Author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Stylized as: Before the coffee gets cold
Translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Pages: 213
Topics: second chances, time travel, quirk, café, family, grief, supernatural, regret, death, illness
First impression: a bite-sized brownie for afternoon tea reading
Photo Courtesy of Wix
Note: This review contains spoilers. To avoid confusion, Japanese names mentioned in full here are written in the Western style, first name before last name.
I first came upon Before the Coffee Gets Cold when I was searching for similar stories to Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman (a nifty travel-sized book). I must admit I have a weakness for Japanese slice-of-life fables with their minimalist book covers, and the premise of time travel combined with a café hooked me to buy a copy.
Summary
The Café's Rules of Time-Travel
The only people you may meet while back in the past are those who have visited the café.
The present won't change.
Only one seat allows you to go back in time.
While in the past, you can't move from that seat.
There is a time limit. Finish the coffee before it goes cold.
Each person can only travel once.
These are the rules of café Funiculi Funicula. The name is derived from a children's rhyme. It originated from the hands of Luigi Denza in 1880, a Neopolitan song.
We open on Fumiko Kiyokawa at the café with her boyfriend, Goro, sometime in the present. They are breaking up. We don't get to know Goru's thoughts, and Fumiko takes the break-up badly. She ends up drowning her sorrows to the rest of the café's occupants. It is here that she suddenly remembers the urban legend surrounding the café and becomes adamant to go back in time to save her relationship.
But going back to the past is not as easy as it seems. For one, there are rules to be followed. Strict rules that can't be broken no matter what. For another, there's a woman already in the time-travelling seat, and she doesn't like it when you ask her to leave.
The little hidden shop is run by Kazu, Kei, and Nagare - the family of Tokita's. They seem initially reluctant but eventually give in to Fumiko's adamancy. The time-travelling ritual involves pouring coffee slowly out of a special kettle into a special cup. As soon as steam begins to rise, the traveller is transported through an out-of-body experience. The same happens when they drink the coffee and return to the present.
Other travellers include Kohtake, Hirai, and Kei herself. Kohtake is the wife of a man with Alzheimer's disease. Hirai loses her sister halfway through the book. Kei makes a surprise trip to visit a special someone (I'll withhold this spoiler!). Each traveller is featured in their own chapter of the book, dealing with their own grievances and regrets. They each come to support the other travellers in their way, even years into the future.
The lives of these vastly different people intertwine through their shared experience of time travel. And as they come to accept their regrets and learn that the future is theirs to make, they become something even better: family.
Analysis
Almost immediately you get the impression this book will give you some tear-jerking moments. Whether it's the element of time travel or the modest little café, this book combines daily happenings with the supernatural in an elegant, unassuming way. One of the things I loved most about it is how no character spends too much time doubting the magic of the café.
Believing is something that leaves no room for doubt, especially if you're putting your life on the line.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold is really a story about its people. Despite the flashy displays of time travel we so often see in movies and science fiction novels, the time travel here seems almost simple. Barebones. As if the only reason humanity hasn't figured out time travel yet is because we haven't been looking in the right places.
At the core of it is people, and at the core of people are emotions. While I would say that most of the plot elements are predictable, the novel does make you want to sip coffee or tea in a sunlit nook while reading it, perhaps owing to its title. (Remember to finish your drink before it goes cold!)
It's a book that doesn't waste any time in poetic self-reflection, just acute observations. It's a fast-paced read compared to The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World.
The only character we don't get a more in-depth look at is the woman in the time-travelling seat. She always wears a white dress, even in winter. I'm going to refer to her as the Woman in White.
Here's the catch: the Woman in White is a ghost. You can see her and touch her, but she's a ghost tried-and-true. She's the only character who's name is never revealed, though I suppose when one stands for something beyond yourself, a name is no longer important.
You see, the Woman in White is a result of having missed her opportunity to drink the coffee before it went cold. Likely she was dealing with a deceased loved one in the past, for that's when it's easiest to forget consequences. She is now bound by the rules of the café to remain there forever until the next unfortunate soul replaces her, the next person to disregard finishing the coffee.
The Woman in White more so represents being a ghost of her past self rather than a supernatural being - though she can curse you! Because the author deliberately excludes any details of her background from the story, I find myself yearning to learn about this mysterious figure. She is somebody we can be sympathetic towards, despite her hot temper. It is even shown later in the story that the Woman in White has not lost all her compassion and ability to feel for others. In a way, as an integral part of the café, she steps up at the unlikeliest moments to help grieving travellers attain some peace.
She's one of those beings that is neither a protagonist nor antagonist. She is simply there.
There's a lot that's left unexplained in the book, including how the time-travelling café came to be. All that's mentioned is that it's been situated there for a very long time. We, the readers, are to accept it as part of history. Some things cannot be explained with facts alone.
In reading the dialogue between characters, I sometimes found myself replacing the English translation with what I imagine is in the original Japanese, especially the word "mother." From what rudimentary Japanese I know, oka-san just seems to fit better in the rhythm of the sentences. This is just another example of how, even through the best of translations, the nuances of language can often be lost when brought overseas.
If I had to describe the book in one word, I'd say it's like an undercurrent. The magic and quiet solitude of the café are invisible at first glance, but the pulsing energy radiating from it is impeccably there. Much as we stand in the waves on the shore of a beach, there is much more going on beneath the surface than we can see.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold: a peaceful, emotional read that subverts our expectations of time travel and what one would do over again.
Design
The design is not minimalist, as many Japanese covers are often made, but it's simple enough to not be distracting. No cat appears in the story itself. However, the addition of a cat persuades us of the lazy-like atmosphere of the café.
The hardcover version comes with the cover printed on a dust jacket. The dust jacket material is slightly waxy with a tactile, raised title. The material makes it less susceptible to wear and tear. The actual board underneath is lovingly bound in similar aqua and white colours to the dust jacket.
My two favourite things about the design: 1) the smell and 2) how the pages lay flat (as much as possible). When you run through the pages quickly, out wafts that delightful, strong scent of books that is neither too musky nor antique. It's hard to describe, but I love it. The way the pages are bound to the spine allow for them to fall open easily and quickly, making holding the book a very enjoyable feeling. The font is big enough to not put strain on the eyes as well.
Overall, the book is light and compact, perfect for daily travel.
Quotes from the Book
"I was so absorbed in the things that I couldn't change, I forgot the most important thing." (271)
"But Kazu still goes on believing that, no matter what difficulties people face, they will always have the strength to overcome them. It just takes heart. And if the chair can change someone's heart, it clearly has its purpose." (272)
Name Meanings
It's a fun little pastime, imagining authors slave and toil and torture themselves over naming their characters. But because they do, the name of each character often gives insight into their role in the story or disposition.
Fumiko - "child of literature/wealth/beauty"
Kazu - "amount; wisdom"
Kei - "intelligent; gemstone; congratulate"
Miki - "beautiful chronicle"
Note: other names in the article not listed here are surnames.
Film Adaptation
Cafe Funiculi Funicula (2018)
Director: Ayuko Tsukahara
Country: Japan
Work Cited
Kawaguchi, Toshikazu. Before the Coffee Gets Cold. Hanover Square Press, 2020.
References
“Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.” Goodreads, Goodreads, 19 Sept. 2019, www.goodreads.com/book/show/44421460-before-the-coffee-gets-cold.
“Cafe Funiculi Funicula.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 June 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cafe_Funiculi_Funicula.
Campbell, Mike. “Name of the Day.” The Meaning and History of First Names - Behind the Name, www.behindthename.com/.
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