118: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Kawaguchi Toshikazu

118: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Kawaguchi Toshikazu


In Episode 118, Gen and Jette continue their series #BookstagramMadeMeDoIt with Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. It takes place in a Tokyo cafe that allows people to time travel…though there are a few rules. We’re always suckers for a time travel story and immediately fell in love with this one.

Show Notes

Before the Coffee Gets Cold actually began as a stage ply and was adapted into a novel in 2015.

There is also a film adaptation that came out in 2018, and in 2021 it was announced that the novel was being developed for television.

The cafe in the novel is called Funiculi Funicula after the song, which was apparently written to mark the opening of the first funicular railway on Mount Vesuvius. The more you know.

If you want more of us losing our minds over time travel particulars, check out one of our very early episodes (episode 9!) about Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman.

In our next episode we’ll be continuing with another series, Page to Screen, and talking about Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk alongside the 1999 film.

Other Books Mentioned

Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi