Goodbye Kanazawa,onto the next adventure!

Just a quick goodbye!

I'm flying to Fukuoka tomorrow, then down to Kumamoto for 10 days working at a wood workshop and finally Okinawa to do some serious de-thawing! Working on a bee farm down there. Yes BEES, bzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Lets hope I'm not allergic.... My friend translated the website and it reads "surrounded by deep forest, you can feel the nature breathing.... I can say our place "shasi kumar" is a "green uterus"...." Yep apparently he used the words "green uterus" Hmmm...should be interesting. Below is a video on their website, I think the girl is trying to find the source of the umeboshi (plum) When she's in the car she says "hito ga nai" meaning there's no people. Great, that's where I'm going. Eventually she finds the source of the umeboshi, it's honey umeboshi from the bee farm I'm going to (I think....!) Watch below

Will try and track progress on my brand spanking new blog http://sowtasty.wordpress.com/ Yep my alias will not be The Sow Tasty Gardener. Sow tasty will be all about growing your own veggies, gardening in general and of course experiences organic farming in Japan! Some places don't have internet I've been told BUT apparently I can use the neighbours PC. Oh wow, fun stories to come I'm sure.

Going to leave the blog up for anyone who wants to find things to do in and around Kanazawa. I'm off to wwoof for 6 weeks (and a trip to China and Mongolia in between!)

Thanks for reading, wish me luck!!

xxxx

Making Japanese sweets (wagashi) in Kanazawa

Maylee and I, proudly showing off our masterpieces!

Running out of time and there's still so much I want to do whilst living in Kanazawa. The longer I'm here the less daunting it all seems to be (i.e I'm even calling people up and speaking in my broken Japanese, something I never thought possible when I arrived a year ago!)

So one thing I had read about in the list of things to do in Kanazawa is to make wagashi (和菓子), a traditional Japanese confectionary which is often served with tea and is almost considered an art form.

Of course all the information about doing this is in Japanese so it's a bit of a challenge to work out where, how much and what its all about. So having made a wobbly reservation on the phone, we went down to the Ishikawa Gifts and Souvenir centre on Saturday with the hope that they had actually understood me on the phone and to my amazement they did!*

We were ushered into a big hall with long tables, the last group were finishing off and then it was our turn. Each of us had our own set of wagashi mix, utensils, a sieve and some wet tissues.

The head chef, a big bloke who I think must teach the classes on rotation all day, put on his mic and began his presentation. We could see everything he was doing as he must have had a mini TV camera attached to a huge screen, unfortunately we didn't understand what he was saying but this is practical so it doesn't matter, just copy everyone else!

We started off by making the easiest wagashi that looked like a pink sugar mouse. There are tons of different types of Japanese wagashi depending on the ingrediants and style but as I'm sat here at school not even my teachers know the proper name for this pink one! You take the wagashi mixture (which feels like a soft play dough, it is in fact rice flour mixed with water), flatten it and then place the azuki bean paste (same consistency) inside.

You then carefully mould the edges of the outer layer around the inner and make a ball. Then you roll it in your hands until it forms an egg shape. To finish it you make two cross marks across the top with your wagashi utensils, see my video!

We then moved onto the next one, a green one with a marble type effect that bunched together at the top.

It looked near impossible to make but was actually not too hard. The secret was in getting a damp handkerchief, wrapping the wagashi inside, twisting it hard and then finaly pinching it with 2 fingertips....


Et voila!


The last looked like something I used to produce from my mop top hair shop when I was young (god remember those?) This time the wagashi mix goes through the sieve provided, watch us doing it in video below!





After, you must pick up the wagashi shreds using only chopsticks and cover the inner ball of azuki. OK this was a bit tough as I have zero patience and it just doesn't stick that well.



Once you've picked every shred of wagashi mix your'e done! The waitresses then give you a cute little box (recycled I hope) for your 3 pieces of art form (and they include an extra wrapped one in there) Here are my final masterpieces ; )



I might even try to make my own daifuku (a type of wagashi which I just LOVE!) if I have time this weekend (a nice leaving present for my teachers)

At the Ishikawa Gifts and Souvenir centre you can also decorate traditional Japanese dolls as well as paint on glass.

The sweet making cost ¥1200 and is available from 10am to 1pm on weekends and national holidays only.
*To be honest I'm not sure a reservation is really needed as there weren't that many people there. Turn up and I'm sure they can fit you in.

