Travel Book Review Before The Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Before The Coffee Gets Cold is the first Japanese book I’ve ever read. Written by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and translated by Geoffrey Trousselot. It’s a Japanese bestseller based in a Tokyo cafe that can help customers time travel. Here is my review of the book Before The Coffee Gets Cold from a travel perspective looking at the specific Japanese elements of the novel that will inspire the wanderlust in us all.

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Contents

Places We Travel in Before The Coffee Gets Cold Book

• The book is set in a fictional cafe in Tokyo, Japan
• Hakodate, Sendai

Before The Coffee Gets Cold Book Summary

Before The Coffee Gets Cold is a novel that is based in a cafe in Tokyo, Japan which has a special seat that customers can sit on to travel back in time. But there’s rules that customers must obey or risk the consequences. The book is more like four stories in one because we follow four different characters who each have their own reasoning for time travelling. Throughout each story are the constants: the cafe, the coffee, the staff, the regulars and the rules.

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Before The Coffee Gets Cold Book Review – A Travel Perspective

• My favourite travel aspects of Before The Coffee Gets Cold were the mentions of the cliche Japanese elements like kimonos, haiku and cherry blossoms and lesser-known parts like the festival.
• I noticed that throughout the novel there was an emphasis on the characters’ appearances, beauty and clothing which was introduced every time a new character entered the cafe. I think the clothes represented the characters’ jobs/status in the book and the city overall.
• The book is translated into American English.
• Sometimes the characters were called by their first name and other times were called by their family name. I kept a sticky note at the front of the novel to remind me who’s who.
• I loved the respect that was implied for Fumiko knowing several languages. It proves that being worldly is an advantage.
• “The commonly accepted date for the appearance of the modern cafe in Japan is around 1888.” – I like the historical coffee facts.
• I learned that kanji characters are used in the Japanese language.
• Sukiyaki was a character’s favourite dish so I looked it up and it sounds delicious (Japanese hot pot).
• Tanabata festival is known for “sasakazari: a towering piece of bamboo about ten metre long, to which five giant paper balls with colourful paper streamers are attached.” This festival runs between 6th and 8th August and attracts two million tourists.
• The book gives points to learn about mourning in Japan such as salt for spiritual purification, bowing heads, offering of incense and dress.

Length of Before The Coffee Gets Cold Book

At just 213 pages, this paperback book is a quick and easy-to-read story. The book is divided into four clear chapters, each correlating to that character’s story of travelling back in time. Dividing the book in this way helped me remember who the story was following and who had come before/after.

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My Rating of Before Coffee Gets Cold Book

I liked the premise of the story but I didn’t like the rules that came with the cafe time travelling (although I see why the rules are there). Although I couldn’t relate to all of the characters’ reasonings for travelling back in time, I appreciated that this was a translated novel and literature from other countries reflects important issues/morals that could be different to western literature that I’m used to reading. Give this a try if you want to discover what Japanese literature has to offer.

Stars = 3/5

Favourite Quotes From Cafe Funiculi Funicula Book

• “Looks like the cherry blossoms have had it”
• “But what if it is really peppery? What if it is wasabi-flavoured coffee?”
• “When it appears in Haiku, the higurashi cicada is a term denoting the season, associated with autumn”
• “He could content himself by looking at travel magazines”
• “Other decorations from the festival – colourful paper strips, paper kimonos, and origami paper cranes – are sought after by tourists who use them for business blessings and lucky charms”
• “Cherry-blossom-pink letter paper.”
  

Buy Before The Coffee Gets Cold:
Amazon | Waterstones | The Book Depository | bookshop.org

Books Similar to Before The Coffee Gets Cold include Tales From The Cafe which is basically Before The Coffee Gets Cold 2, another of Toshikazu Kawaguchi books if you liked this one.

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