“I pay attention to the language of things in this world that don’t use words.”
Sweet Bean Paste, Durian Sukegawa
đź“–Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawađź’–
Sweet bean paste is half of dorayaki, a pastry that has the paste located in between two fluffy pancakes. Sentaro Tsujii runs a dorayaki shop and is doubtful that the woman who offers to work for him, Tokue, is able to work in such an environment with her age and the look of her gnarled hands.
A sweet, heartwarming read about friendship and secrets – just not heartwarming when the owner is around. I loved the way that the story was formed around food – dorayaki sound delicious and I love pastries so much. I may need to travel to Japan to try some authentic dorayaki (jk I unfortunately don’t have any money to go to Japan).
With the author’s note, I was so sad to learn that Japan actually had patients quarantined for their entire lives basically. I mean, once the science showed that patients weren’t contagious with Hansen’s Disease, people should’ve been fine to go live. It had to be a societal induced anxiety that the general public shared and influenced the Japanese government (or whoever was in charge of the isolation) to keep patients away from the general public. Which is no surprise, because we’re seeing this now.
Overall, a quick and touching story that fills you up with love, friendship, and a desire for pastries.
Read on and make sure to get your body outside today.
Alessandra is reading... 
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