Coffee, Tea and Nagging at Japan’s Anti-procrastination Cafe

Takuya Kawai, the owner of the Manuscript Writing Cafe which is designed for writers who are working on a deadline, shows a slip of paper on which customers write down goals and the amount of time they plan to finish it in along with a stamp that clears the goal of a customer at the cafe in Tokyo, Japan, April 21, 2022. Picture taken on April 21, 2022. (Reuters)
Takuya Kawai, the owner of the Manuscript Writing Cafe which is designed for writers who are working on a deadline, shows a slip of paper on which customers write down goals and the amount of time they plan to finish it in along with a stamp that clears the goal of a customer at the cafe in Tokyo, Japan, April 21, 2022. Picture taken on April 21, 2022. (Reuters)
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Coffee, Tea and Nagging at Japan’s Anti-procrastination Cafe

Takuya Kawai, the owner of the Manuscript Writing Cafe which is designed for writers who are working on a deadline, shows a slip of paper on which customers write down goals and the amount of time they plan to finish it in along with a stamp that clears the goal of a customer at the cafe in Tokyo, Japan, April 21, 2022. Picture taken on April 21, 2022. (Reuters)
Takuya Kawai, the owner of the Manuscript Writing Cafe which is designed for writers who are working on a deadline, shows a slip of paper on which customers write down goals and the amount of time they plan to finish it in along with a stamp that clears the goal of a customer at the cafe in Tokyo, Japan, April 21, 2022. Picture taken on April 21, 2022. (Reuters)

Writers facing deadlines go to Tokyo's "Manuscript Writing Cafe" with an understanding - they can't leave until their work is done.

Oh, and there's prodding thrown in to make sure they buckle down and finish.

The clean, well-lit place in western Tokyo has 10 seats reserved for writers, editors, manga artists and anybody else grappling with the written word and deadlines. Coffee and tea are unlimited and self-serve, and high-speed Wi-Fi and docking ports are installed at every seat.

Customers enter, write down their names, writing goals and the time they plan to finish. They can also ask for progress checks as they work, with "mild" just asking them if they have finished as they pay and "normal" being a check-in every hour. Those choosing "hard" will feel silent pressure from staff standing frequently behind them.

Owner Takuya Kawai, 52 and a writer himself, said he hoped the strict rules would help people focus.

"The cafe went viral on social media and people are saying the rules are scary or that it feels like being watched from behind," the genial Kawai said, displaying a board with the names of customers who completed their tasks and left.

"But actually instead of monitoring, I'm here to support them ... As a result what they thought would take a day actually was completed in three hours, or tasks that usually take three hours were done in one."

The cafe charges 130 yen ($1.01) for the first 30 minutes and then 300 yen ($2.34) every successive hour. Though a few people have stayed past the official closing time, they have all eventually gotten their work done.

Emiko Sasaki, 37 and a blog writer, said she relished the chance to be free of pesky social media and phone calls.

"It's good to be able to concentrate on writing," she said, completing her goal of three blog articles in three hours.

The cafe, originally a livestreaming space, was hit badly by the coronavirus pandemic, but Kawai is now hopeful as word of mouth spreads about its new format.

"I don't know what kind of work might be born, but I'm proud to be able to offer my support so that things written here can be published to the whole world," he said.



US-Russian Crew of 3 Arrives at International Space Station

In this photo taken from video released by Roscosmos space corporation, a Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft with NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, lifts off for the International Space Station from the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (Roscosmos space corporation, via AP)
In this photo taken from video released by Roscosmos space corporation, a Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft with NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, lifts off for the International Space Station from the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (Roscosmos space corporation, via AP)
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US-Russian Crew of 3 Arrives at International Space Station

In this photo taken from video released by Roscosmos space corporation, a Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft with NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, lifts off for the International Space Station from the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (Roscosmos space corporation, via AP)
In this photo taken from video released by Roscosmos space corporation, a Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft with NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, lifts off for the International Space Station from the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (Roscosmos space corporation, via AP)

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and two Russian crewmates arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday on board a Russian spacecraft.
A Soyuz booster rocket lifted off as scheduled from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan to put the Soyuz MS-27 carrying the trio in orbit. They docked at the station just over three hours later.
Kim and Russia’s Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky are scheduled to spend about eight months at the space outpost, The Associated Press reported.
NASA said Kim will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare the crew for future space missions and provide benefits to people on Earth. A native of Los Angeles, Kim is a US Navy lieutenant commander and dual-designated naval aviator and flight surgeon.
Kim, Ryzhikov and Zubritsky are joining NASA astronauts Don Pettit, Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s astronaut Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and Kirill Peskov on the space outpost.