Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Toshikazu Kawaguchi is a Japanese author whose Before the Coffee Gets Cold series has become one of the most popular Japanese novel series of recent years and an international phenomenon, with translations in dozens of languages. The books centre on a café in Tokyo where customers can, under strictly defined conditions, travel back in time — but only for as long as a cup of coffee stays warm.

The conceit is beautifully simple, and Kawaguchi uses it to explore the things people leave unsaid, the regrets that accumulate in ordinary lives, and the possibility — or impossibility — of changing what has been. The books are genuinely moving rather than merely whimsical, and their combination of Japanese café aesthetics, time-travel magic, and emotional directness has proven irresistible to readers worldwide.