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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many times did the man ask Kazu to be his girlfriend before she agreed?

2. Where is the time-traveling café located?

3. What season does the bell cricket herald?

4. What quality is conveyed by the "sepia" lighting in the café?

5. Which best describes Shuichi's reaction when he returns from the restroom and sees the much-older Gohtaro?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Shuichi's and Gohtaro's lives take different paths after college?

2. Before Gohtaro goes into the past, what is his plan to deal with the revelations that will occur upon Haruka's marriage?

3. How did Kyoko end up becoming a regular at the café, and why does her son not come with her anymore?

4. Why is Kazu especially concerned with whether Kyoko's brother understands the rule about not being able to change the present?

5. Describe the atmosphere of the time-traveling café.

6. How did Gohtaro end up raising Shuichi's daughter?

7. When Shuichi tells Haruka in his message, "If it is for you, I can do anything," what does this foreshadow (36)?

8. What has fatherhood been like for Gohtaro?

9. What item does Kazu offer the ghost, and how do her emotions change during this encounter?

10. What happens to Gohtaro physically when Kazu pours the coffee?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Now that you are aware of how difficult it is to translate Japanese literature into English, consider which specific passages of Tales from the Café might have proven especially difficult for Trousselot to translate. For instance, when Kyoko is introduced on page 7, Trousselot writes, "Obviously caring little for formalities with strangers, she spoke to Gohtaro casually, as if he was a familiar face." Do you imagine that this sentence was necessary in the original, Japanese, text? How did Kawaguchi probably indicate this aspect of Kyoko's character? Even with this explicit explanation, does the English text really convey the impact that Kyoko's unexpected and unconventional language probably conveyed in the original? Also, consider the many subtle, elliptical conversations between Nagare and Kazu: what might be missing from the English translation that the original Japanese could easily convey? Write an essay that considers these and other aspects of translation in Tales from the Café. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text, and be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

In Tales from the Café, the cherry blossoms and bell cricket function as symbols of spring and fall. In a later story, a Christmas tree and Christmas cake indicate that winter has come. On the surface, the Christmas tree and cake seem very different from the other two seasonal symbols--they are predominantly associated with Western culture and Christianity, and are associated with a specific holiday rather than with the natural change of seasons. Do some research into the role of Christmas in Japanese culture and then write an essay that demonstrates why these symbols have more in common than it first appears. Show how Christmas symbolism, because of its particular history in Japan, is appropriate in a collection that uses seasonal symbols to stress the cyclical nature of hope and despair. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text, and be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Sometimes a setting is so significant that it becomes almost like a character in a story. Why is the Funiculi Funicula Café so important to the action of this text? In what sense is it more consistent than any of the collection's human characters? What does the juxtaposition of the café's consistency with the fleeting nature of human life contribute to the text's meaning? Write an essay in which you analyze the significance of the café itself. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text, and be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

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