Here is the video of our cool mother ship in Tokyo! When you have a chance to visit Tokyo, never miss this place and try the tea ceremony experience! And LIVE JAPAN PERFECT GUIDE is a great website to know about Japan’s sightseeing spots, activities, food and shops, etc. Check it out when you are […]
Archive for the ‘culture’ Category
December 21st is the winter solstice, a day with the longest night hours of the year. The winter solstice is a day that is observed widely in Japan on the 22nd of December. The solstice, commonly referred to as “To-ji”, is celebrated by taking hot baths with yuzu citruses and eating dishes containing pumpkin. These […]
We are going to have another tasting event on Saturday, November 17th, 11am-3pm at Portland Art Museum. That day happens to be Miller Family Free Day! Yes, free admission! There will be calligraphy and ikebana demonstrations, music performances and more! You can taste our organic green tea: sencha (classic green tea), genmaicha (green tea with […]
Portland Art Museum (PAM) is now exhibiting Poetic Imagination in Japanese Art through January. Cool ink paintings and calligraphy from 16th-18th century are on view. Jugetsudo teas are now available at PAM cafe and gift shop. We are offering tea tastings on the following weekends: 10/20 (Sat) 11am-3pm 10/26 (Fri) 5-8pm 11/17(Sat) 11am-3pm 1/12 (Sat) […]
We had fun at the World Tea Expo 2018 in Las Vegas last week. Outside was over 100F, but inside of the convention center was nice and cool—-perfect to sample hot green tea! We met a lot of tea lovers and Ricardo Caicedo was among them. Ricardo is a tea blogger and in fact he […]
Today’s oyatsu (snack) is an anko crumpet! A crumpet is a small griddle cake originated in England. The outside is crispy and crunchy and the inside is soft and chewy. The flat top has pores–perfect for butter to permeate. Scrumptious Crumpet in southeast Portland makes great crumpets! We put butter (lots of), anko (redbean paste), […]
In Japan, the new school year starts in April. In March, students would know the result of their college entrance exam. In olden days, when there was no internet nor telephones, there was a service of telegramming the entrance exam result to applicants who lived farther away. The accepted ones would receive a telegram that […]
Cherry blossom is sakura in Japanese. In kanji, it is written as 桜. This is the simplified version of the kanji, and the traditional kanji was櫻. In this original version, the left side 木, is a tree, and the upper right is two 貝, which is sea shell. The right bottom 女 is a woman. […]
Japanese love sakura, or cherry blossoms. In early spring, a cherry blossom front (going from south to north as the temperature goes up) makes big news on TV, just like a weather forecast. People look forward to their blooming, cherish them in their peak, and grieve when they are gone. In the early Heian period, […]
Hinamatsuri is a traditional celebratory day on Saturday, March 3rd in Japan. It is a day to celebrate the girls of a Japanese family. Hinamatsuri is celebrated with two small dolls, usually in a sitting position adorning traditional Japanese garments. Hinamatsuri dolls are to be set out a few days before March 3rd, but should […]






















