Matcha on Monday

 

Matcha on Monday / Michiko Aoyama
trans. from the Japanese by E. Madison Shimoda
NY: Hanover Square Press, 2026, c2021.
208 p.

My final review for WIT Month this year is Matcha on Monday, the second volume of the Marble Cafe series. I loved this book. I found it stronger and more resonant than the first, which I also enjoyed. But this one focused in a little more intently and so the storyline was tighter, and it also made the concept from the first novel -- that we are all connected -- even more explicit and emotionally moving. 

The Marble Cafe is a tiny shop is a quiet part of Tokyo that has a regular clientele. Except for on Mondays, when it's closed. But one Monday, a young woman is having a day full of bad luck and decides to treat herself, forgetting it's Monday. When she gets there she discovers that there is a little pop-up matcha cafe going on, and decides to go in and check it out. She is strangely intrigued by the non-communicative tea expert, the son of a tea wholesaler family from Kyoto who is testing out their teas in Tokyo. Luckily for her, he will be managing the new shop opening in Tokyo soon. 

This book also follows characters into the next story, once they appear in one they are likely to show up in the next one. We meet a lingerie designer/shop owner (loved her story), a befuddled husband who has angered his wife, a theatre artist who has a difficult relationship with her grandmother, and a singer going through a breakup. And The Master reappears in this one too. While the first book had its stories organized by colour, this one moves through a calendar year, as well as moving between Tokyo and Kyoto. 

I really enjoyed the thoughtful conversations that the characters had. Everyone is so civilized somehow, even while going through emotional ups and downs. I loved reading about the garment designer, the tea expert, Kyoto, puppets and more. So much in this one but I was especially struck by the Master's explanation of how we never know the connections that led to our meeting another person - because someone far back in the chain set something in motion, we can meet today, and we'll never know where it started -- and equally, how what we do today will affect those around us down the line. The smallest gesture or action may have a huge effect on someone's lives, and we'll never know it. It was a touching story, and I found the gentle connections between characters appealing and comforting. A new fave. 

Hot Chocolate on Thursday

Hot Chocolate on Thursday / Michiko Aoyama
trans. from the Japanese by E. Madison Shimoda
NY: Hanover Square Press, 2025, c2017.
208 p.

I first read Aoyama via her novel What You Are Looking For is in the Library. That one was a bit quirky but I still liked it enough to want to try this one, the start of a series. This novel hit my interests right now, and I really enjoyed it. 

It is set in a little cafe in a quiet part of Tokyo, the Marble Cafe. It is owned by someone known as The Master, but run by a young man who acts as manager. As it opens we meet a regular, a woman who comes in alone to write letters, always ordering hot chocolate. The manager is intrigued by her and wonders about her, not knowing that she notices him as well.  

The book is about the connections made in everyday ways - through her writing, to a friend who has moved overseas; to others in the shop connecting accidentally through small things; to the woman who receives the letters in Australia, and her life connecting in small ways to a food truck proprietor there. There is always food, and the constant theme of the ways that people's lives bump into one another and affect one another without any plan or intent. The story ranges widely, moving from the Marble Cafe to Australia, by following a chain of characters. A character from each story moves forward to be the main character in the next episode, and so all the stories and people are linked even if they don't know how. And then the story circles back to the Hot Chocolate woman and the cafe manager in the final chapter. 

This was soothing, expansive and I loved the concept. While it is brief and covers a lot of characters, I think that was the point - rather than digging in deeply to one life, it was showing the ways so many lives brush up against one another. I thought it was a delight, and of course wanted hot chocolate even in the midst of my summer! 

 

The Amberglow Candy Store

The Amberglow Candy Store / Hiyoko Kurisu
trans. from the Japanese by Matt Treyvaud
NY: Scribner, 2025, c2022.
208 p.

I enjoyed this unusual read! It falls into the same genre of Japanese novel that I've been reading a lot of lately, but it's a bit different. It features life lessons, a shop, melancholy friendships, for example, like many others, but it also includes a main character who is half-fox - a part of the otherworldly element of Japanese folklore. 

Kogetsu owns the Amberglow Candy Shop on Gloaming Lane, a strange shopping area that humans only stumble upon when they need it. Most of the shops are closed up, and people wander down this street until they find the candy store with its very handsome proprietor. They choose a candy that promises something - luck, confidence, relationship help and so on - and when they return to their normal lives they find that eating the candy really helps them. Most of the time it's a placebo effect, though: the solution has been in their grasp the whole time and the candy gives them the confidence to solve their own problem. 

Like many of these books, it's told in short chapters dealing with each character's encounter and resultant life lesson. It's a bit quirky, with some light humour thanks to Kogetsu's misunderstandings of human behaviour. And the magical element actually felt quite magical and ancient. I thought that this book had more of the feel of Miyazaki films or folklore inspired characters than any other Japanese novel I've read recently. I really enjoyed the feel of this one, it had a great atmosphere. And seeing people learn life lessons softly and without a lot of conflict was nice too. The final chapter gives more of Kogetsu's own story, and was a nice way to tie up this book, with an opportunity for him to also learn more about life. Enjoyable though a quiet and light read. 

