I had a bit of a challenge naming this post. It is a bit of a review of two novels by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, “Before the coffee gets cold” and “Before we forget kindness”. These novels are part of a five (at last count) book set originally written and published in Japan then translated for reading in the United States. I have a bit of concern about calling them novels because, at least in my mind, each book is a small set of short stories. In either case, I found them enjoyable and look forward to reading the other three books in the set in the future.

Rather than review them in detail and spoil the ending for other readers, I instead decided to pose a question to others. A question that is core to the reading of these books. Would you, if given the chance, return to a time or place in the past?

Of course, there are certain rules that you must follow.

• While you are in the past, you can do nothing that would change the present. In other words, you cannot change events. Everything that happened then and since then will still occur.
• You can only depart from a specific place and return to that same place within the time limits described below.
• You will be given a hot cup of coffee before your departure to the past and you must return to the present before the coffee gets cold. If not, you will be cursed from there forward.

There may be other rules, but they will be explained to you before you travel to the past.

If you say you will return to the past your place of departure will be a specific chair in a small coffee shop, or perhaps a tearoom, off the main streets in a city in Japan. You must be sitting in a specific chair and return to the same chair.

It sounds so simple but there is a problem. The chair you must use is constantly occupied by a cursed woman all day, every day. The only time it is empty is when she must get up to use the restroom. So, there is limited opportunity for your travel and others may also be waiting to depart.

If you can be seated in the chair while it is vacant, you will be given a hot cup of coffee. This is the measure of the length of your visit. Remember, you must return before the coffee gets cold.

And then, the travel can begin.

Each of the short stories in the books is centered around someone who has chosen to travel back in time and the results of this travel. If you have the opportunity, they are short reads which you will enjoy.