On a side street in Tokyo there's a little coffee shop called Funiculi Funicula that has a very unusual feature. It allows people to travel back in time. There are rigid rules for time travelers, however, as follows:
- Whatever you do, you CANNOT change the present.
- You can only interact with people who have visited Funiculi Funicula.
- You must sit in one specific chair in the café to time travel, and you can't leave the chair for any reason. The catch is, a ghost - in the form of a woman reading a book - occupies the chair and only leaves once a day to go to the toilet.
- A cup of coffee starts the journey, and you MUST return to the present before the coffee gets cold.
As the book unfolds, four women take advantage of the time traveling feature - each one for her own reasons.
*****
♥ Fumiko and her long-time boyfriend Goro arrange to meet at Funiculi Funicula because Goro wants to have a serious conversation.
Fumiko thinks Goro is going to propose, and purchases a special outfit for the occasion. Instead, Goro says he's taking a job in New York and has to leave immediately. Fumiko refuses to hear Goro's explanation and tells him to just go. Thus Goro is off to America.
A few days later Fumiko regrets being so abrupt and - though she knows she can't change the present - goes back in time to tell Goro she doesn't want him to go.
*****
♥ Kohtake and her husband Fusagi are a long-married couple who regularly patronize Funiculi Funicula. A few years ago Fusagi got early onset Alzheimer's and he now doesn't recognize his wife. However, Kohtake is a trained nurse, and she takes care of Fusagi in that capacity.
When Kohtake learns that Fusagi wrote her a letter right after he fell ill, but didn't give it to her, she goes back in time to get the missive.
*****
♥ Hirai was expected to take over her parents' inn, but being a free spirit, left home. Hirai moved to Tokyo and bought a food bar near Funiculi Funicula. Now Hirai is estranged from her parents.....
.....and her younger sister Kumi reluctantly manages the inn.
Kumi frequently comes to Tokyo to see Hirai, but Hirai avoids her sister at all costs. In fact Hirai once crouched behind the counter of Funiculi Funicula for three hours to dodge Kumi.
Sadly, Kumi died in a traffic accident after her latest attempt to see Hirai, and Hirai goes back in time to speak to her sister.
*****
♥ Kei, a waitress at Funiculi Funicula, is married to the café's owner Nagare. Kei has always had a weak constitution and was never able to engage in vigorous activity. Now Kei is pregnant, and the doctor says it's unlikely both she and the baby can survive. Nevertheless, Kei chooses to continue with the pregnancy.
Thinking about time travel at the café, Kei decides to try to travel to the FUTURE, in an attempt to meet her child.
*****
In the course of the book, these protagonists - as well as several secondary characters - are fleshed out, and we learn about various aspects of their lives. We also see how time travel affects the characters.
Time travel is an interesting theme, though staying only as long as it takes for a cup of coffee to cool, and being unable to change the present, is rather limiting. This latter rule seemed fudged a bit, though. The author explains that, should you go back in time and shoot someone (who's now alive), there will happen to be phenomenal surgeon on hand, a supply of blood, etc. In my view, someone who required emergency surgery would be different in the present, but I'll let it go.
I like the book, which is engaging and quirky, and will go on to the sequel, Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café
The book is translated from the Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot, and the prose is a little stilted and choppy. However I don't know if this is due to the translation or the original narrative.
There's a film adaptation of this book, called Café Funiculi Funicula.
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