🌸 Tokue is in her seventies, but she asked for a job at Doraharu. Sentaro couldn't afford a staff, but Tokue is happy to make bean paste for half the pay; she has been making bean paste for the last fifty years. Tokue's bean paste is indeed sweet and delicious, far exceeding the factory-made ones Sentaro used to buy for his dorayaki. So, he took her in.
🌸 Tokue's been paste brought happy customers to Donaharu, and her sweet gentle presence brought peace and comfort to Sentaro, and a school girl who's a regular to Donaharu. However, there are people who don't approve of Tokue's presence, due to her bitter and secret past. And this secret, when it was revealed (which threatened to ruin Donaharu business), quite blew me away. I didn't know that that thing still exists, and is still a concern in Japan in the 21th century. And this changed completely the direction of the story.
🌸 The seemingly sweet premise the story has been woven with, was slightly touched with bitterness of Tokue's suffering, resulting to a deeper taste. As Sentaro said a few times, Tokue has been through a lot. Yet, she maintains her positive attitude towards human kind, thanks to her embracing the power of nature. In the end, this is a compelling, poignant story, wrapped in the sweetness of Japanese cuisine and its street food stalls. My first five stars read of the year, and now I'm craving for dorayaki! I read the audiobook, narrated, just as beautifully as it was written, by Cindy Kay.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Read for:
Japanese Literature Challenge # 18
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