'Tales From the Cafe' by Toshikazu Kawaguchi: Life goes on

Globally, suicide remains a significant health concern, with mental health being a major contributing factor. According to the World Health Organisation, more than 700,000 people die every year due to suicide.

September 10 is World International Suicide Prevention Day. This year, the day is being marked under the theme Changing the Narrative on Suicide. This day is commemorated to raise awareness and shed light on this global health concern to reduce the taboo around speaking about it and its impact on our society.

Suicide is among the topics highlighted in Tales From the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. Tales From the Cafe is set in a cafe named Funiculi Funicula. In this cafe, people can travel back in time or the future. The most significant rule is that nothing you do while in the past will change the present, no matter how hard you try.

This book is divided into four stories. The first story features Gohtaro, who revisits the past to meet his deceased friend to find closure and forgiveness.

In the second story, Mother and Son, Yukio, Kinuyo’s son and Kyoko’s brother, wants to go back in time to speak to his dead mother after failing to attend her funeral because he could not afford the fare to travel from Kyoto—where he was pursuing his dreams of owning a ceramic studio to Tokyo to bury his mother.

Money occupies his mind. He has gotten himself into deep debt. And he does not know how to rescue himself out of it. 

“Would I be better off dead?” Yukio wonders one night. The thought of wanting to die is always on his mind but he can't bring himself to act on it because his mother and sister would be burdened to repay his debts. Now that his mother, the only person who believed in him, is gone, he does not see the need for him to live.

Another rule for returning to the past is to return to the present before the coffee gets cold. If this rule is ignored, one dies. Yukio knows this and plans never to return.

“There is no greater suffering than that of a parent who is unable to save their child who wants to die,” Kinuyo says this after realising that his son does not desire to continue living anymore.

In the third story, TheLovers, Kurata goes into the future to meet the woman he could not marry because he knew he would die from cancer. Journeying into the future proves far more difficult than returning to the past.

When one enters the future, the likelihood of meeting the person one wants to meet is low because anything can happen, and no one can control the future. “The point is, no one knows what obstacles are waiting.”

The last story is The Married Couple. In this story, Kiyoshi returns to the past to meet his dead wife. Kiyoshi was never present when his wife was alive. The day that his wife died, he could not meet her as he had promised because his work came first.

Kiyoshi has lived with this regret for 30 years. He blames himself for his wife’s death. He decides to go back to give his wife the birthday present he bought for her but could not give her 30 years ago.

In the past, Kiyoshi realised that his wife thought he was leaving her because he had distanced himself from her. He was unavailable and emotionally closed off.

“We can never truly see into the hearts of others. When people get lost in their own worries, they can be blind to the feelings of those most important to them.”

These are stories about grief, guilt, love, loss, and regret, a reminder that all these issues are part of life, including death. People die because that is the nature of life. Whatever that lives will die.

Kazu, who works at the cafe and helps people travel back in time, has lived her whole life with regret and the fear of being happy because the first time she poured coffee for someone to travel back in time, that person did not return. This person was her mother, Kaname, and Kazu blamed herself for her death.

“I do not think it is all possible that your mother did not return so that you would be miserable,” Kiyoshi tells Kazu. He continues, “You are allowed to be happy.”

Our lives are often filled with regrets—missed opportunities to apologise, see someone one last time, or let go of anger. Tales From the Cafe reminds us that life doesn’t wait. Express your feelings. Seek help—someone will listen.

The future is uncertain; be present. Kawaguchi’s calm writing style delivers profound messages. His book is for anyone seeking a new and positive perspective on life.

The world will not change for you; you must change yourself and how you see your life.

Jane Shussa is passionate about books, coffee, nature, and travel. She serves as a Senior Digital Communications Officer for Twaweza East Africa.