On my birthday, I went with friends to a workshop to experience making traditional Japanese sweets (和菓子/wagashi). It was lots of fun, and I really enjoyed making and then eating the sweets.
There are different types of Japanese traditional sweets, but the kind you most often see are made with sweetened bean paste. Sweets used for tea ceremony are often carefully designed to reflect the nature of the current season. For example, summer means watermelon and certain flowers; autumn means coloured leaves and chestnuts. I love the seasonal aspect of traditional Japanese sweets, as well as the artistry that goes into planning and creating them. So, I was really happy to learn that I could try my hand at making them in Kumamoto city. We went to a shop called tomodachiya (友達屋) and were instructed on how to make three types of sweets: mikan mizuyokan, a morning glory, and a watermelon. Here are the finished products!
We then got to sit and eat our sweets and have a bowl of matcha tea. It was a really great experience! I would recommend it highly. To get there from near KGU, take the A tram at Shinsuizenji to Gionbashi. It's quite near the tram stop there. Here is their website. And here is another page in English with several workshop experiences within Kumamoto: click here!
