- 2 min read

Making Japanese Sweets in Kanazawa

Where making it is twice as much fun as eating it

It was right in the middle of a sweltering summer during July. For the first time in a while, my friend and I planned a Girls Day Out.

We decided upon Kanazawa City in Ishikawa Prefecture, a place we had been wanting to visit for a while. Of course we were looking forward to visiting all the popular tourist spots, but we were most exciting about an activity that has gained popularity recently - visiting a tea house. To our disappointment, we were unable to visit a tea house on our trip.

My friend, however, discovered a program in Kanazawa that has different activities for people to try. One of them was making Japanese sweets. As a side job, I make, sell and give lessons for flower preservation so I was really looking forward to this opportunity to learn something new.

These lessons on making Japanese sweets are held in several locations (including the Ishikawa Prefecture Tourist Museum, Koshiyama Kanseido's Japanese sweets shop, and the Murakami Confection Shop) but we chose the one at the Ishikawa Prefecture Tourist Museum.

One of the attractions for this lesson is that you make three different kinds of gorgeous, vibrant Japanese sweets plus one more as a gift during your lesson that you can bring home with you when you are finished. A few other key points is the amount of time slots that are available for lessons, in addition to the reasonable price.

The teacher, who is a veteran at making sweets, was helpful as he demonstrated everything step-by-step during the lesson. Once you finish, you can enjoy one of the sweets you made paired with a cup of matcha green tea (price is separate from the lesson). If you want to take pictures, feel free to take some downstairs while you are enjoying your tea break (not a coffee break!).

Place: Ishikawa Prefecture Tourist Museum (Ishikawa-ken Kankou Bussankan) - 3rd floor in the multi-purpose hall

You can register online (Japanese only)

  • Dates: Saturday, Sunday and Holidays - offered at 6 times throughout the day.
  • Times offered:
  • January to November: 10am; 10:45am; 11:30am; 1pm; 1:45pm; 2:30pm;
  • December: One class at 1:00 pm on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, and public holidays.
  • Length of the lesson: About 30 - 40 minutes
  • Participation limit: 1 - 144 people
  • Price: ¥1,500 (tax incl.) and includes a ¥500 gift voucher that you can use at the store on the first floor.
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Elena Lisina 7 years ago
Sounds great! I'd lik to do that! Thanks!!! :D
Jihad Mahmoud 7 years ago
I want to try this. Thanks for sharing! The sweets look delicious.
Marika Tobias 8 years ago
I have done this not so long ago. Even though you have either the cook in front of you or a screen that shows what he is doing, I sometimes misunderstood him with the result that the flowerlike sweet did not look like it should. The explanation is in Japanese but simple to follow. And the sweets were delicious!
Anonymous
Anonymous 8 years ago
Hibino-san, looks like a lot of fun! I would love to be able to try making okashi too! I have only been a recipient so far, it will be nice to be able to give back something which I made. ^^
Daniel Vesey 8 years ago
I remember eating Japanese sweets when I did a tea ceremony in June this year. Was one of the best things I have ever done and the sweets were so beautifully crafted and very good to eat!

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