55 pages • 1 hour read
Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Transl. Geoffrey TrousselotBefore the Coffee Gets Cold
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: Japanese Time Travel Fiction
Kawaguchi’s novel belongs to the genre of time travel fiction, which bends the laws of chronological time to enable characters to visit specific points in the past or future. Characters who traverse temporal dimensions have appeared as early as the eighth century in the Japanese folktale of Urashima Tarō, where the protagonist thinks that he has only spent a few days in the undersea palace of a Dragon God when in truth, 300 years have passed. As scholar Sung-Ae Lee writes, such tales already assume that “time is not one-dimensional but may be two-dimensional, with two strands moving at their own pace and within their own space but with the same characters inhabiting each” (Lee, Sung-Ae. “Adaptations of Time Travel Narratives in Japanese Multimedia: Nurturing Eudaimonia Across Time and Space.” International Research in Children’s Literature, vol. 7, no. 2, 2014, pp. 136-151). Technically, the folktale describes Urashima Tarō falling into a temporal dimension rather than going back and forward in time.
Lee’s research shows that in the 1960s, Japanese cultural media engaged with more diverse notions of time travel. Tsutsui Yasutaka’s young adult novel The Girl Who Leapt Through Time shows the heroine Kazuko’s ability to go back in time and repeat events, on each occasion knowing the outcome beforehand. While Kazuko can improve on what went wrong in the past by repeating a day, the book’s laws of time travel prohibit her from telling people in the past about the future because it confuses “the strongly linear Japanese sense of history” (Lee 138). As Lee writes, “hence, and perhaps paradoxically, the time traveler experiences the sense of being free to act because what is about to happen has already happened, and so anything she or he does will only push events in their already determined direction” (Lee 139). This, Lee argues, aligns with the concept of eudaimonia, which puts the well-being of the collective above that of the individual. Eudaimonia is Greek in origin, but it is an ideal heavily present in Japanese society. A time traveler who might go back to the past for selfish reasons is thus perceived as a threat to the good of society. Japanese time travel narratives often show chrononauts going back in time to more fully participate in the present as it already exists, and so work with the linear timeline rather than against it.
Kawaguchi’s time-traveling universe is even more limited than Tsutsui’s. Characters can only experience time travel within Funiculi Funicula itself and with people who have also visited the café. The same principles of non-interference still apply; going into the past cannot change it. Goro will go to America as planned; Kumi, Hirai’s sister, will still die in a car crash, and Kei’s body will still be too weak to survive childbirth. Time travel instead gives the characters a better understanding of their relationships and gives them hope and acceptance in the present and future. They put aside their individual wishes and learn to make the most of the situations and people around them. While Fumiko wishes to travel three years into the future to see whether she and Goro get married, she relinquishes her time-traveling seat to Kei, who has a greater need to meet the unborn child she will never see grow up. Fumiko and Goro even take over the café and help raise Kei’s daughter in the future, signifying a move From Individualism to Unity. At the end of the novel, Kazu opines that time travel is useful because it “can change someone’s heart” and help them face the difficulties life has thrown at them (Kawaguchi 213). Moreover, the time travelers’ journeys all push them further towards the ideal of collective well-being.
Battaglia praises Kawaguchi for dodging the unwieldiness that often plagues time-travel narratives through strict magical rules. This includes not only the basement location and the inability to change the present but also the concision of the means and method of time travel. Time travel employs the props that would be naturally available in a café: a chair and a cup of coffee. This grounds both the ritual and the revelations that come from it within the café and its everyday workings, as opposed to stories that rely on mysterious, distant magic. Each time traveler must partake in the exact same ritual, and so they are bound together.
Cultural Context: Familial Responsibility in Japanese Culture
Japanese culture heavily emphasizes familial responsibility well into adulthood. While Western cultures tend to promote individualism, Japan is a collectivist society, and filial piety is expected. This is due to the influence of Chinese philosopher Confucius, whose ideals have been rooted in Japanese culture for thousands of years. In the most traditional households, parents retain power over their children’s decisions even into adulthood. Children are expected to revere their parents and take care of them as they age—traditionally, aging parents were the responsibility of the oldest son.
While Kawaguchi’s novel is set in contemporary, metropolitan Tokyo, Hirai’s story shows the clash of young independence and familial duty. As the eldest daughter, Hirai was expected to take over her family’s ryokan (traditional inn) in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. Instead, the free-spirited, irreverent Hirai moved to Tokyo to pursue a more Western, individualist path. The rejection of the traditional Japanese ryokan in favor of a city of skyscrapers symbolizes her modernity and disinterest in traditional expectations. Hirai does not conform to gender norms, either; she “[dresses] in a flashy way and [can’t] care less what anyone [thinks] about it” (123). Her rough speech style is the opposite of the dignified Japanese lady she was expected to become. The popular late-night snack bar Hirai runs in Tokyo is geared towards having casual fun, the opposite of her parents’ luxurious traditional inn.
In a Western narrative, Hirai would be a success story, representing the autonomy of following her own dreams. Kawaguchi’s novel, however, implies that Hirai is living selfishly. She refuses to see her sister Kumi when Kumi comes to Tokyo, burdening her younger sibling with what should have been her responsibility. Avoiding Kumi indicates that Hirai is repressing the conscience that links her to her familial obligations. After her sister’s fatal accident, Hirai travels to the past and learns of her sister’s vision of running the inn as a team, as opposed to the path of individual glory that present-day Hirai is pursuing. Kumi’s death makes her dream impossible, but Hirai lives the vision of it when she returns home and runs the inn for her parents. Her actions promote the move From Individualism to Unity. In a Western story, Hirai’s sacrifice—and her shift to a more modest, austere appearance—might indicate a suppression of her individual spirit. Kei and the rest of the café staff, however, clearly believe that she has made the right choice. The narrative also implies that her choice was correct, as shown by a photograph in which Hirai appears happy with her parents after returning to Sendai. By returning to the inn, she is participating in a collectivist society and fulfilling her familial responsibilities.
