Chado: The Way of Tea

Since we just visited South Korea, we had to go through Japanese immigration again, which took a while simply because it was a face to face meeting with everyone on board our ship.

After we emerged from that, locals from Sakaiminato greeted us in the cruise port terminal and invited us to take part in “chado,” which is “the way of tea.”

Men and women in beautiful silk kimonos showed us how to vigorously stir the powdered matcha tea. They warned it would be bitter, but I thought it went really well with the little sweets they served with it.

After a lengthy bit of bureaucracy, it was nice to enjoy some local hospitality, and a literal taste of Japanese culture.Read more