
I feel that these books could also be easily adapted to a short six-episode series on Netflix. LOL. 16 episodes, perhaps. Some of the descriptions in the book were superfluous and would work much better in a film or a television series. With the right director, scriptwriter and production crew and cast, it will be a beautiful story, perhaps a bit slow, but reflective and poignant. The whole premise of the stories are not just about the concept. It's presenting to us how we would live our life and if there would be regrets, and if we ever get this chance to return in time, would we do it? What would we change?
If I could, what would I change?
2 comments:
I am hoping for it to get picked up and re-adapted into a Netflix series - that one movie was not enough!
I AGREE.
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