Wakana, a school girl whom Sentaro has befriended, eventually suggests that they go and visit Tokue at the sanatorium where she and other patients were forced to stay until the 1996 repeal of the 1953 Leprosy Prevention Law.

When Tokue dies of pneumonia a few months later, she leaves Sentaro her own bean paste making equipment, as well as a cassette recording intended for him and Wakana.

In it, Tokue stresses that a person's worth lies not in their career, but simply in their being, and also that joy comes from taking in the sensory experiences of the world that surrounds us.

The film centres primarily around the themes of freedom and joy, suggesting that by embracing our sensory experiences we may attain richer, more rewarding lives.

[9] This aspect of the film ties in with the director's earlier work, "A consistent underlying concern of [which] has been the unspoken bond between man and his environment".

The website's critical consensus states:" Sweet Bean's deliberate pace demands patience, but the satisfying simplicity of its story -- and Kirin Kiki's absorbing performance -- yield an array of riches well worth the wait".

[15] However, the Observer's chief film critic, Wendy Ide, writes in The Guardian "the quality of the dignified, understated performances here prevents the picture from tipping into cloying sentimentality" and gives it 4 out of 5 stars.

"[16] Odie Henderson for Roger Ebert gave Sweet Bean 3 out of 4 stars, calling it "a gentle, unassuming work" that "has the potential for arthouse sleeper status.

"[17] The Irish Time's Tara Brady gives it 4 out of 5 stars and writes "This film is unabashedly sentimental and defined by themes that might, in other movies, seem cornier and syrupier than a bowl of Frosties: find your own path, it's never too late, all things are connected.