Map is at http://www.hot-ishikawa.jp/f-lang/english/kanazawa-area/shopping-detail.html (third picture down, there's also a map in English of how to get there)

Warning, don't scoff all your wagashi sweets in one. I did....

The day the jellyfish became a cloud: Cool restaurant in Kanazawa

Dining for 2 overlooking the floodlit garden

Well after 10 months of living here I thought I'd sampled my fair share of some of the wonderful eatieries in Kanazawa but none that could quite match this little hidden gem. I say hidden because this really isn’t a restaurant any tourist or gaijin resident of Kanazawa would simply stumble upon, unless you get totally lost down the back streets down the back of the samurai district and even then you wouldn’t know it was a restaurant!

And I say gem because, well....I’ve not been to anything that mixes contemporary cool with the traditional so brilliantly, it made me feel totally untrendy! My only caveat here is that I’m not a tourist in Kanazawa, I live here on a measly ALT wage and quite possibly there are many other top hidden gem restaurants in Kanazawa that I just can’t afford to go to. Cue the boo hoos...

So a few weeks ago I was sat in a bar with my friend Maylee and she showed me this cool little wooden ketai chain (like a keyring for mobile phones) explaining that a work colleague had taken her to this fab restaurant with a wickedly bizzare name..wait for it.... "The Day the Jellyfish became a Cloud" (くらげが雲になる日 or in romanji : kurage ga kumo ni naru hi) that had a member/loyalty scheme. Basically the first time you go to the restaurant you get given a blank key ring and a first timers menu, the 2nd time you get the next menu up with a few more dishes added and even cooler they engrave your little wooden key ring with a kanji symbol. Not just any kanji either, it’s the first kanji symbol for the The Day the Jellyfish became a Cloud.

Anyone looking for a break from Japanese cuisine but still wants modern Japanese style and ambience then this IS the place well that’s if you can find it, hehe.

I mean even as you enter through the Japanese courtyard it’s hard to know whether you’re not wandering about in some randoms garden...blink and you’ll miss the sign outside and no signs for anyone who walks into the courtyard. Just follow the stepping stone path to the right and through the door to the deceptively large and beautiful Japanese garden all lit up, it gives you a good feeling of a place.

Floodlit garden, sorry only had my mini camera

Although Maylee had been once before she started walking across the garden but I had an intelligent moment (first time for everything) and noticed that she was making fresh footprints in the snow and questioned whether that was the right way. It wasn’t!

Anyway round the back we found a tatami screen door, no sign or anything, and cautiously entered. Yep this was it, hallelujah. After literally unchanging..well shoes off, coats off, and then multiple unpeeling of layers we had a chance to marvel the inside of the restaurant.

A superb place with a orori (traditional fireplace) in the middle centrepiece, urban Japanese style, a long dining bar and a unique 2 seat dining set up exclusively overlooking the beautiful garden. How romantic, check it out! Even the table accessories were very cool. See pics

Menu was quite simple, about 5 choices of noodles and curry “pan asian” according to Maylee who was now looking at her members menu…I was so jealous, she had more choices! I opted for the Beef noodles which were sensational and really woke up the taste buds again. Awww fresh lemongrass and coconut, close your eyes you’d think you’re in Thailand. Well sort of.

Anyway didn’t want this to turn into a long, gabbling post but if you’re in Kanazawa and fancy a wonderful “pan Asian” dinner (especially if you’re a couple) then this is the place to go. Oh and apparently they’re open every evening apart from Sunday 5pm-10pm.

I could only find websites and blogs with more photos in Japanese but feel free to have a look at these fab pics

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/teamnorinori/59591530.html

http://30min.jp/place/376974

What are you waiting for?!

PS Google map below



View The day the jellyfish became a cloud restaurant in a larger map

Omi-Cho Market: Kanazawa's Kitchen

Wow, I can't believe I have yet to write a post about the wonderful Omi Cho market in Kanazawa. This is a must for anyone visiting Kanazawa.

Omi-Cho has around 200 shops, stalls and restaurants so give yourself at least an hour. The atmosphere in there is fantastic; a chorus of "irasshes" (welcome) from the stall holders who follow up by shouting out their deals and whipping the customers crowds into a frenzy of buying.

