I believe the tour will be a great one for tea lovers to learn about more about Japanese tea.
Shizuoka is one of the biggest tea producers in Japan having many production areas across the prefecture including Makinohara plateau, the largest tea plantation. We will visit two tea facilities located in this area. You can enjoy the experience of tea ceremony and other hands-on activities.
As a Japanese Tea instructor, I hope I can be a help for you to fully enjoy this tea tour!
Kakegawa station or Shizuoka station
Meeting up with your guide, getting on a local train(14min) and taking a taxi(5min) from the closest station to the museum.
You can learn everything about tea, including a variety of tea cultures across the world, Japanese tea production and tea history. The museum has a tea house and a garden. You can experience a tea ceremony while learning how to do it.
The green tea mixed-in noodles are recommended here. It is healthy and nice.
Taking a taxi from the museum(20min).
It is an experience-based food park opened in Nov. 2020. Some hands-on activities are available here including "Green Tea B.I.Y. Stand" and "Green Tea Tours".
From Kadode, getting on trains back to Kakegawa station.
After the tour ends, the guide will help you get on the right train and see off at the station.
Kakegawa station or Shizuoka station
You can learn more about Japanese green tea and will come to like it more after the tour!
(1) In the World Tea Museum, you can learn about tea culture and history across the world and tea ceremony experience. It's located in Makinohara tea fields, so you can enjoy a great view, sometimes a veiw of Mt. Fuji, if the weather allows.
(2) In Kadode Oigawa, if you like, here are two activities you can try;
A) Green Tea B.I.Y.Stand: You can enjoy your cup of tea from 16 different kinds of green tea. They vary in type of tea and can be enjoyed more widely depending on how to brew, according to the temperature and the steeping time. After purchasing a special bottle(500yen), you can bring back your own type of tea.
B) Green Tea Tours: Why don’t you go through a tea factory as if you are a tea leaf. In this tour, you will be steamed, rubbed and roasted and become a final product. If you don’t mind about some water spray and an air blow, it will be a fun. The tour cost 500yen per person. A little tea cup will be given as a souvenir to all the participants and 4 kinds of green tea can be tasted in the end of the tour.
Tea is a major agricultural product in this area, but it's nice to have a look at other agricultural products. Beside the facility, Kadode Oigawa, an SL train runs three times a day, if the timing allows,
you may want to see it!
guide fee
■ Transportation fee(you and guide)
・When starting the tour from Kakegawa station： 940 yen/person
(From Kakegawa to Kanaya and Kadode to Kakegawa)
＊In case of meeting Kakegawa station, it is appreciated to pay the transportation fee for the guide
to and from Kakegawa station(2,820yen) in cash on the day of the tour.
・When the tour start from Shizuoka station： 1,460yen/person
(A round-trip ticket of JR Tokaido line between Shizuoka and Kanaya and Kadode to Kanaya)
■ Taxi fare: about 3,100yen (From Kanaya station to Museum, From Museum to Kadode)
■ Tea Museum including tea ceremony: 800yen/person
■ Green Tea B.I.Y. Stand: 500yen/person
■ Green Tea Tours: 500yen/person
■ Lunch
I can guide you in cities other than Shizuoka if you pay my transportation fee.
The Tea Museum is closed on Tuesdays and Dec. 28 to Jan. 4. In case for that, I have other tea tour plans in different areas as well. Please feel free to ask it.
- In the experience of "Green Tea Tours", some water is used to splash around tour participants and the floor gets wet. So, it’s recommendable to wear flat and comfortable shoes.
- If you have any food allergy, please let me know in advance.
We can visit one of the facilities, the Tea Museum or Kadode Oigawa, or if you visit both of them, it will be a quick visit each and some of the activities will be omitted.
For a 4-hour tour, the guide fee will be 23,000yen.
In case for that, I have other tea tour plans in different areas as well. Please feel free to ask it.
Hiroyo was a great guide. She seemed to know her way around very well and was very patient with my kids. She was able to get us to a Green Tea Farm and a Wasabi Farm which was fascinating to see in person. The Green Tea Farm actually ended up being one of my kid's favorite part. We had a great time. Thank you again!
Thank you very much, Joseph! I’m very happy to hear from you! It was a great fun for me to spend the day with you and your children. They are really cute and it’s amazing to know that they are very much interested in Japanese wasabi and tea production. I hope you and your family will have another chance to visit Japan! Best wishes, Hiroyo
Hiroyo was very knowledgeable of sites and history of the areas we visited as well as other areas we were in which we were interested.
Dear Melanie, Thank you very much for your message! I hope you could enjoy Shizuoka. It was really a wonderful time for me to be with you and your friends. If you have anotehr opportunity, I'm always happy to welcome you!! Best wishes, Hiroyo
Hiroyo is a wonderful guide. She took the effort to familiarise herself with the farm which we suggested to visit by getting in contact with the owner and later preparing factsheets for us so that our cultural immersion is complete. In addition, Hiroyo checked to see that we have driven in mountainous areas before & asked us to consider insurance cover for our rental car in case of accidents. Hiroyo was very well prepared, she taught us a tea harvesting song and some origami + had origami gifts to take away for us. Al in all, we had a great experience with Hiroyo - we highly recommend Hiroyo.
Dear Christine, Thank you very much for your comment! I'm very happy to hear from you!! I just talked with the farm. It was our great pleasure to welcome your wonderful family here. I hope that you can enjoy making Hojicha(roasted tea) by yourself at home as well. If you have another chance to visit here in Shizuoka, I'm always ready to welcome you!! Thank you! Hiroyo
We had a delightful day excursion in the countryside of Shizuoka tea region. Hiroyo is very knowledgeable and taught us a lot about green tea processing. We enjoyed the tea tastings and lunch as well. Overall we had a wonderful time with our guide, Hiroyo.
Dear Melanie, Thank you very much for your warm message! I'm very happy to know that you and your daughter enjoyed the day. It was a wonderful time for me to spend a beautiful day with you! Shizuoka is a beautiful place to stay and has more to enjoy. I hope you have another opportunity to visit Japan! Thank you!! Hiroyo