We all have a Torunka Café in our lives, a place where we know we will always be welcomed and even a bad day can be turned into a good, maybe even a great one. Satoshi Yagisawa, who won the Chiyoda Literature Prize for this debut novel, Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, has a talent for creating a warm and comfortable environment where friendships can flourish and problems can be solved. The people we meet in More Days at the Torunka Café continues that theme.
Don’t be surprised if you find you need a cup of coffee while reading this novel, even if the aroma and taste wouldn’t reach the same level as anything served at Torunka. Does the owner have a special ingredient he adds, in addition to the ground beans, milk, and sugar? It’s easy to believe there’s some magic going on since the brew does more than deliver a jolt of caffeine. It delivers joy and, yes, hope.
Chiyoko Bachan is an elderly woman who sits in a corner of the café knitting and listening to Chopin, which the owner favors. Between the stitches, she dreams about her youth and her first love, Takehiko. Not knowing if he is still alive, she decides to search for him. A film crew has asked permission to shoot in the café and after saying no, the owner finally agrees. Against her better judgment, Chiyoko agrees to come to the café that day so the regulars can be extras in the film. That decision will lead to a discovery she never thought would happen.
Shizuku, the café owner’s daughter, has been depressed since her older sister, Sumiré died. Kota, who was friends with both young women, was asked by Sumiré to be her sister’s “shade tree,” in other words, to protect Shizuki. Kota, however, believes he has failed since Shizuki seems to push him away. Help comes from a surprising source – the star of the film, a young actress spends time with Kota and he rediscovers his strength to help himself and Shizuki.
In the last vignette, Ayako, a struggling artist connects with a former boyfriend and begins to chart a new path forward that, surprisingly also involves letting him back into her life. She also forms a relationship with Hiro, who dated her mother before she died. What Ayako is able to draw from these two friendships gives her the strength to begin painting again and maybe even take that long trip she has been thinking about.
Yagisawa manages to weave all these stories together in surprising ways. The characters seem to have little in common other than making the Torunka Café their home away from home. And solving whatever problems crop up with just another cup of coffee.
More Days at the Torunka Café
Satoshi Yagisawa
Translated by Eric Ozawa
Top Shutterstock photo by Duan Wade
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