“Sweet Bean Paste” Durien Sukegawa (2015) Review | sweetness of life

Sweet Bean Paste
Durien Sukegawa, 2015
あん
ドリアン助川
Read in 2025.12
check price on amazon.com


✔ Feel good Japanese literature
✔ Elderly woman living with social injustice
✔ Meaning of life


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★ It’s often said that being useful for others is the meaning of life, but maybe, the meaning of life, the meaning itself, is simply to feel “ah this is good”. The happiness that the humble sweet beans can bring will give you that feeling.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

It’s so warm, like a hug, you feel the warmth that’s probably happiness.

It’s often said that being useful for others is the meaning of life, but I’m not sure, isn’t it more like a feeling of significance living in a society, and that’s a great thing.
But maybe, the meaning of life, the meaning itself, is simply to feel “ah this is good”

Here the main characters had all suffered, and they met, and they shared the same sweet beans.
Tokue suffered from leprosy the disease, and after recovering, she suffered from the society’s prejudice and ignorance.
I myself also didn’t know that there were facilities until the 90s in Japan, and that is the horror of ignorance and I’m part of it.

By chance, I made my first sweet beans last year, and I also made dorayaki several times after that.
I found a “quick and easy recipe” online, “quick” but you’d still need to soak the beans from the night before and cook for several hours.
I’d love writing about my first delicious, slightly hard, sweet beans I made all day here, but I instead I tell you the feeling was definitely the happiness.
The happiness that the humble sweet beans can bring, something that takes hours to make but needs 2 seconds to eat, to say, ah this is good.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Sweet Bean Paste: The International Bestseller

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Sweet Bean Paste: The International Bestseller

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
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