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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Prior to Kiyoshi's trip into the past, how many people have used the café to travel back in time to meet someone who has died?
(a) 7.
(b) 41.
(c) 17.
(d) 4.

2. Where did Kiyoshi and Kimiko meet?
(a) High school.
(b) Work.
(c) College.
(d) Through friends.

3. Which is the best description of Kazu's reaction when she realizes that Yukio has left the café?
(a) Scornful.
(b) Frantic.
(c) Amused.
(d) Unflappable.

4. What order is Kyoko waiting for at the beginning of the story?
(a) Daifuku for her husband.
(b) Her usual coffee.
(c) A Christmas cake.
(d) A to-go breakfast.

5. What is the primary intent of the passage in which Miki comes out to pour the coffee and Nagare questions her about her readiness for the task?
(a) To show what an anxious parent the loss of his wife has made Nagare.
(b) To show the deep love and tenderness Nagare feels toward his daughter.
(c) To show that Nagare is unreasonably critical of Miki because of his high standards.
(d) To show how joyful Nagare is to see his daughter growing up and becoming responsible.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the source of most of Kiyoshi's information about the people who have traveled back in time in the café?

2. What detail does the narrator offer about the wholesaler that foreshadows his eventual disappearance?

3. Just before he lifts his coffee to drink it and return to his own time, what does Kurata hand to Miki?

4. Whose is Kiyoshi referencing when he talks about the dying man who travels into the future?

5. Why does Yukio leave the café to make his phone call?

Short Essay Questions

1. A year prior to the events of "Husband and Wife," what does Kiyoshi see in the café and what does it make him realize is true?

2. How did Yukio's perception of his own circumstances change over the years of his apprenticeship?

3. When Miki writes her wish that Nagare would become happy, how does Nagare react?

4. When Yukio is discouraged about his future, what keeps him working toward becoming a potter?

5. What is similar about Asami's decision to meet Kurata and the advice Kurata gave her after her miscarriage?

6. What news about Yukio does the reader learn in "Lovers"?

7. What is Fumiko's relationship to the café?

8. What happened when Kimiko tried to intervene in the mugging incident?

9. How did Kinuyo prove her devotion to her son over and over during his childhood?

10. How does Yaeko Hirai's story inspire Kiyoshi to make a change in the way he has been living his life?

(see the answer keys)

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