Days at the Torunka Cafe – 9781786587367

Tucked away on a narrow side street in Tokyo is the Torunka Cafe, a neighbourhood nook where the passersby are as likely to be local cats as tourists. Its regulars include Chinatsu Yukimura, a mysterious young woman who always leaves behind a napkin folded into the shape of a ballerina; Hiroyuki Numata, a middle-aged man who’s returned to the neighbourhood searching for the happy life he once gave up; and Shizuku, the cafe owner’s teenage daughter, who is still coming to terms with her sister’s death as she falls in love for the first time. While the Torunka Cafe serves up a perfect cup of coffee, it provides these sundry souls with nourishment far more lasting.

Satoshi Yagisawa brilliantly illuminates the periods in our lives where we feel lost – and how we find our way again.