Date & Time: Sunday, October 5, 10:00 a.m.to 2:30 p.m.
Spots: Yokohama Park, Nihon-odori Avenue, Kanagawa Prefectural Government Office, Kaiko Hiroba, Yamashita Park, Mugenan(tea room), Yokohama Chinatown
Visitors: Four from Canada (a Canadian couple, their mother and aunt from South Africa)
Guide: Fumie, KSGG
Language: English
The visitors were scheduled to get on board their cruise ship at Yokohama Port by 3:00 p.m. In the morning, they came to the Yokohama-bay area from a hotel, hoping to enjoy a guided tour with a tea ceremony experience before boarding. They had found a courier service office open on weekends in Chinatown, and sent their heavy suitcases to it beforehand. They met their guide Fumie at JR Yokohama Station. They changed trains and got off at Kannai Sta. The guide explained the history of the opening of Yokohama Port while introducing Nihon-odori, Yokohama Government Office, and Kaiko Hiroba. In order to enjoy the tea ceremony, they went to Mugenan(tea room), which is on the fourth floor of a 100-year-old building in the backstreet of the Kanagawa Kenmin Hall. In spite of the western style building, visitors found a four-and-a-half tatami tea room through a small entrance called nijiriguchi.
Though there wasn’t a recessed alcove called Tokonoma, a hanging scroll called kakejiku that says “Every day is a good day”, which expresses the idea of accepting each day as it is, finding value and meaning in every moment of daily life, was on a window side and flowers were in a bamboo vase. Confections were served before the tea, and then the host prepared matcha (powdered green tea) with different tea bowls for the visitors. Each of them had different sweets due to the confectioner’s policy not to make the same confections again. They enjoyed matcha according to the tea ceremony manners. Then they appreciated a powdered tea container, a tea scoop, a hanging scroll and tea flowers.
The four visitors were satisfied with the experience of authentic tea ceremony. Through Yamashita Park, they went to Chinatown to take lunch and picked up their suitcases, and moved to the Osanbashi Yokohama International Passenger Terminal. In spite of a short time, the visitors loved the historic area of Yokohama and were fully satisfied with the tea ceremony experience.
2026-2-3