I joined one of Hub Japan’s activity “Support for spending time at local Izakaya that has no English menu” !!

There are many nice restaurants where we(Japanese local) go in Tokyo.
Unfortunately, most of them have no English menus. So we take you there to help you!!
Also  we can talk about our culture:)
The guests of that day were from America!!

First we went to an Izakaya in Shinjuku. We ordered Oden which eaten in winter.
 
Then we took them to Omoide Yokocho.

Omoide Yokocho is close to West exit of Shinjuku station. There are narrow alleys and small restaurants. We decided to stop by a Yakitori restaurant.
They show you what they have not menu, the actual food so that you are able to understand easily and order what you want.
It was interesting to eat and drink in a tiny restaurants!!

We’re ordering from what they’re showing us!

After that, we went to Golden gai as well!! It was a bit of walking to get to East side of Shinjuku.
There are also narrow alleys like only one person can walk. Many small bars are there too.
Most of bars charge 500 yen to 1000 yen for the seat.
But we’ve found one they don’t charge for tourists:D

We had few drinks and enjoyed their atmosphere!!
It was quite different experience for me too. I felt like I was back to 70’s or 80’s!!

If you feel bored going to regular restaurants while you’er in Tokyo, visiting Omoide Yokocho or Golden gai is probably a good choice:) 

Another Japanese traditional culture, 茶道(Sado) Tea ceremony is now available only for participation of Wakalture!!

Since I have not enough knowledge and experience to teach Tea ceremony, I asked my Calligraphy teacher to do the experience class with her daughter for participation of Wakalture. Her name is Bisui. Bisui sensei(teacher in Japanese) is originally a teacher of Tea ceremony. And her daughter, Emi, knows about it very well and speaks English as she’s also lived in Australia. 
茶室(Cha-shitsu) is a room for Tea ceremony. In the room, there is always Japanese Calligraphy on the wall and flowers(華道, Kado, Flower arrangement) like the picture below. This 3 traditional cultures are always together in the room. This is the reason she started learning Calligraphy too.

茶室(Cha-shitsu)

There are many places that you can experience Tea ceremony (Calligraphy as well) but you should check if they are licensed. Wakalture only want to show you the real Japanese culture.
Bisui sensei has classes only for Japanese speakers who want to keep learning Tea ceremony not for tourists to experience. But as she and her daughter are very friendly and like to communicate with tourists they’ve decided to help me:)

What do you do at Tea ceremony class? 

1, Watch Otemae, the act of making a tea then get instructions about Tea ceremony.

2, Try traditional beautiful Japanese sweets 🙂 It changes depending on the season. It was in Spring and Cherry blossom season! Looks so pretty and tastes great too!! 
 
3, Try 抹茶(Matcha), green tea that they make for you. Tastes a little bit bitter that’s why you eat the sweets before drinking tea. You will know how good is the combination of bitterness of green tea and sweetness of sweets!!

They teach you not only how to drink but also the reasons. You may be surprised at the reasons:) 
 4, Time to make your own green tea!! As I mentioned, the school isn’t for tourists they use real utensils. Also charcoal which is different from BBQ one, used only for Tea ceremony. Some of them are very expensive:P

They were a little bit nervous to make green tea by themselves at first. But see this nice smiles:D They succeeded to make it!! We were so happy to see their smile:)

★Women only★
You can wear Kimono in this class!!

Sizes are limited but if you like, she can dress you up!! Hair as well:)

Other activities→Activities

Click HERE  to book the Wakalture Experience!!

Host of Tea ceremony class:)

My teacher on the right and her daughter on the left.

Hub Japan is where you can find opportunities to meet local people and have local experience:)
It’s close to my purpose that I’ve started Wakalture Experience!!
To meet local people is the easiest and fastest way to know about Japan!! You feel it!!
As I’ve met lots of awesome locals while I was in Australia and Canada, I became to love these countries a lot!!
So I hope you will meet nice local Japanese when you are in Japan then become a Japan lover!!

Wakalture and Hun Japan would love to help you!! 

All Wakalture’s plans are in their web site (https://hubjapan.io/experiences)

Please read this article!! They wrote about me and Wakalture:)
Japanese calligraphy & Udon cooking classes in Akihabara, Wakalture

They have many articles about Japan like things to do/see/eat in Japan:) You should check them out before coming to Japan it’s very useful!!

Hub Japan
https://hubjapan.io/

She came to Wakalture for Udon making and Calligraphy class!!
I usually talk a lot with customers but the day,,, I talked too much!!lol
So I totally forgot to take photo of her and her Calligraphy.

Most of customers ask me how long it takes to write perfect one. I always make them surprised as I answer “never”.
書道 (Shodo) is Japanese calligraphy in Japanese). The meaning of this Kanji 書 is writing and 道 is road. 道 is also used for other Japanese traditional things as you may know 柔道(Judo), 茶道(Sado, tea ceremony), 華道(Kado, flower arrangement) etc…
All of them is with 道(road). Roads never end. So, to learn Shodo(Calligraphy) never ends as well. I also believe that if I feel satisfied what I write, then I’ll never be able to improve my skills. I’m licensed Calligrapher, I’ve been learning 21 years but I’m still learning:)

Anyway, she enjoyed taking with me and the class!!

After the class, I took her to the best Dorayaki shop near the Wakalture:)

While we were talking, she’s told me some Japanese sweets that her boss likes but she couldn’t remember the name of it. I suddenly realised it was Dorayaki!! So I decided to take her there!
Dorayaki is what she is holding in the photo. Outside is like pancakes and inside is sweet red beans called “anko”.
I knew some people don’t like it as it has sweet beans but she actually liked it a lot:D I’m so glad!!

This is her review on Trip advisor!!

Wakalture Experience at TripAdvisor
https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g1066443-d10240262-Reviews-Wakalture_Experience-Chiyoda_Tokyo_Tokyo_Prefecture_Kanto.html

It was fun time to me too:)

One of my friends from Toronto came to Tokyo!!
He came to visit me and did Udon making + Calligraphy class at Wakalture:)
At first, I took him to Kanda myojin shrine with my parents as hatsumode, the first visit to a shrine.

Many Japanese people visit a Shinto shrine during the first three days of January in order to make traditional New Year’s wishes for health and happiness.  So there was a looooong line.

We waited about 30 minutes.
Another shrine, Yushima tenmangu shrine is closer to Wakalture.
So I can see the line to the shrine from my place every year…!! They have to wait more than 1 hour.

We enjoyed a monkey was performing at Kanda myojin shrine too!!

Then we went back to my place, Wakalture Experience to enjoy making Udon and Calligraphy:)

After we mixed all ingredients and knead, he tried Japanese Calligraphy.
He picked a word 山海 “mountain and sea” as his home town is located at between mountain and sea.
For Calligraphy, you need patient to write. I always tell my students that write slower than you think.
As he is a chef, he is good at working speedy so he struggled writing with a brush slowly.
Also Balance is very important to write Kanji looks beautiful.
The balance of 海 sea is quite difficult.

At the end, he succeeded to make this!!

When we finished Calligraphy, Udon dough was ready to cut:)
As I mentioned he is a chef, he was really good at cutting Udon!!

Most people struggle to use the wood board.
But he’s learnt quickly the techniques from me:)

He finally enjoyed the Udon noodle he made:D

Thank you for coming to Wakalture!!