Sweet Bean Paste

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. The novel is gentle and quiet, yet it deals with very heavy themes like prejudice, isolation, and despair. What was the overall emotional experience of reading this book for you? Did you find it more hopeful or heartbreaking?

2. Did you like the central metaphor of making sweet bean paste? Did it remind you of other stories where food plays a similar role in challenging social norms, like Joanne Harris’s Chocolat?

3. What character, scene, or idea from Sweet Bean Paste has stayed with you the most since you finished it? Why do you think it made such a lasting impression?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Tokue’s philosophy is centered on “Listening” to the world around her, from the adzuki beans to the cherry tree. How do you interpret this idea, and is there a practice in your own life that feels similar to this kind of deep, mindful attention?

2. Have you ever felt, like Sentaro, trapped by an obligation or a past mistake? How did his journey of finding purpose through his craft resonate with your own experiences of work or passion projects?

3. The bond between Sentaro, Tokue, and Wakana forms a kind of found family. What do you think each character provides for the others that was previously missing from their lives? Have you ever formed such close connections with people outside your family of origin?

4. Does Tokue’s assertion that we are born “to see and listen to the world” challenge your own ideas about what gives a life meaning or purpose (216)?

5. The novel contrasts work done out of necessity with work done as a form of spiritual practice. Has reading this story changed how you think about the daily tasks or routines in your own life?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. What does the novel reveal about the mechanics of how social stigma operates? How does the spread of rumors about Tokue, from Wakana’s mother to the shop’s customers, reflect real-world patterns of prejudice?

2. Tokue’s life was shaped by Japan’s former leprosy prevention laws, which enforced lifelong segregation. How does understanding this historical context deepen your appreciation of her resilience and her longing for connection?

3. What does Tokue’s philosophy suggest about the way that society often measures a person’s value by their usefulness or productivity? In what ways do you see this pressure in our own culture today?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. The story is told almost entirely from Sentaro’s limited perspective. How did this narrative choice affect your perception of Tokue, especially in the beginning? How might the story have felt different if it included Tokue’s point of view?

2. What is the significance of names in the novel? Why are two of the characters known by names that are not their birth names (Wakana and Tokue), while another significant character remains unnamed (the shop owner)?

3. The cherry tree outside the shop is a constant presence. How does its meaning evolve throughout the story, from a simple marker of the seasons to a symbol of memory, loss, and, ultimately, legacy?

4. In what ways do Sentaro and the shop’s owner represent opposing worldviews? How does their conflict over Tokue’s employment highlight the novel’s central themes?

5. What is the significance of imprisonment as a recurring motif? How does the novel connect Sentaro’s experience in prison and his debt to Tokue’s confinement in the sanatorium and to Wakana’s experiences in her difficult home?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Sentaro finds his own unique dorayaki recipe through a dream about salt-pickled cherry blossoms. If you were to invent a dorayaki that tells a story about your own life or experiences, what special ingredient would you use, and why?

2. Imagine that you are Sentaro a few years after the novel ends, selling dorayaki from a small stand. How would you describe the philosophy behind your craft to a new customer who asks what makes your dorayaki so special?

3. What do you think becomes of Wakana? How might she carry Tokue’s lessons with her into adulthood and apply them to her own life and ambitions?