In the kitchen, as was her custom during Higan, his mother was hard at work with the maid, making ohagi, rice cakes covered with sweet red-bean paste, sesame, and other treats. Impressions are not something that can be manufactured like rice cakes. An impression like this came floating into Copper’s head, but it wasn’t the kind of proverb you could use to start a brand-new notebook. Eventually Copper gave up trying to write an impression and stood up.
— How do you live? the book.