木曜日にはココアを Week 13

木曜日にはココアを

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Week 13

Start Date: July 5
Previous Part: 木曜日にはココアを Week 12
Next Part: 木曜日にはココアを Week 14

Reading:

Week Chapter Page Count
13 11 (Purple) ~17
List of characters from previous chapters

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

Chapter 9: Turquoise (Cindy’s point of view, Sydney)

  • Grace, plant expert and aromatherapy teacher
  • Mako, Cindy’s classmate

Chapter 10: Black (アツコ’s point of view, Sydney)

  • Atsuko, new character!, translator, penpal of Grace, childhood friend of Piichan
  • Mark, husband, bought painting from 優 / You
  • Blonde woman, spotted writing a letter to Mako, says Mako saved her life

Character name readings

kanji reading

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4 Likes

This was another, “uh… ok” week for me. I don’t know that there’s anything in particular that I can point to that felt weird about this week, but I guess I’m kinda feeling less connected to the other stories as time goes on. Maybe the last chapter will bring us home in a satisfying way, but right now I think the yellow - blue arc was my favorite, followed by probably red/green. I feel like there was a lot of really interesting potential for the rest of the stories from that point, but now I feel like we’re just walking around in the same path over and over and not really getting anywhere…

Anyway, despite my complaints, I really am excited to see what our last week has for us. (And I’m gonna do my best to not read ahead :innocent:)

2 Likes

Me too.

2 Likes

Agreed with the previous posts… the chapter per se was not bad, and I found it fast to read. But it didn’t feel like it added much…? Now we have only one week/story left and I have no idea how this will be wrapped up.

3 Likes

I read about a third of the chapter per day, but I thought it might be fun to post updates as I go anyway.

First third of chapter thoughts, up to Mary being ill, recommended to switch hospitals but she wants to stay in the one she’s in.

Summary

Ok, this is what we were waiting for! The Mary / マコ backstory, up to the illness that maybe made ココアさん cry all those chapters ago. I’m curious where this goes.

Also, hmm, I wonder if the 秋の桜 from a previous chapter is the jacaranda trees blooming in Australia (their spring, and Japan’s autumn)

3 Likes

Hmmm. :thinking:
The narrative didn’t talk about it, BUT I don’t hate that idea if it ends up being a loose end :joy:

2 Likes
page 183

マコ, re sakura: メアリーにも見せたいわ
Me: it’s happeniiiiiing!!!

I was starting to figure out the connections. I’m can’t quite remember why this was the specific point at which it started clicking together for me, but it got me really excited.

Weird to read about an Australian thinking about あいづち. In American English aizuchi is a concept that doesn’t really exist, but I wonder if maybe it does in Australian English because of their proximity to and cultural exchange with Japan?

page 286

変わったのは、ボールペン書きだったのが、私が贈った万年筆になったことくらいだ。

I wasn’t able to understand/decode this sentence.

a connection

THE COCOA STAIN!

(Got really excited about being able to remember that there was something about a cocoa stain in the first chapter.)

more connections

I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING.

秋の桜 is Mako’s wish that Mary will be able to fulfill her promise and come see the sakura in April (Australia’s fall). :face_holding_back_tears:

thoughts

I’m a bit said that this chapter didn’t land for so many. For me it felt like it explained so much about the first chapter. We’re finally learning about ココアさん’s backstory!

And I liked the way that the idea of of previous lives came up again in Mary’s anesthesia dream.

This is a bit rambly, but:

In the previous chapter Atsuko was thinking that maybe Grace had been a Japanese person in a previous life, and that got me thinking … Technically I don’t think I believe in previous lives … But at the same time, when people talk about previous lives a part of me accepts it completely as true. Emotionally true, maybe? Whether or not it’s scientifically true doesn’t really feel that important. But Atsuko’s thought about Grace having been Japanese in a previous life made me think about myself maybe having been Japanese in a previous life, and part of me feels like that is very possible.

I’m not an expert in magical realism, but I feel like this book is a strong example of a Japanese take on magical realism. It really resonates for me.

2 Likes