Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi is a beautifully imaginative and heartwarming novel that explores love, regret, and the quiet power of second chances.

Set in a small, hidden café in Tokyo, this story revolves around a curious urban legend: if you sit in a particular seat, you can travel back in time. But there are rules—strict ones. You cannot change the present, you must remain seated, and most importantly… you must return before your coffee gets cold.

Through four interconnected stories, we meet people carrying unspoken words, unresolved emotions, and lingering “what ifs.” As they journey into the past, not to change fate but to understand it, each encounter becomes a tender reflection on relationships, forgiveness, and closure.

Gentle, emotional, and quietly profound, Before the Coffee Gets Cold reminds us that even if we cannot rewrite our past, we can still change how we feel about it—and sometimes, that’s enough.