和菓子 工作坊(10)

Lovely experience, I have learned a lot, the garden is beautiful and the sweets were really tasty. 100% recommend

This was such a fun and educational experience. I got to learn and experience a unique cultural tradition but it felt very comfortable and accessible as a foreigner. The instruction was patient and friendly. Highly recommend.

Had so much fun at the workshop. The people are very kind and helpful. It also wasn’t hard to find!

They had videos explaining everything in English.

I joined this workshop at the Ikegami Baien Plum Garden in Tokyo’s Ota ward. Sayaka-san, who offers sweet-making workshops in Minami-Magome, greeted us at the garden entrance and guided us to a traditional house next to a koi pond, sharing fascinating details about the garden. We toured the wooden house with its different tearooms before settling in one for the class. Each of us had a personalized name card with kanji characters for our foreign names, a thoughtful touch. Before starting, Sayaka led us through a short meditation to help us focus. The class was conducted in English, and we received a color printout with each step to make cherry blossom-shaped wagashi. At the end, we sampled the sweets with matcha tea, which we prepared ourselves. We whipped the tea powder to the right foam level and poured it into beautiful tea cups. While sipping the tea and enjoying the sweets, we admired the autumn garden and listened to the sounds of water in the pond as the sun set. She was the sweetest teacher, explaining everything in detail in English on top of having prepared a color printout with all the necessary steps to make our sweets. She offered to take our photos and on top of the workshop, guided us through the garden pointing out the outstanding landscape and trees. A wonderful experience!