Before the Coffee Gets Cold

The original Japanese version of Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold hit the shelves in 2015, with the English translation by Geoffrey Trousselot being published in 2019 by Picador. In 2018, the novel was adapted into a film called Café Funiculi Funicula, and in October 2021, SK Global and the Jackal Group were set to develop a television series based on the novel.

Prior to debuting as a novelist with this book, author Kawaguchi was an esteemed playwright in his native Japan. He adapted the book from the commercially successful play of the same title, which won the 2013 Suginami Drama Festival prize. Kawaguchi has since written a sequel Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café, which introduces new characters to the same café. It was published in Japanese in 2017 and in English in 2021. His third novel, Before Your Memory Fades (2018), will be published in English in fall of 2022 and describes a time-traveling café set in Japan’s Hokkaido Prefecture.

American reviewers of the novel have had mixed responses. Both the Christian Science Monitor’s Terry Hong and Chicago Review of Books’ Ian J. Battaglia remarked that Kawaguchi’s style, as translated by Trousselot, is often repetitive and inelegant. Battaglia goes further, stating that “the book is written in a way deeply reminiscent of stage direction” and that Kawaguchi struggles with exposition, as he “often resorts to authorial asides, in which he lays bare the weight of his situations and the depth of his characters” (Battaglia, Ian J. “Working Within Limits in ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’.” Chicago Review of Books, November 19, 2020). While this approach may be useful in the context of guiding actors in their interpretation of stage characters, it goes against the American literary preference for “show don’t tell” in narrative fiction, which promotes action over exposition. However, Battaglia praises Kawaguchi’s handling of relationships. Hong lauds Kawaguchi’s ability to “find lasting emotional resonance” as “interwoven into what initially feels like a whimsical escape are existential conundrums of love and loss, family and freedom, life and death” (Hong, Terry. “A Chance To Redo the Past in ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’.” The Christian Science Monitor, November 19, 2020). Kawaguchi’s focus on characterization over literary style makes his appeal more commercial than that of his experimental compatriots such as Haruki Murakami.

This guide uses the Kindle edition of the novel, translated by Geoffrey Trousselot and first published by Picador in 2019.

Plot Summary

Tokyo café Funiculi Funicula opened in 1874. Despite the addition of electricity, it retains a timeless quality, situated in a windowless basement with dim sepia lamps and clocks that tell the wrong time. The café has become famous because those who sit in a particular seat and drink its special coffee can time travel. There are strict limits, however: People can only travel back to the café and meet people who have already been (or will one day be) there. Prospective time travelers must also wait for the seat to be available, which only occurs once a day, when the ghost woman who otherwise occupies it gets up to go to the bathroom. Most importantly, going back to the past will not change the present but only offer a different understanding of it. The café’s staff includes chef Nagare Tokita, his cheerful wife Kei, and enigmatic young waitress Kazu, who performs the ritual coffee ceremony.

In the first story “The Lovers,” Fumiko Kiyokawa initially wants to go back in time to persuade her boyfriend Goro Katada to marry her instead of going to America for his dream job. She is dejected to learn this is impossible, but decides to go anyway, as she believes Goro needs to hear that she wants him to stay. Impatient, Fumiko tries to force the ghost woman out of her seat, and the woman curses her. As Kazu reverses the curse, she warns Fumiko that the ghost woman became trapped in the seat after she let the coffee grow cold on her journey to the past. In the past, Fumiko struggles to overcome her old pride until she learns that Goro, who has a noticeable burn scar, was insecure in the relationship. Goro, who assumed Fumiko would run off with a more attractive man, chose to leave the country. At the last minute, Fumiko learns that Goro wants her to wait three years for his return. Although Fumiko could not change the past, she leaves the café hopeful.

In Part 2, “Husband and Wife,” café regular and nurse Kohtake sits in the time-traveling chair in order to access the letter that her husband, Fusagi, meant to give her before he lost his memory due to Alzheimer’s disease. When Kohtake goes back in time, she learns that Fusagi recognized her as being from the future and that he already knew of the progression of his Alzheimer’s, although he had not yet experienced the worst of its symptoms. The letter he meant to give her offered Kohtake the space to leave the relationship if it ever became too much for her. Kohtake is profoundly moved and resolves to continue being Fusagi’s wife. She bonds with him in the café as they both peruse the travel magazines that show gardens they have visited together.

“The Sisters” draws upon an event that happened in Part 2. Café regular Hirai’s younger sister Kumi visited the café and wrote a letter to her. Hirai, assuming the letter would berate her for neglecting familial duty, refused to meet with Kumi. Because Hirai sought independence in Tokyo, where she could wear flashy clothes and run a late-night snack bar, Kumi had to take over management of the family inn; thus, Hirai assumes her sister resents her. When Hirai learns that Kumi died in a car accident on the way back from her visit to Tokyo, Hirai feels compelled to travel back in time to ask for her sister’s forgiveness. On her journey to the past, she is overwhelmed by Kumi’s love for her and learns that Kumi wanted both of them to run the inn together. Hirai promises Kumi that she will return home, but overcome with grief, she nearly lets her coffee get cold. Kei, however, reminds her of her promise. Hirai returns to the present, leaves Tokyo, and mends her broken relationship with her parents.

The last story, “Mother and Child,” concerns Kei. Kei has been in and out of the hospital her entire life owing to a weak heart. Her new pregnancy is already taking its toll on her body, and doctors have warned that if she goes through with it, she risks losing both her own life and that of her baby. Still, Kei is determined to become a mother. Knowing that she will likely not live to see her child grow up, she tries to go 10 years into the future, which would allow her to meet her child. When she travels to the future, Kei is confused by the presence of a 15-year-old girl. She thinks that the time travel has not worked. However, after a phone call from Nagare and the arrival of an older Fumiko, Kei learns she has accidentally traveled 15 years into the future. Additionally, the 15-year-old girl is her daughter, Miki. Initially, mother and daughter are both overwhelmed and struggle to connect. Eventually, Miki reassures Kei that while she misses her, she is grateful for her life. She relies on the love of her father and Kazu, in addition to Fumiko and Goro, who have stepped in to run the café. Kei is grateful and checks into the hospital when she returns to the present. The following spring, she delivers a healthy baby girl.