Before the coffee gets cold

Read the back cover first, shall we?

Heading - If you could go back, who would you want to meet?

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

先读封底好吗？
标题——如果可以重来，你最想见谁？
在东京的一个小巷子里，有一家咖啡店，提供一百多年的精心酿造的咖啡。但这家咖啡店为顾客提供了一种独特的体验：回到过去的机会。

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer’s, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?

在咖啡变冷之前，我们遇到了四位访客，他们每个人都希望利用咖啡馆的时间旅行优惠，以便：面对离开他们的男人，收到他们丈夫的一封信，他的记忆被剥夺了早发阿尔茨海默氏症，最后一次见到他们的姐姐，见到他们从未有机会认识的女儿。
但回到过去并非没有风险：顾客必须坐在特定的座位上，他们不能离开咖啡馆，最后，他们必须在咖啡变冷之前回到现在。
Toshikazu Kawaguchi 美丽动人的故事探讨了一个古老的问题：如果你能回到过去，你会改变什么？更重要的是，你想见谁，也许是最后一次？

This book is about time travel. One goes into a basement cafe in one of those small lanes in Tokyo, sits down in the designated chair, orders one’s coffee and then chooses to visit someone in the past for about fifteen to twenty minutes and returns to the present before one’s coffee gets cold. The author is a Japanese writer by the name of Toshikazu Kawaguchi and it was originally written as a play. The English translation was done by Geoffrey Trousselot.

这本书是关于时间旅行的。一个人走进东京那些小巷之一的地下室咖啡馆，坐在指定的椅子上，点一杯咖啡，然后选择去拜访过去的某个人大约 15 到 20 分钟，然后在咖啡变冷之前回到现在。作者是日本作家川口俊和，最初是作为剧本创作的。英文翻译由 Geoffrey Trousselot 完成。

Yes, that cafe in Tokyo is not an ordinary one. A specific seat in the cafe can take us back in time, to the past that we want to be. There are however rules to be followed. The five rules are:

1: One cannot meet people that have not visited the cafe at least once.

2: If someone does something different in the past, it does not change the present.

3: Only one seat in the café has that power to take someone to the past. If that seat is already occupied by a customer, then the person wanting to go into the past has to wait.

4: One cannot leave the seat when one goes back to the past.

5: One can only go to the past for the time the coffee is served, until it gets cold.

Breaking any one of these rules can be dangerous, like being turned into ghosts, never to return to earth again. Some say that this is just a rumour, but others believe in this blindly. Who is actually speaking the truth? We have to read this novel to find out.

是的，东京的那家咖啡馆不是普通的咖啡馆。咖啡馆里的一个特定座位可以带我们回到过去，回到我们想要成为的过去。然而，有一些规则需要遵守。五个规则是：
1：一个人不能遇到至少没有去过咖啡馆一次的人。
2：如果某人过去做了一些不同的事情，它不会改变现在。
3：咖啡厅中只有一个座位具有将某人带回过去的能力。如果那个座位已经被顾客占据，那么想要回到过去的人就必须等待。
4：回到过去就不能离开座位。
5：咖啡上桌的时间只能回到过去，直到咖啡变冷。

违反这些规则中的任何一条都是危险的，就像变成幽灵一样，永远不会再回到地球上。有人说这只是谣言，也有人盲目相信。究竟是谁在说真话？我们必须阅读这本小说才能找到答案。

There are four episodes in the book: (1) The Lovers; (2) Husband and Wife; (3) The Sisters; and (4) Mother and Child. Because of the requirement of Rule # 1, “One cannot meet people that have not visited the cafe at least once,” the characters in the four episodes are related and therefore, collectively, they provide a continuous story. Add in the Cafe Owner and the Waitress and we have a true picture of how different personalities react with each other in any particular relationship.

全书共四集：（1）恋人； (2) 夫妻； (3) 修女会； (4) 母子。由于规则#1 的要求，“一个人不能遇到至少没有去过咖啡馆一次的人”，四集中的人物是相关的，因此，它们共同提供了一个连续的故事。加上咖啡馆老板和女服务员，我们就可以真实地了解不同性格的人在任何特定关系中是如何相互反应的。

The Cafe Owner (Nagare Tokita, in the background), the waitress (named Kazu Tokita, Nagare’s cousin), and a customer (Fumiko) at that particular seat in the Cafe.

咖啡厅老板（在后台）、女服务员和咖啡厅特定座位上的一位顾客。

The story is simply written and is easy to read. According to ‘Rave’s’ book reviewer Alison Lee, the book is (to quote) “… heartwarming and quirky … At the very beginning, Kawaguchi throws all of these personalities at the reader in rapid succession, and it was difficult for me to keep track of who was who. Also, the names are very similar, which made it challenging to identify the characters until much later on in the story. The novel takes place in the same cafe over a continuous time period, so you really get to know the regulars and the staff. They have their own troubles and joys, and each relationship is unique and heartfelt. In the absence of a magical cafe in real life, Kawaguchi encourages readers to value the time they have with their loved ones.” How touching!

