Unalterable Pasts and Transformative Futures: Memory, Trauma, and the Temporal Boundaries of Identity in Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s “The Lovers.”
Unalterable Pasts and Transformative Futures: Memory, Trauma, and the Temporal Boundaries of Identity in Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s “The Lovers.”

Summary/Abstract: This paper explores trauma, memory, and time in Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s “The Lovers” (2019) from Before the Coffee Gets Cold, focusing on their role in shaping identity. Using speculative fiction, Kawaguchi follows Fumiko Kiyokawa, a woman dealing with the trauma of a sudden breakup, to show how trauma alters the perception of time. Central motifs like a cooling cup of coffee and a time-traveling café symbolize the disruption of linear time, illustrating how trauma traps people in a continuous present where past, present, and future blend. Fumiko’s attempt to revisit a key moment with her ex-boyfriend highlights the futility of changing the past for healing, emphasizing that while the past cannot be changed, its emotional impact can be reinterpreted. This paper argues that Kawaguchi challenges the Western view of time as linear by presenting a framework where emotional and psychological engagements with time complicate this perspective. The conclusion suggests that despite the unchangeable nature of past events, new insights can transform their significance, offering a path to emotional closure and a redefined sense of self, deepening our understanding of how trauma distorts time.

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