This is one of those tearjerkers that Japanese writers seem to do so well, but with an ingenious premise — that patrons of a Tokyo cafe can take a trip back in time under certain conditions — that they cannot do anything that alters the present, that they can only travel back in time and stay in a certain seat, they can only meet people who visited the cafe, and they can only stay as long as the coffee stays warm. Under such strict parameters, why would anyone bother? For love, of course. In four chapters, we experience different types of love — between boyfriend and girlfriend, between husband and wife, between sisters and between a mother and daughter. A good brew, all in all.

No. 8 of 50 books I intend to read and review in 2024.

I’m Patrick Sherriff, an Englishman who survived 13 years working for newspapers in the US, UK and Japan. Between teaching English lessons at my conversation school in Abiko, Japan, I write and illustrate textbooks for non-native speakers of English, release Hana Walker mystery novels, short stories, paint, and write essays and Our Man in Abiko, a monthly  newsletter   highlighting good writing in English, often about about Japan, art, crime fiction and teaching.