Chapter 1: Brown (from ワタル’s point of view, Tokyo)
Young male waiter, ワタル, just got a job at the cafe マーブル・カフェ
Young woman, customer at the cafe, likes to drink cocoa, has an English speaking pen-pal called Mary
Chapter 2: Yellow (from 朝美’s point of view, Tokyo)
朝美, working mom, usually full time, not housewife type
拓海 (たくみ), her son, goes to kindergarten (5yo)
輝也 (てるや), the dad, is a stay at home dad, also an artist and showing his paintings in an exhibit, also did some daytrading
えな, teacher at the kindergarten
添島瑠々, one of the kids at the kindergarten
Chapter 3: Pink (from えな’s point of view, Tokyo)
萌香 (もえか), kid at the day care
泰子 (やすこ), teacher who’s been at the kindergarten for 15 years
マコ, cousin of えな, studied in Australia during highschool, now an English conversation teacher
Chapter 4: Blue (from 泰子’s point of view, Tokyo)
理沙 (りさ), 泰子’s friend, now married
ひろゆき, the husband, recently divorced
Chapter 5: Red (from 理沙’s point of view, Sydney)
Couple married for 50 years, daughter is ピー
Chapter 6: Grey (from 美佐子’s point of view, Sydney)
進一郎, her husband
ヒロコ、their daughter, nickname ピー, had her at 36歳, 36 years ago, has a lingerie shop on the same river as the Marble cafe (where 泰子 bought lingerie in chapter 4), 美佐子 has been to the coffee and had friendly chats with ワタル, thinks he might like a customer that wrote 秋の桜 on a Tanabata wish
幼なじみのあっちゃん, got married in Sydney 2 years ago
陽介, someone she liked / dated at work where she met her husband
A waitress, long black hair, wearing a green bracelet
Chapter 7: Green (from 優’s point of view, Sydney)
Was interviewed for(?) an article called ワーキングホリデー体験記 for CANVAS
Likes a writer called ＭＡＣＯ from CANVAS (see characters from chapter 3)
Sandwich seller older man (おじさん) with an orange apron at the botanical garden
Was told by the gallery owner of a gallery she was visiting in her home city of Kyoto while in her second year of college, that the green painting she liked was of the botanical garden in Sydney, a friend of his had painted it. The man (ＭＡＳＴＥＲ) had a big mole in the middle of his forehead and the exhibition was not of famous artists but of people the owner liked (see chapter 1 & 2)
man in late 20s who gave back her handkerchief that fell on the floor at the botanical garden
Chapter 8: Orange (from Ralph’s point of view, Sydney)
Ralph, former banker, now owner of a sandwich shop near the Royal Botanical Gardens
Cindy, went to the UK for 3 years, upon returning immediately went looking for Ralph
Chapther 9: Turquoise (Cindy’s point of view, Sydney)
Grace, plant expert and aromatherapy teacher
Mako, Cindy’s classmate
Character name readings
kanji
reading
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そこでは、輸入品の説明書や機械のマニュアルを翻訳するのが主な仕事だった
Haha, I have done that job too for a while (with French).
So Master is confirmed to come from Kyoto, nice. And it wasn’t 輝也 that drew the picture from Sydney’s botanical garden but Mark, makes more sense too.
Now I am guessing that the blond girl that had a Japanese pen-pal is called Mary.
Interesting chapter to get an extra layer into Grace’s character (and also the master). I am wondering if we will have a chapter from master’s or Grace’s POV? Or perhaps it will be the blond girl (Mary (?)) next. I do feel like I am starting to miss the details, though (for example, it took me quite some time to realize that the blond girl could be the penpal of Cocoa-san). I wonder how many of the subtleties I am missing now - it’s a bit difficult for me to keep track/remember all the characters we have been introduced to - I don’t even remember how the first few chapters ended by this point.
On a side note, I read a book last year where the narrator was also starting their career into translation, so I got really strong deja vu in this chapter.
Okay, definitely thought this chapter was going to be about Mako. Breaking the pattern, it is about someone completely new! But of course she is connected to previous characters.
page 171
幼なじみのピーちゃん
Me, out loud: yessss!
I really liked this chapter. All those different connections being tied in was like candied popcorn to my brain. Some of the connections felt a little bit shoehorned (like, if I was telling a story about my wedding, the part where my friend Grace told my other friend Piichan about blue being Mother Mary’s color and Piichan deciding to use that color in her handmade lingerie maybe wouldn’t be at the top of my list of anecdotes, but then again, maybe Atsuko is really invested in her friends’ creative lives).
It feels like we’re veering strongly in the direction of magical realism, which was not something I was expecting at all, but I kind of like it. I liked Atsuko’s ponderings about previous lives and the various meanings of “master”, and adored the moment when Mark told her he thinks he was a dog in his previous life.
speculation
Oh, I was thinking that Mako could be Cocoa-san, except that wouldn’t Mako be living in Sydnedy???
This felt like a lot of connections suddenly and I had to take some notes to get it straight
Summary
アツコ is married to Mark and lives in Sydney. Mark knows Master. Master helped her get her first translating gig.
アツコ’s best friend is Grace. She is also friends with ヒロコ and invited her to her wedding. ヒロコ has the lingerie shop near the cafe.
Grace and Cindy are also friends. And Cindy is friends with マコ.
アツコ meets Mary (who corresponds with マコ.) Mary says マコ saved her life somehow, something about a connection in a past life. So we can assume now yes it is マコ writing letters in the cafe.
I wonder if アツコ knows マコ due to the tangential / Grace and Cindy connection, but I don’t think we know that.
From the character overview ヒロコ:
I thought ヒロコ visited a friend in Sydney who got married 2 years ago, not that she got married in Sydney but? But that’s just from memory, but it would make more sense here that ヒロコ went to Sydney for アツコ’s wedding.
Meant to respond to that. Mako had lived in Sydney earlier but now teaches at an English school. We don’t know where she lives but Japan would make sense
I’m getting so confused trying to trace the network! (Trying to get from Piichan to Mako. It’s definitely impossible not to get lost! ) Might have to draw it to really get a grip on it.
Ah, thanks for pointing that out! That was actually supposed to be an entry about “あっちゃん” who is Piichan’s childhood friend who got married in Sydney. (We now know that’s アツコ.)
Thank you (again!) for pointing that out because when I was looking at it I figured out something else that … I just realized I can’t tell you about yet!!
Excited to hear your thoughts on the next chapter. I’m just a little over halfway on it at the moment.
Ah OK now I see what was meant in the character overview thanks!
Yeah the best I can do is ヒロコ is friends with アツコ who is friends with Grace → Cindy → マコ. On the other hand, the lingerie shop (ヒロコ) is close to the cafe (マコ) so maybe the book will reveal a simpler connection later. I’m intrigued what you noticed now so I’m jumping into the next chapter!
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it was a story from an anthology - from 
Good job! 
) Might have to draw it to really get a grip on it. 