These stalls overflow with seasonal Kaga veggies, specialised dry foods, tubs of fresh pickles and of course seafood. If you're only visiting Japan this is a great opportunity to see what the locals eat and even try food out for yourself. One stall owner was cracking open fresh oysters for passing customers at ￥300 a pop. If it wasn't for my stomach's turbulent relationship with shellfish I would have had one.

You can also eat some of the fresh seafood in Kanazawa both on the market floor (there's a couple of good sushi belt restaurants) and on the 2nd floor above the market (more upmarket) When mum was here we went to a really popular restaurant upstairs, just take the escalators to the 2nd floor, take a right and look for the restaurant with the live fish tank just inside the entrance (sorry Ive lost the photos) . The menus aren't in English but the waitresses are so friendly and can help you choose. This place must be a favourite for the locals as by 12.30pm the place was full with a queue forming outside. Our food was absolutely out of this world.

I have been to the market so many times but it was an amazing sight in December, snow crab season, where an eye boggling amount of fresh (some still live) crab were being sold everywhere you look.

Some crabs, with ridiculously long claws, were being sold for ￥8000 each (about £55) or is that a batch of 10? I'm not sure!

I had a great day taking pics, just wandering around the bustling market and marvelling at how lucky I am to have a fresh market to buys my groceries. Make sure you go if you're in Kanazawa.

NB Most of the shops at Omi-cho market are closed on Sundays and holidays.

My first bowl of ramen in Japan

Yes I've lived here for 10 months now and ashamed to admit that I have yet to eat a single bowl of ramen...well until this weekend. I blame it on the fact my friends have all been here for years and the novelty of eating shed loads of Japanese food has worn off. Ramen, for those who don't know, is a a Japanese noodle dish that originated in China.

After knocking back an infiniate number of vodkas, dancing badly at Apres, stumbling out at 4.30am and roaming the streets on Saturday night what better time to try out the infamous ramen! So the three of us fell into the ramen shop. Eating ramen in Japan is probably akin to hitting the kebab shop in the UK after a boozy night out (except ramen is eaten during the day in specialised ramen shops too unlike those nasty kebabs....) Full of drunk men with fags hanging out of their mouths (yes they still smoke indoors here) and falling over themselves to speak English ("Allo, you are total beautiful") Well that's until the ramen arrives and the deafening chorus of slurping begins.

I opted for the shoyu (soy) ramen (the other was miso ramen), a steal at only ￥500 (about 3 quid) If I'm honest I wasn't that impressed, really salty. I could have made better super noodles at home.

If you want to try ramen in Kanazawa there is apparently a good ramen restaurant called Ippudo. http://www.ippudo.com/store/#koshinetsu. It's just on the street around the corner from Zara in Tatematchi (the paved shopping street in Katamatchi) Good luck!

Eighties Haiti party at Apres, Kanazawa

Saturday night I went to a Haiti Earthquake fundraiser party organised by the Ishikawa Jets, a great idea for raising much needed funds for Haiti.
The party was being held at the NEW Apres club in Kanazawa 2 floors below the Apres bar which has been opened a few months now. We were well excited. I can categorically tell you that there is NO cheesy clubs in Kanazawa to dance to some Justin or shake ya booty to Beyonce....There's 8 Hall and Manier if you like hard dance music but for a rapidly aging 31 yr old it's not sooo appealing anymore.

You spin me right round, baby right round, like a record....lalala

Wow gaijins altogether in Kanazawa!

Anyway that's all set to change with the opening of the Apres club and boy did we shake our booties! The place was absolutely heaving and I've never seen so many foreigners in one place since I moved to Kanazawa.

OK it was a JET organised night so I guess usually its not so packed. DJ's including Dipika, Gav from Fuji Rocks' mate and a few other gaijins cranked out some fantastic 80's cheese, there's just nothing like a bit of Belinda Carlisle to get everyone going, hahaha.

I had originally gone all out with my 80's outfit managing somehow to look like a care bear (a really scary wrinkly one, see piccie at top) but when I turned up at Karis for pre-club drinks the girls had dressed up so sophisticated that I felt compelled to change my outfit. Maybe my dressing up days are over?!

Anyway, we danced our socks off until 4am at which point I realised the dance floor had been deserted and we were the only ones on it. Hmmm....time to go......to eat ramen! See my other post...

My British cookery lesson debut!

Looking the professional chef as ever

Last month my Japanese teacher Yoko somehow roped me into agreeing to teach at one of her monthly cookery classes. Each month they cover a different nationality and she decided it was time for a British one. Cue lots of panic, sweat and gooogling "traditional British food" and before you think "fish and chips" don't, I'm not going to be blamed for reinforcing that stereotype!

