In a tea room you watch the host's otemae (tea preparation), enjoy wagashi (Japanese sweets) and matcha, and then try whisking matcha yourself. Beginners and overseas travelers can easily join in Uji, home of Uji tea, in Kyoto city, in Kanazawa with its deep-rooted tea culture, and in Ginza, Tokyo.
Sado (the way of tea) is a traditional Japanese art that treasures the seasons and thoughtful hospitality through the series of movements involved in boiling water, whisking tea and serving it to guests. In Kanazawa, the tea ceremony and crafts flourished together under the patronage of the Maeda family of the Kaga domain, while Uji has supported tea culture as a producer of fine tea. In a session you learn the basic etiquette while also discovering the meaning behind the hanging scroll and the utensils.
Places introduced on official tourism sites of local governments and tourism associations. Check each official site for prices, hours and booking.
📍 Kanazawa, Ishikawa
A tea room in a machiya townhouse in the Higashi Chaya District offering a beginner-friendly tea ceremony where you taste both koicha (thick tea) and usucha (thin tea) with wagashi. You can also relax over tea at table seating.
💡 Sessions end when the wagashi run out, so go early in the day or book ahead to be safe.
📍 Kanazawa, Ishikawa
An experience where you have the tea room of a century-old Kanazawa machiya to yourself and learn the tea ceremony and graceful Japanese manners. There are also plans where you attend the tea gathering in kimono, or combine it with incense making.
💡 Pair it with a stroll through the Higashi Chaya District to enjoy the machiya streetscape as well.
📍 Kanazawa, Ishikawa
A private tea ceremony experience for one group at a time, where you learn basic etiquette such as entering and leaving the Japanese room, greetings and handling the tea bowl, and whisk your second bowl yourself. Beginners and families with children are welcome.
💡 Reservations are required; bookings are treated as requests, and confirmation arrives later.
📍 Chuo, Tokyo
A studio in Ginza offering Japanese cultural experiences such as tea ceremony, calligraphy and kimono dressing. In the tea ceremony you enter the tea room through the nijiriguchi (small crawl-through entrance), watch the instructor's otemae and learn how to enjoy the sweets and tea.
💡 You can also book it in combination with other programs such as calligraphy or kimono dressing.
📍 Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto
Offers tea ceremony plans in kimono as well as in your everyday clothes, and a plan combining wagashi making with the tea ceremony, with guidance in English.
💡 With a kimono plan, you can head straight out for a stroll around town after being dressed.
📍 Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto
A tea ceremony venue near the Yasaka Pagoda and Ninenzaka, where you choose your favorite Kiyomizu ware matcha bowl, watch a demonstration, then whisk your own matcha and enjoy it with wagashi.
💡 Its location makes it easy to combine with sightseeing at Kiyomizu-dera or Kodai-ji.
📍 Uji, Kyoto
A city-run tea house built to promote Uji tea and the tea ceremony, named for the way it faces the Phoenix Hall of Byodo-in. You can savor authentic Uji tea with seasonal sweets, and try preparing matcha or sencha yourself.
💡 Reservations are required, and tea tickets are picked up at the Uji City Tourist Center across the street.
PRKlookKyoto Ninenzaka Tea Ceremony with Chair SeatingWatch the otemae in a tea room with chair seating, then whisk your own Uji matcha and enjoy it with wagashi.View on Klook
PRKlookKyoto Kiyomizu Tea Ceremony with Kimono RentalGet dressed in kimono with simple hair styling, experience the tea ceremony, then explore the Kiyomizu area as you are.View on Klook
PRKlookTokyo Asakusa Tea Ceremony at Table SeatingAt a venue near Senso-ji and the Skytree, whisk and enjoy matcha at table seating with guidance in English.View on Klook
👘 7 placesTokyo & Around ・ Chubu & Hokuriku ・ Kansai
At a kimono rental shop you pick a pattern you love, get dressed by the staff, and head straight out to stroll historic streets. Specialist shops cluster in towns with old streetscapes, temples and shrines, such as Asakusa in Tokyo, Higashiyama in Kyoto, the Higashi Chaya District in Kanazawa and Kamakura. Many shops also offer yukata in summer, so you can enjoy a different look each season.
🍡 6 placesChubu & Hokuriku ・ Kansai ・ Chugoku & Shikoku
Learn from wagashi artisans and instructors as you shape jo-namagashi (fine fresh confections) such as nerikiri (sweet bean paste confections) with your own hands. You can easily join in Kyoto and Kanazawa, where tea culture runs deep, and in Matsue and Izumo, known as wagashi towns.
🍣 5 placesTokyo & Around ・ Chubu & Hokuriku ・ Kansai
Under the guidance of chefs and instructors, you make nigiri and rolled sushi or hand-made soba noodles yourself and enjoy them on the spot. Classes are easy to join everywhere, from city-center studios in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto to soba country such as Togakushi in Nagano and Nikko in Tochigi.
🖌️ 6 placesTokyo & Around ・ Kansai ・ Chugoku & Shikoku
Using a brush and ink, you practice your favorite kanji or your own name on hanshi practice paper, then write a final copy on shikishi (a decorative square board). Studios in Ginza and Yushima in Tokyo and in a Kyoto machiya townhouse welcome beginners and overseas travelers, while in Nara and Kumano, Hiroshima, you can also get hands-on with making the ink and brushes that calligraphy depends on.
💐 5 placesTokyo & Around ・ Kansai
Arrange seasonal flowers and branches in a vase and discover a uniquely Japanese sense of beauty through ikebana. You can try it at places that welcome beginners and overseas travelers, including Ikenobo at Rokkakudo in Kyoto, considered the birthplace of ikebana, the Sogetsu Kaikan in Tokyo and small studios in Osaka.
🏺 6 placesTokyo & Around ・ Chubu & Hokuriku ・ Chugoku & Shikoku ・ Kyushu
In the regions where artisans have handed down their skills, you can try pottery, indigo dyeing, gold leaf application, Edo Kiriko cut glass and papermaking with your own hands. From Mashiko and Arita ceramics to Edo Kiriko in Tokyo, Kanazawa gold leaf, Mino washi and Tokushima indigo, workshops and public facilities around Japan welcome first-timers.
🥁 5 placesTokyo & Around ・ Chubu & Hokuriku ・ Kansai
Use your whole body to beat taiko drums large and small, and feel the sound and rhythm resonate deep in your chest. Besides dedicated studios in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, you can try it on Sado Island, home base of the taiko performing group Kodo, and in Hamamatsu, home to a long-established taiko maker.
🧘 6 placesTokyo & Around ・ Chubu & Hokuriku ・ Kansai
Zazen (seated meditation) in a Zen temple and shakyo, copying a sutra one character at a time, are temple experiences that let you calm your mind in the middle of your travels. Temples that welcome first-timers include Eiheiji, head temple of the Soto school; Engakuji and Kenchoji, among the Five Great Zen Temples of Kamakura; Tofukuji and Ryosokuin in Kyoto; and Yakushiji in Nara.
🛕 6 placesTohoku ・ Chubu & Hokuriku ・ Kansai
A shukubo is lodging for pilgrims visiting a temple or shrine, where you can savor shojin ryori (Buddhist vegetarian cuisine), join the morning service and experience a day in a place of prayer. You can stay in long-standing centers of faith such as Koyasan in Wakayama, Mt. Hiei in Shiga, Zenkoji and Togakushi in Nagano, and Mt. Haguro of the Dewa Sanzan in Yamagata.
Place information is based on official tourism sites of local governments and tourism associations and on each place’s official site. Experiences and availability may change.
Checked: 2026-10-16
