Neha Kirpal reviews The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki, translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood (published by Brazen, 2024).
Mai Mochizuki’s The Full Moon Coffee Shop, a newly translated Japanese novel, narrates the heartwarming tale of a mobile Kyoto coffee shop that magically appears only when and where it’s needed. Interestingly, it is entirely run by talking cats who serve fragrant teas, fine coffees and delicious desserts to its customers who have lost their way in their lives. Unlike a regular eatery, it does not take orders; instead it picks out a selection of drinks, snacks and desserts for its customers – a kind of tailored gourmet experience.
After the cats have done their job, the shop promptly vanishes. Along the way, we encounter a down-and-out screenwriter, a lovesick TV director, a misunderstood stylist and a failed video game developer. They all go on an astrological journey of sorts, which forces them to face their past and discover their destiny.
In writing the book, Kyoto-based author Mai Mochizuki was inspired by Chihiro Sakurada’s series of illustrations depicting a mysterious ‘Full Moon Coffee Shop’ run by a cat. She fell in love with them at first sight. “The beautiful, dreamlike world of the Full Moon Coffee Shop seemed to go on forever, just like the night sky,” she writes. And that was how the novel came about.
The Plot of the Novel
In the book’s first part, we meet forty-year-old Mizuki Serikawa. Previously a substitute teacher in a primary school, she was a successful scriptwriter for television shows. However, at the moment, she seems to be undergoing a rough patch in her career, as most people feel that her scripts are too out of touch with the times. Wandering on Kiyamachi Street in the heart of Kyoto one day, Serikawa comes across the enigmatic Full Moon Coffee Shop.
It’s a dreamlike encounter like no other. She soon comes across an enormous talking cat with smiling eyes like crescent moons, wearing an apron and holding a tray. More peculiar feline characters greet her at the café and gradually begin explaining to her about cosmic life phases, including the sun and the moon as well as the nine planets – and how they affect one’s life events. “Understand yourself, and you’ll be able to care for yourself. As long as you do that, you’ll shine like the star that you are,” they advise her. Serikawa also realises, among other things, the wisdom behind the analogy that even though tea starts out as water, the experience transforms it entirely.
In subsequent parts of Mai Mochizuki’s book, we meet Akari Nakayama, a TV director; Satsuki, the show’s lead actress; and Takashi Mizumoto, who runs a startup in Osaka. Similarly, all of them encounter the strange Full Moon Coffee Shop, which mystically appears to them, too. And sure enough, the meeting helps transform their problems.
Kyoto in Focus
Being set in Kyoto, the book has a number of vivid descriptions of the city, with references to its bustling restaurants, candy shops, bakeries, izakaya bars, small supermarkets, pharmacies, old townhouses, the Takase and Kamo rivers, bridges, boats laden with sake casks and cherry blossom trees. Mai Mochizuki also highlights particular sights in the city, such as Kyoto Gyoen, a spacious, green public park filled with forests, lawns, ponds and Shinto shrines, as well as Daikoji Temple, a temple dedicated to three deities – the Buddha of Limitless Light, the Buddha of Healing, and Jizo, the guardian deity of travellers and children.
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The Age of Aquarius
One of the cats tells Serikawa that the world has recently transitioned from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius – in other words, from a time of duality and conflict to one of revolution.
We’re moving from the age of the group, in which everyone aims for the same summit, to the age of the individual. And technology is what’s taking us there. In the coming era, each of our voices will carry more and more weight. The development of the internet, and the fact that ordinary people can become famous and gain an audience overnight – those are all manifestations of Aquarius.
– Mai Mochizuki, The Full Moon Coffee Shop
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Favourite Quote from The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki
Life is like one of those black-and-white spinning tops that turns into a beautiful whirl of colour once it spins fast enough.
Conclusion
Simple, straightforward prose makes Mai Mochizuki’s The Full Moon Coffee Shop an easy, breezy read. The book is a classic Japanese feel-good, philosophical novel about finding oneself and resolving one’s dilemmas in life. The characters and their challenges are unanimous and will resonate with most readers – which is what makes the story so universal and relatable. In a sense, the Full Moon Coffee Shop is just used as a metaphor. What it symbolically conveys to readers is to look out for signs in life.
Have you read this magical tale of self-discovery and cosmic wisdom in Kyoto, with a mystical cafe run by talking cats? We’d love to know your thoughts! Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