I was lucky enough to be going home for Christmas so just thought I'd get a ton of practice in for my actual lesson scheduled for 24th Jan. I'd originally decided to make beef and ale pie, a proper British dish but after a failed attempt at home (the meat was so dry it was like chewing cardboard..) I decided on a more festive option; mince pies, brandy butter and mulled wine. OK not exactly great for January but it'd do.

So the day before I hopped on a flight back, my sis in law Hels, nieces and me squeezed in some last minute practice making mince pies for the first time using this really handy pre-rolled frozen pastry. They turned out really well although mine looked ready for the pig trough and Hels' looked liked Delias ; )

Anyway, back in Japan and I'm brimming with confidence. The day before my cookery lesson I set out with a shopping list as long as my arm. I found a lot ingredients with no hiccups but where are the cake tins? I went to every cookery department in Kanazawa slowly realising that the Japanese just don't use them! Ahh of course not because they don't bake. Why? Because they don't have ovens!

So my friend Ayako, bless her, ran around another part of town looking for anything that looked remotely like a cake tin taking pics of on her phone and sending them to me for checking. In the meantime, I was sending her pics on my phone of foods like sugar bags and flour for her to read the Kanji for me and check that I wasn't buying salt when I needed sugar. You see, things are twice the challenge sometimes in Japan!

I also discovered on my `rapidly turning stressful` shopping trip that the Japanese don't sell icing sugar, that raisins are considered a semi luxury item in Japan (a small fancy looking bag will cost ￥780, about £5) and the worst news of all, they don't sell that really handy pre-rolled frozen shortcrust pastry, agggggh.

Sunday came. I was soo worried. Having lugged a dead body weight of a rucksack full of ingredients to the cookery school, I hurriedly prepped everything up and it was time to start. About 15 people showed up, all women apart from Nori my helper at school, thank god it wasn't 40 like she had at Christmas.

Some of the cookery school gals

The lesson kicked off with Yoko telling everyone what we were about to make and I gave out my wonderfully prepared handouts with some history of eating mince pies & drinking mulled wine. Good start. Next though was pastry making. I can hand on heart say reveal that this was the first time I'd ever made pastry. I somehow managed to convince them I knew what I was doing as each group would ask me to check the consistency of their pastry was right and I authoritatively would tell them they needed more flour/water etc. Hahahahaha

Once the pastry was all in the fridge they were all asking what next at which point I'd check my step by step recipe guides hidden away on a side table.

Rock n Roll-preparing to roll my rock hard pastry... (note look of horror on ladies face)

I thought the worst was over but oh how I was so wrong! When the pastry was ready for rolling, Yoko thought it'd be best for everyone to watch a pastry rolling and cutting demonstration from me first. So in front of 15 keen and eager cooks huddled round a cooking station, I picked up the pastry (which was now rock hard, eeek?!) and tried to pretend I knew what I was doing. Well the minute I rolled it out it fell apart. It almost blew my cover but then behaved itself enough for me to cut out 2 round shapes for the top and bottom of the mince pie. Typical my luck, the pastry cutters were too small. What a pavala.



My class then went back to their stations and it was like police academy meets cookery school. Flour was everywhere, gooey dough sticking to the hands and then on the opposite scale dough that was falling apart at a touch. Somehow everyone managed to line their tins with pastry (although some poor buggers had to use muffin tins)



In comparison to the pastry, making the mincemeat was a dream. I think the Japanese ladies were a bit shocked at how much booze I poured into the mincemeat mixture, although I did note a few gleeful looks amongst them too.



I had used suet bought from the UK for the mincemeat (I'd at least had some sense that the Japanese wouldn't sell suet) but I hadn't anticipated them asking me on the spot what they could use as an alternative! Errrrrr....maybe cornflour I said?



The mincemeat worked out perfectly and I had a lot of "iee yo ne's" (smells good) and caught a few of them dishing out spoonfuls of the stuff to taste.



Next was the mulled wine, nothing too stressy here. They did find sticking the cloves into the orange halves quite fascinating and akin to poking a voodoo doll. I also made a non-alcoholic mulled wine with grape juice which didn't taste too bad (In Japan you can't even drink a sniff and drive)



I honestly didn't realise how tricky it is to line pastry tins. I cleverly decided against doing my own "show pies" during the lesson knowing they'd turn out like a dogs dinner. Awwww that wonderful fresh baing smell filling the kitchen and the mince pies were finally ready.