故事写得很简单，读起来很容易。根据《狂欢》书评人艾莉森·李的说法，这本书（引用）“……感人而古怪……在一开始，川口将所有这些性格接二连三地抛给读者，这让读者很难理解我跟踪谁是谁。此外，名字非常相似，这使得在故事的后期很难识别角色。这部小说在连续的时间段内发生在同一个咖啡馆，所以你真的认识常客和店员，他们各有烦恼和快乐，每一段关系都是独一无二的、发自内心的。在现实生活中没有神奇咖啡馆的情况下，川口鼓励读者珍惜与亲人在一起的时光。 “ 好感人！

Fumiko (left) wants to recall the moment in the past - just one week ago, when her boyfriend, Goro, (right) told her that they had to part as he was to go to the United States.

Fumiko（左）想回忆起过去的那一刻——就在一周前，她的男朋友（右）告诉她，他们必须分开，因为他要去美国。

Kazu is serving another of the Cafe’s regular customer Miss Kotake, who is suffering from dementia and thus she does not remember anything about her life. She has even forgotten her husband’s (Mr. Fusagi’s) face. She has been living in her maiden name for the past two years. Still her husband acts as her nurse everyday, taking care of her, and she treats Fusagi as just her nurse in her service. Kazu then asks Kotake to take the seat where she can go back to her past to see her husband’s face once again.

Kazu 正在为咖啡馆的另一位常客 Kotake 小姐服务，她患有痴呆症，因此她不记得自己的生活。她甚至忘记了丈夫（Fusagi 先生）的脸。在过去的两年里，她一直以娘家姓氏生活。她的丈夫仍然每天充当她的护士，照顾她，而她只把 Fusagi 当作她的护士来服务。 Kazu 然后让 Kotake 坐在她可以回到过去再次看到她丈夫的脸的座位上。

Hirai’s sister, Kimi, is also a regular visitor to the Cafe. One day, Hirai was told that her sister met an accident and she was seriously hurt and in the hospital. Upon her arrival to the hospital, Hirai witnessed her sister’s death.

Hirai的妹妹也是咖啡厅的常客。有一天，Hirai得知妹妹出了车祸，受了重伤住院了。到达医院后，Hirai亲眼目睹了妹妹的死亡。

What happens if she drinks all of her coffee during the visit to the past? Rule # 2 applies: If someone does something different in the past, it does not change the present.

如果她在过去的访问中喝光了所有的咖啡会怎样？规则#2 适用：如果某人在过去做了一些不同的事情，它不会改变现在。

The two sisters met in their past in the Cafe.

两姐妹在咖啡厅认识了她们的过去。

Another regular customer to the Cafe, Ryosuke, a photographer and artist, discusses his exhibits with the waitress, Kazu. Ryosuke wants to have his promotional pamphlet displayed in the Cafe.

咖啡馆的另一位常客 Ryosuke 是一名摄影师和艺术家，他与女服务员 Kazu 讨论他的展品。 Ryosuke 想在咖啡厅展示他的宣传小册子。

What will happen to the relationship between Ryosuke and Kuzu? Yes, you have guessed it but there is just a slight twist to this story before its happy ending.

Ryosuke 和 Kuzu 之间的关系会发生什么变化？是的，你已经猜到了，但这个故事在它的大团圆结局之前只有一点点转折。

‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ taps in the human emotions with the aid of a fantastical setting. The liberty to get one more chance to relive a moment of past or witness the future is a wild fantasy of any being. The coffee shop in the novel offers this unrealistic dream, but with a clause of not able to change anything in the present. For many it seems futile, but for some it gives an opportunity to let out the unsaid things or provide an impetus to do something left undone, lifting the heavy feelings we sometimes carry in our heart. Review by Karishma Suresh

“在咖啡变冷之前”借助奇幻的场景触及人类的情感。获得更多机会重温过去或见证未来的自由是任何人的疯狂幻想。小说中的咖啡店提供了这个不切实际的梦想，却附上了现在无法改变任何事情的条款。对于许多人来说，这似乎是徒劳的，但对于一些人来说，它提供了一个机会来表达未说的事情，或者提供动力去做一些未完成的事情，从而解除我们有时会在内心深处的沉重感受。 Karishma Suresh 评论

When I completed the first chapter I didn’t understand what was so special about this book which made it so popular but starting from second chapter it takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions. Cried so much reading the last chapter. The storytelling is amazing, it keeps you hooked. Review by Sonali Gupta

当我完成第一章时，我不明白这本书有什么特别之处，让它如此受欢迎，但从第二章开始，它会让你的情绪坐上过山车。看完最后一章哭了好久。讲故事的方式很棒，让您大呼过瘾。索纳利·古普塔 (Sonali Gupta) 的评论