 

Translation Thursday

  

It's Translation Thursday! Each Thursday this month I'm going to share the translation I'm currently reading plus a few more on my reading list. Here's today's list:

Currently Reading:

Apartment Women / Gu Byeong-mo
trans. from the Korean by Chi-Young Kim

To Read: 

If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light / Kim Choyeop
trans. from the Korean by Anton Hur

The Seoul Letter Shop / Baek Seungyeon
trans. from the Korean by Clare Richards

Plant Lady / Minyoung Kang
trans. from the Korean by Shanna Tan

How to Hold Someone in Your Heart

 

How to Hold Someone In Your Heart / Mizuki Tsujimura
trans. from the Japanese by Yuki Tejima
NY: Scribner, 2026, c2019.
224 p.

Ok, so I enjoyed the first book in this series, Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon, so much that I immediately found book two in Libby and read it right away! This is a sweet series about 'the go-between', a young man who connects the dead and the living for final meetings. 

This book takes place a few years after the first volume. Ayumi is no longer a teenager; he's a young career man working for a wooden toy company, while still carrying out his duties as the go-between. Just like the first novel, though, he encounters five people he needs to connect with those deceased, and one friend who has sufferered a recent bereavement making Ayumi wonder if he should offer his services unasked for (in the end, no need). 

We have two mothers wanting to see their daughters who died too young, a young film star wanting to get some answers from his deadbeat dad who left their family when the boy was only two, an eccentric academic wanting to meet the subject of his lifelong historical studies, and an 85 yr old chef who has asked to meet a girl from his youth numerous time over the past decades but this time is accepted (with the deciding message Ayumi is asked to pass on to her: "the rascal Hachiya has turned eighty-five")

Each one brings some reflection on life, regrets, love, secrets, and so on -- but also some less emotional topics like what one's legacy will be -- for example, after his experience, the academic ponders if anyone will ask to see him when he is dead. This meeting also questions how truth gets passed down, and how reliable history is. I liked the inclusion of this less emotional meeting to balance out the rest. 

I also liked that this volume focused more on Ayumi and his own life and development, from his acceptance of his role and his place in his family, to his job and a potential romantic interest. It added more of a narrative throughline to this story, and I hope there will be another book in the series, too. I find this author's style thoughtful, mostly easy reading, great for comfort reading. 

Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon

Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon / Mizuki Tsujimura
trans. from the Japanese by Yuki Tejima
NY: Scribner, 2025, c2010.
256 p.

I'm not sure why there seem to be so many Japanese books about people meeting up with the dead, but there are quite a few that I've read recently. This is one that stuck with me, featuring a "go-between" who arranges meetings between the living and the dead. 

You only find the go-between if you are meant to, and you can then request a meeting with someone you want to talk to one more time. The go-between will pass on the message but the dead person may refuse, or they may have already spoken to someone -- and you only get one chance, either way. The living can only request it once, and the dead can only accept once, so they must be careful to choose wisely. 

In this book, we follow four characters all wanting to speak to someone deceased -- a young woman from Tokyo who wants to speak to a TV star who she didn't actually know, a self-important eldest son who wants to see his mother only to ask where the deeds to a plot of land are; a teenager blaming herself for her best friend’s death; and a sad businessman needing answers about why his fiancée disappeared days after he proposed.

Each story is a bit melancholy, although the one featuring the teen besties didn't go as I'd expected - still so much teen drama even after death! And there is some kind of lesson in each, as they seek closure (not always given). In each we learn more about the teenaged go-between, until more is shared about his story near the end. 

I liked this one; it was unexpected and well developed. The stories weren't predictable or saccharine, there was a bit of darkness, a bit of intrigue. The set-up was good and there is a second volume in this series that I'm going to search out too, and see if this conceit can hold up over another book. But this one is worth trying if you like this genre - pretty well written and good concept! 

 

Hooked

Hooked / Asako Yuzuki
trans. from the Japanese by Polly Barton 
NY: Ecco, 2026, c2015.
400 p.

This is another Japanese novel that looks at unequal relationships and includes social media's unrealities as part of the story. But this is much longer than Idol Burning, which I just talked about yesterday. 

In Hooked, Yuzuki follows Eriko, a young woman working for a fish importing company. She seems to have it all together - her career is successful (she even gets sent to Africa on a mission to find a Nile Perch processing plant for her company), she is well groomed and efficient, but there is something missing. She can not seem to connect with other women, despite really wanting a friend. She can be obsessive and overwhelm others, like her school friend who still lives nearby and seems to haunt her, showing up when least wanted, to remind Eriko of her previous actions. 

But now Eriko has found a friend -- a popular blogger, Shoko, who she's been following for a while, carefully leaving comments and getting to know her online persona. Eriko figures out where this blogger will be at a specific time, thanks to her meticulous study of the blog, and "runs into" her casually. Their friendship starts to grow, with dinners and coffee dates -- but Shoko starts to feel like Eriko is more of a stalker than a friend, and puts her off, starting a new spiral for Eriko. 

This was a great read, with some unhinged characters, and a look at personas and the realities beneath. Shoko's perfect blogging life, and her apparently solid marriage are shaken through these events; she's really not exactly who she says she is. And Eriko's facade is quickly shattered when she feels rejected. Lots of fascinating psychological content in both storylines! 

There are metaphors related to the Nile Perch that Eriko imports (an invasive species) and to social media and self-presentation, and everything kind of twines together. It's a bit of a domestic drama, with frenemies and toxic behaviours in abundance. But still some sympathies for these imperfect characters. It kept moving in directions I wasn't expecting, and I had to pay attention -- I found it compelling reading, with the 400 pages feeling much shorter. I liked her writing style and aesthetic, so will definitely have to go back and read her first book Butter, a best-seller about food and a female murderer.