What do you think? OK they don't really look like mince pies but I didn't think we did too badly for a first attempt. Three and half hours later we were ready to sit and eat our freshly made pies and drink mulled wine.



Such a fab day full of laughs. I think everyone enjoyed themselves by the looks on their faces!

Pilsen: Lashings of German beer but not a lederhosen in sight

When the rest of the Japanese nation are probably hibernating under their Kotatsus, Kari I hit a little German restaurant in Kanazawa called Pilsen. We tried to get into before Christmas but it was packed. Always a good sign...

Kanazawa, despite being really out in sticks (not on the Shinkansen line), has such a great choice of International restaurants. It's great too if you can't bear to look at one more piece of sushi or bowl of noodles (believe me it does happen and I'm a sushi fanatic...)

This little German joint looks a bit like a beer hall (just minus red faced, pot bellied beer swilling guys) downstairs where you can eat at the bar. Upstairs is a restaurant. I can hand on heart say its probably the only place in Kanazawa where you can buy a huge pitcher of beer and sink your teeth into a proper sausage!

Pilsen has a huge choice of yummy sausages including white sausage, garlic and pepper sausage, peppery hot sausage, hard sausage. If you're really feeling piggy (excuse the pun) you can opt for the 5 kinds of sausage platter. For the non-sausage fans they also serve chicken, pork and beef stews as well as pizzas and taste-tastic salads.

Kari and I ordered the garlic sausage, a pizza and a salad (the salads are surprisingly big for Japanese standards) Two sausages arrived on a plate with a dollop of sauerkraut and a pot of mustard, small but neatly presented as I'm beginning to become accustomed to in Japan (sorry forgot to take pics). They were delicious though and despite the pizza being the size of my palm it was also really good. As my nan would say "an elegancy of efficiency"

English menus available at this restaurant (cue hooray!)

Food ranges from ￥600 to ￥1680 for the 5 sausage platter.

Map below, enjoy!

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Need a doctor Kanazawa?

Hi folks,

Thought I'd drop a boring but hopefully useful note to say if anyone is desperate for a doctor in Kanazawa then I can recommend the one at Kanazawa station called "Kanazawa Medical Station". If you go to Caffe Arco inside the station and take the escalators to the 4th floor you'll find it right in front of you.

You don't have to book an appointment so just show up and wait (if its your first time you'll need to register but they will all help you complete the form) Unlike in the UK where we'd be assigned one family doctor for all problems in Japan they go to different doctors according to the nature of the problem. This medical surgery is a rareity though as it deals with different issues under one roof. Oh and its sooo nice, like a 1st class departure lounge full of plasma, thick piled carpets and glamorous looking nurses donning matching dresses! Such a far cry from nothing like the heroin junkie one in Bedders, Brizzle.

Reception

According to my patient card (given when joining) this surgery can deal with the following issues;

• Internal problems
• Surgery
• Checking bones
• Cosmetic surgery
• Skin problems
• Womens problems
• Health checks - ears, nose, throat.
  

Yesterday I was in and out within half an hour with no appointment (have sinusitus). The doctor speaks English (and if they don't the young female assistants always seem to) The best way to describe your ailment is to write your problem into google and print out the kanji description. If you're not sure what is wrong you can just translate your symptoms into google and take along with you. Its a start!

Make sure you have medical insurance as my recent visit to get antibiotics cost me just short of ￥5000 (about £35) inclusive of the visit and the drugs.

Signing off....

Japanese random acts of kindness

Sometimes it's so nice when someone unexpectedly does something for you that's kind isn't it?

Well in Japan it really is becoming a common occurrence for me. Since I arrived I have experiences so many wonderful acts of kindness from the Japanese. They really do go out of their way to help you out. There will be moments when you're really struggling to adapt to the Japanese culture and a random act of kindness can suddenly make me feel instantly positive and upbeat again. I must remember to pay them all back!

There's my coordinator (Kyomu) at school who buys me little gifts from her excursions and sneaks choccies into my hand when no-one is looking.

Then there's the old little bus driver in Oyabe who takes me (I'm usually the only passenger) up to the education centre every Monday and asks me the same question every Monday "How do you find Japanese food?". Knowing I usually miss my 4.03pm train he always puts his foot on the peddle, skipping red lights and screeching round corners to make sure I can catch it.

