The Full Moon Coffee Shop

I gave up waiting for our National Library to stock the digital copy of Mai Mochizuki's 'The Full Moon Coffee Shop' (translated into English by Jesse Kirkwood and published in August 2024) / 望月麻衣『満月珈琲店の星詠み』(2020) . I paid S$1.58 to reserve and borrow the hard copy instead. 

A coffee shop in Kyoto, literally named Full Moon Coffee Shop. It's run by cats. Yup, you read that right. A clowder of cats run this coffee shop for human patrons. You can't order anything there. The cats decide for you what drink and dessert you will have. 

The Full Moon Coffee Shop appears every full moon to humans who need it, knowingly or unknowing or indifferent. People who have lost their way in life go there to either seek solace, and somehow find a new path. Mostly they go there for astrology readings. You would lose me each time you say sage cleansing, Mercury retrograde, Mars phases, and Age of Aquarius. I was like... okaaaay, maybe this isn't my kind of read. 

In this book, there's a Prologue and an Epilogue. Then there're only three chapters — Chapter 1: Aquarius Trifle, Chapter 2: Lunar Chocolate Fondant, and Chapter 3: A Retrograde Reunion. The narrator rotates between three women. We have Mizuki Serikawa who is a recurring character in the book. She was a primary teacher turned television scriptwriter who was once popular but seemed to have been dropped by the networks when they now deemed her stories passé. Then we have a hard-nosed television producer Akari Nakayama, and 'disgraced' actress Satsuki Akiwara. There are the women's love interests too. 

The writer manages to link all these people together. All these little vignettes in the characters' lives are meant to be heartwarming. All their troubles are resolved after visiting the coffee shop. The book is supposed to be beautiful and soft in its three chapters of people coming full circle, astrology and personal birth charts included. Although it's a bit mind-boggling why the author would use Western astrology charts over Japanese charts. The print is big! Then it goes small when it's into astrology readings. Arrrrgh. I wanted to give up at this point.

I know. It's a thing, isn't it? Coffeeshops, libraries, bookstores, midnight diners, quirky izakaya, magic, stars, time travel, dreams, unfulfilled wishes, nostalgia, human regrets and emotions. And cats. There's a Singapura cat named Caleus, who is an expert on the Age of Aquarius. Okaaaay. There're Venus the Persian cat and her colleague Cronus, Mercury the Siamese, and a tuxedo cat and I'm lost as to how many cats and who is who. 

I like it that the shop is run by cats. Other than that, nothing much else. This is the sort of book that stuns me into emptiness. I don't know what to think. The feel-good factor is lost on me. I don't even care what happens to Mizuki, Akari, and Satsuki. I prefer a more pessimistic read, if you will. This book is a bit out there for me. I can't find a connection to it, and I don't even want to go there. It's not my thing. 

On the banks of the swiftly flowing Kamo River, the Full Moon Coffee Shop had appeared once again. The gentle sound of the piano filled the air.

The cats that staffed the café had shut up shop for the day and were sitting in the outdoor chairs, their eyes squinting as they let the music wash over them. By the river stood a jet-black grand piano. Seated at it was an elderly gentleman, the light of the full moon illuminating him like a spotlight. He was playing Elgar's Salut d'amour.

When he finished, the cats applauded enthusiastically and hurried over to him. The gentleman got to his feet, stroked the cats on their heads and chins, then made his way towards the café.

The master set down a glass of beer for him on one of the freshly wiped tables. 'Here you are. A Celestial Beer/'

The liquid in the glass was a gradation of different colours, from dark blue and indigo to sky blue and orange. Even more striking were the countless tiny stars that seemed to speckle the beer, including what looked like the Milky Way.