I hope that everyone is keeping well in these turbulent times. 

Please note that the 7th Ocha Zanmai Tea Culture conference originally scheduled for April 26, 2020, has been POSTPONED to Sunday, April 25, 2021.

(from the website: https://mll.sfsu.edu/events/40852-7th-ocha-zanmai…)

The 7th Ocha Zanmai Tea Culture Conference has been postponed in consideration of various concerns raised by the wide spread of the novel coronavirus. The new date of the conference is Sunday, April 25, 2021. Please mark your calendar. The theme of the conference remains the same: "Tea Culture of the Edo Period (1603-1867). See you in 2021

​TO PARTICIPANTS WHO HAVE ALREADY PRE-REGISTERED FOR 2020:
Your registration will automatically be extended to 2021. Should you be unable to attend the conference in 2021, you may transfer your registration to another attendee. Please forward the name and contact information (must include email address) of the new attendee to the organizer of the conference.

November 16 to December 23, 2019 at the Nezu Museum 

At the Tokugawa Art Museum September 15 to November 10, 2019.

Not to be missed! 
UBC Centre for Japanese Research is hosting a lecture by Rebecca Corbett on Thursday, March 19th, 3 pm.

My next chanoyu workshops at Nikkei Centre has been posted. Please contact Nikkei Centre directly to register. If you have questions about the content of the workshop, feel free to contact me through the contact page here: contact. 

The Sado Club at Nikkei Centre will be hosting a New Year's celebration on January 17, 2015.

4 sessions available: 
12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm 
Fee:$12, $10 (member) 
Tea and Sweets included
Children under 12: Free 
(must be accompanied by an adult)

No prior knowledge of tea ceremony or Japanese language is required.
Attire: No jeans, miniskirt. Please bring a pair of white socks.


Location: Nikkei Centre Tea Room 2F, 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby, BC

Registration is through the Nikkei Centre: 
604.777.7000 or [email protected] 

Space is limited, so sign up early!

NOVEMBER: Chashitsu – What makes a tea room?
Sunday, Nov 23, 1-4 pm
Nikkei Centre, 6688 Southoaks Crescent Burnaby BC V5E 4M7

The practice of Chanoyu is conducted in rooms especially designed for serving tea. This workshop will discuss the features that distinguish a tea room from any other room in a traditional Japanese home, including aspects of the alcove, location of the entrances, and other architectural features. We will look at examples of famous traditional tea rooms and tea houses in Japan as well as some creative contemporary interpretations of the tea house as an architectural form. The slide and video lecture will be followed by tea and sweets served in the Nikkei Centre’s tatami room. 

Registration: 604.777.7000 / [email protected] (Nikkei Centre)
Fee: $28, $25 (Nikkei Centre Members)
Max. 12 students. Minimum 4 or class will be cancelled.
Ages: 15+
Attire: No jeans, miniskirt. Please bring a pair of white socks.

The themes for this fall's chanoyu workshops at Nikkei Centre have been posted. Please contact Nikkei Centre directly to register. If you have questions about the content of the workshops, feel free to contact me through the contact page here: contact. 

Omotesenke Tea Ceremony Workshops in English

Registration: 604.777.7000 / [email protected] (Nikkei Centre)
Max. 12 students. Minimum 4 or class will be cancelled.
Ages: 15+
Attire: No jeans, miniskirt. Please bring a pair of white socks.

Workshops are conducted in English and will be broken down into lecture, demonstration, and hands-on participation components.
No prior knowledge of tea ceremony or Japanese language is required.

SEPTEMBER: Chaji – Structure of a formal tea gathering
Sunday, Sept 28, 1-4 pm
Fee: $28, $25 (Nikkei Centre Members)

A full formal tea gathering is a four-hour event that includes preparation of a charcoal fire, serving a multi-course meal, and enjoying two types of matcha. This type of gathering, called a chaji, embodies the ultimate form of hospitality toward one’s guests. This workshop will introduce the various components of the standard midday chaji gathering through slide and video lecture followed by tea and sweets served in the tatami room.

NOVEMBER: Chashitsu – What makes a tea room?
Sunday, Nov 23, 1-4 pm
Fee: $28, $25 (Nikkei Centre Members)

The practice of Chanoyu is conducted in rooms especially designed for serving tea. This workshop will discuss the features that distinguish a tea room from any other room in a traditional Japanese home, including aspects of the alcove, location of the entrances, and other architectural features. We will look at examples of famous traditional tea rooms and tea houses in Japan as well as some creative contemporary interpretations of the tea house as an architectural form. The slide and video lecture will be followed by tea and sweets served in the Nikkei Centre’s tatami room. 

Over the last couple of weeks I've been in contact with the organizers of the Vancouver Tea Festival, learning more about this new event and figuring out how I can help to make matcha a rewarding part of the visitor experience. 

My sense is that the main focus of the event is leaf teas, as this seems to be a growing specialty industry here in Vancouver and throughout Canada. Of course, matcha is heralded as an ultra-premium tea, and no tea shop seems to be able to claim any kind of legitimacy without carrying at least one variety of "ceremonial matcha." Even coffee shops these days can hardly be taken seriously if they don't at least offer a matcha latte. 

I find, however, that even with the word matcha becoming a familiar part of the North American vernacular, very few people -- including, I'm afraid, the intensively trained certified tea sommeliers being cultivated by the Tea Association of Canada program -- actually know much about the culture of matcha, aside from being aware that matcha is very good for you and the formal procedures for making it take a lot of time and are very complicated ... I believe the interest, however, is there and it's high time that the general public was offered more insight into the broader culture of matcha. 

Mrs. Sakaino of the Vancouver Urasenke Tankokai will be presenting abbreviated demonstrations of tea ceremony at the tea festival, and she always does a beautiful job, so rather than presenting another demonstration of tea preparation, I have offered to give a talk and slideshow explaining the "kuchikiri" (seal-breaking) celebration of opening the ceramic jar in which the tea leaves are stored for several months until they are ready to be ground into matcha. The timing is just right because the kuchikiri ceremony is held in November. Although few people are actually able to send tea jars to the packer to be filled and stored and returned to them any more, and few tea shops offer this service any more, the celebration of this start of the annual year of tea remains -- even if only symbolically -- an important part of the traditional practice of Japanese tea ceremony (chanoyu). I hope that highlighting this important moment in the transformation from leaf tea into powdered tea will provide visitors to the Tea Festival with a more familiar common ground from which to approach matcha and will also provide some insight into a seasonal aspect of Japanese tea culture they might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience or even know exists.

If you're in the area and have an interest in tea, I hope to see you there!