There's also Etsuko, who works for Interac, has also gone out of her way to take me pick me up from home, take me to the doctors and wait with me when I was ill. Oh and the porter at the Cerulean Tower hotel who walked up 3 blocks to help me and mum find a restaurant we wanted to go to.

It was one lady recently though who really brought a smile to my (sometimes) grumpy post school face and compelled me to write.

Her name is Fumiko (文子) and she is a lady I met at my gym when I was trying to master the art of pool jogging the other night. She had struck up conversation with me (using her impeccable English amazingly self-taught) and gave me a few tips on how to actually pool jog. (yep there's a technique) Anyway I had been telling her how hard it was to find traditional Japanese gifts to give as Christmas presents and that all the gifts in Japan are covered in English (since it's cooler to use English than Kanji)

Anyway on my next visit to the gym a few days later I was just checking out of reception and to my surprise the receptionist handed over a cotton bag tied with red ribbon telling me it was a "presento" from "Fumi-San". I opened it at home and inside were these beautiful kimono silks and a letter from Fumi, see below.

Such a nice kind gesture isn't it? Unfortunately I left my textiles skills back in the GCSE classroom but I might see what I can do with them when I go home, any suggestions please write below!

Decorating chopsticks with Kanazawa gold leaf (kinpaku)

I've had a right old cultural spurt over the past few weeks. From zazen meditation to silk painting and now today......gold leaf (kinpaku) chopsticks decoration! As part of my mission to buy/make Japanese only related Christmas presents I headed to the famous gold leaf shop Sakuda in the Higashi Chaya area of Kanazawa. Kanazawa is the largest gold leaf production area in Japan, boasting a 98% share of the market so thats a good reason to make something with gold for Christmas!

So todays mission was to decorate chopsticks with gold as a Christmas pressie for my sisters boyfriend Andrew. He's a big burly Ozzie tree surgeon so I'm doubting he uses chopsticks a lot but its the thought that counts right?

I arrived at Sakuda (reservation required to do this) and in true Japanese style I was greeted by two Japanese ladies who knew immediately I was Jessica San and ushered me to the workshop at the back of the shop. I paid and then was asked to choose what I wanted to decorate. There were laquerware boxes, plates and different coloured chopsticks. I opted for the black laquered chopsticks at ￥600. If I'm honest I don't love laquerware (it's heavy looking and dare I say it looks a bit plastic) however its traditional in this area so I should respect traditional craft.

The instructor, Ill call him chopstick sensei, then hand gestured me through the process. First he showed me some examples with varying patterns of gold, one had gold and black stripes across, another some little hearts.

I was then told to draw my own pattern onto a thin piece of masking tape and then cut it with one of those teeny scalpels. Well typical of me to try and be clever. I didn't just want some conventional gold pattern around my chopsticks, I wanted to personalise them with Andrew's initials. Well if anyones ever tried to draw and scalpel out a letter the size of their little fingernail then you will sympathise with me!

My terrible effort at cutting out initials

My chopsticks just rolled with gold leaf

Once I had managed to stick the butchered letters onto my chopsticks the chopstick sensei then covered them with a potent smelling glue substance. Now for the fun part. He picked up a pounded sheet of gold leaf with his tweezers that was sooo thin, 1/10,000 mm to be precise and laid it out on the mat. Just to put this gold leaf into perspective, if you stacked up 300,000 units of gold leaf it would only make a stack 1 inch high. Anyway, you then have to roll your chopsticks, one at a time over the gold leaf without touching it with your fingers (as it'll just disintergrate into your hand if you do)

Me brushing down the excecss gold leaf from the chopsticks.

At this point it looks a bit of a mess and the surface is all uneven but after a quick brushing down you have a perfectly smooth surface.

The last step is the trickiest which involves picking off the tape to reveal the original colour underneath. Chopstick sensei helped me do this, he was a real sweetie.

My finished chopsticks! Done in 45 mins

Ok so mine don't look too pro but at least they're personal......I'd definately recommend this as a fun activity on a wet afternoon in Kanazawa (there's plenty of those) I reserved but I'm sure if you just turn up they will slot you in a time.

Outside of Sakuda (in case anyone gets lost)

Map below

View Sakuda Gold & Silver Leaf Shop in a larger map