Hey, what’s up?

Welcome back to another one of my book reviews. Recently, I read a fiction book by a Japanese author titled Days at the Torunka Cafe by Satoshi Yagisawa. This is not actually my first time reading a book by this author. When I was back in England, I read his books Days at the Morisaki Bookshop and More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. Both of those books were great, which is why when I saw this one at the bookstore, I decided to buy it without hesitation.

I would rate this book 9/10. I personally think the book is wonderful—from the cover illustration to its content. I also have to say that the translator did a great job in conveying the author’s message. The translator was Eric Ozawa, and kudos to him for such a great translation. The front cover was very attractive as well. It helped me imagine what the cafe might look like, and it actually influenced my decision to buy the book in the first place.

Here’s a brief overview of the content of the book (spoiler alert, by the way). The book contains three chapters. The first one is about a guy working part-time at the cafe who reunites with his childhood friend, and they eventually fall in love. However, things become complicated when it turns out that the guy’s father used to have an affair with his childhood friend’s mom. Let’s just leave it at that.

Chapter two is about a man who chose his career over the woman he loved. Later, the woman passed away, but he ended up reconnecting with her daughter instead. It was a rather unique relationship.

The third chapter tells the story of a girl who falls in love with her late sister’s ex-boyfriend. It sounds a bit twisted, but the ending was quite satisfying, I would say. And of course, most of the story takes place at the Torunka Cafe.

Honestly, I’m quite curious about how this Torunka Cafe would look in real life. It feels like so many things happen there. Maybe I should find a cafe to hang out at regularly where I’m living right now. Who knows—I might meet someone random and fall for them.

Before I end this blog post, here’s a picture of the bookmark I used for this novel. I recently bought it at a local souvenir store, and it looks amazing. In Japanese, a bookmark is called shiori. I actually learned this from the novel. The word is said to have originated from the past, when people used a stick to leave marks while exploring the jungle. Hence, the meaning of shiori as a bookmark. A really interesting fact indeed.

Alrighty, thank you for reading my blog, and see you in the next one. Bye!