Sweet Bean Paste

In the fall, Sentaro and Wakana walk to Tenshoen National Sanatorium. Their path follows a prickly holly hedge, which Wakana explains was intended to prevent patients from escaping. Inside, they are struck by the sanatorium’s heavy silence. An elderly man cheerfully cycling past challenges Sentaro’s preconceptions about the residents.

They grow anxious seeing workers in protective clothing, but their tension subsides when they see a group of residents laughing together. Inside the co-op shop, they find Tokue waiting for them. Sentaro confronts his own prejudice about meeting the people who live there.

Tokue greets them and agrees to take Marvy. She explains that the workers in protective gear are from a food delivery service; their attire is a remnant of outdated protocols. She also shares that she was married to a man she met at the sanatorium who has since passed away. She wipes her nose with a tissue and carefully disposes of it while commenting on misconceptions about how leprosy could be spread.

At Wakana’s prompting, Tokue tells her story. When she was sent to Tenshoen at 14, her family scrubbed her name from records; officials confiscated her belongings (including a beautiful new blouse her mother had embroidered) and forced her to adopt a new name.