Meet Chieko at her cooking studio in Shibuya City, a 10-minute walk from Shinjuku station. During your Tokyo home-style Japanese cooking class, choose one menu from five options provided. You will learn to make authentic, home-style Japanese dishes from scratch during your 2-hour, hands-on cooking class. You will cook together one Japanese main dish + two side dishes. Chieko will share tips and tricks that she learned from her mother so that you can easily recreate these dishes back home. After your hands-on Japanese cooking class sit down to share the dishes you helped prepare with Chieko.

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Hisako and Atsuo are wonderful hosts! They welcomed me warmly into their cozy family home and put a heart-warming amount of effort into making my cooking and dining experience with them as enjoyable as possible. Their hospitality stretched to making an enormous amount of delicious food! The highlights of which were the seasonal tempura that we cooked together and Hisako’s delicious, creamy bavarois dessert, served with a specially selected green tea. Not only was I treated to a wonderful foodie experience, but also a musical one as Hisako is a professional singer and pianist. After dinner, she put on a mini-performance that blew me away! Although a little shy at first (since it was her first-time hosting) Hisako was incredibly sweet. Her husband is a very fluent speaker of English and an interesting individual. A wonderful couple and an unforgettable experience! Thank you, Hisako and Atsuo.

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We had a nice time visiting with Sakura and her family. Sakura was helpful and informative, and her son was absolutely adorable. I would've loved recipes for the additional dishes served, especially the sesame spinach.

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Join Risa for a delightful 2.5-hour hands-on cooking class where you'll learn to prepare a typical, homestyle Japanese meal. Begin with a warm welcome and a drink of Japanese tea or coffee as Risa introduces the menu. Under her guidance, you'll learn about Japanese ingredients and cook an authentic Japanese meal including learning to make dashi from scratch in her cozy kitchen. Afterward, sit down to enjoy the meal together, with the chance to meet her boyfriend if he's home. Perfect for beginners, this class offers a friendly and authentic Japanese culinary experience.

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Join Toshiko in the dining room and kitchen of her apartment building's party room where you'll be greeted with a refreshing welcome drink. Embark on a journey into Japanese cuisine as Toshiko introduces you to traditional ingredients like shoyu, sake, konnyaku, and mirin. She will guide you through an authentic cooking demonstration, teaching you how to prepare dashi - the essential base for many Japanese dishes, including nikujaga, miso soup, and other homestyle favorites. The 1.5-hour demonstration is followed by a delightful meal, where you'll savor the dishes prepared, sharing this intimate dining experience with Toshiko and her family. Enjoy your meal with a choice of sake or beer to complement the authentic flavors. Please note that this is a cooking demonstration, not a hands-on class, due to space constraints.

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Miyuki lives with her husband and children in Chiba, close to Disneyland Tokyo as well as Narita airport. She will introduce you to Japanese everyday meals, typical dishes that the locals eat - simple, easy recipes cooked using fresh, seasonal and local produce. This is the kind of food you will find in a Japanese home and not necessarily in a restaurant. Join Miyuki and her family to enjoy some everyday Japanese dishes such as teishoku, a Japanese style set menu of one side dish, rice balls, miso soup, and one main dish or chirashizushi, a sushi bowl made by topping sushi rice with a variety of seafood, vegetables and egg or karaage, Japanese fried chicken or Japanese curry and rice. You will end your meal with Japanese style dessert and green tea.

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I booked a cooking experience via Traveling Spoon with Makiko T. of Tokyo Japan. We started the evening with tea and we discussed the recipes we would prepare. The recipes were challangeing enough to be interesting, but easy enough to recreate at home. We spent the majority of the evening cooking in which Makiko demonstrated her teaching skills as she patiently and expertly walked me through several recipes. From there we sat down to a truly delicious meal. We discussed food, Japan, family, and life, and for the first time since my arrival in Japan I felt relaxed and completely at ease. I found Makiko to be warm, generous, and hospitable, and I highly recommend booking a cooking experience with her. Makiko, If you happen to read this, thank you again.

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Market Tour

We loved our visit to Akiko's house in Nagoya for the cooking class. Akiko, her sister and daughter spoke really good English so we could ask lots of questions about the food and their daily life. The food we cooked - Nagoya style fried chicken, miso soup, tempura rice balls was really delicious. They also picked us up from the nearby station and dropped us back. One of the highlights of our trip to Japan.

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Market Tour

I loved meeting Kanae, getting to see her home and learning how to make genuine Japanese dishes from a "master!" I am so happy that I had this marvelous experience! I also have a new friend in Kanae! She was delightful and is very talented! Top notch cooking lesson! More than five stars! I made her ideal choice dishes at home for my (American) family and they loved them!

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Market Tour

Meet Hiroko at Musashi-Koganei train station and walk to her small but cozy Koganei apartment, just outside central Tokyo, for a delightful 2-hour cooking class experience. Passionate about Japanese food and culture, Hiroko will guide you through making sushi rice, rolling maki with raw fish, vegetables, and fish roe, and preparing a classic Japanese vegetable dish like goma-ae. <br><br> Enjoy green tea or coffee during your session, or opt for wine or beer if you choose the alcohol option. You can also request to learn chirashi sushi (sushi bowls) or homestyle Japanese dishes like nikujaga or oyakodon. Let Hiroko know your preference when booking!

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Today I had an excellent experience in Sapporo: I booked a cooking lesson with Shiori Ogawa. We cooked in her house a sample but very tasteful lunch vegan menu. I learn many things about Japanese food, ingredients and recipes. Shiori is a very good teacher and a wonderful host.Luisa

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A wonderful time spent learning about Japanese food and culture with a very knowledgeable and warm host.

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I visited Emika's home with my wife, sister, and brother-in-law. My wife and I are pescatarian and Emika was quick to communicate with us before our booking to make sure our dietary needs would be accommodated. She and her mother welcomed us into their home and all four of us had a really excellent evening. She was able to answer a lot our questions about Kyoto and Japanese culture and we couldn't have been happier that we got to share in this experience. I would definitely recommend this experience to anybody looking for a really nice evening and a great food experience!

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Market Tour

I booked a cooking class with Furu through Traveling Spoon. He offers a variety of dishes to learn. I was most curious about Tamago-yaki, the Japanese omelette. Furu was a great teacher; rolling and flipping the Tamago-yaki is much more difficult than it appears! We also prepared Japanese hot pot and soba for the rest of the meal. Great experience and delicious food!

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Market Tour

Join Yasue in her clean kitchen where you will wash your hands, roll up your sleeves and learn to cook 4-5 Japanese dishes from scratch in a hands-on cooking class in Hayama. The cooking portion of your experience will last about 1 1/2 hours before you sit down and share the meal you helped prepare with Yasue. Menus are seasonal so Yasue will inform you about the menu for your experience after your booking has been confirmed.

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I had a really wonderful time with Miki! I was traveling by myself, so it was great to connect with a local and hear some tips about other things I should do while in Tokyo. The food was so delicious, and I appreciated how Miki explained each step and ingredient she was using. She was very friendly and she was also very flexible with adapting to a pescatarian diet. Overall, I would highly recommend booking a meal with Miki!

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Market Tour

Michiyo picked us up from the station and welcomed us in her home. This provides a personal atmosphere we like. I expected it to be a cooking workshop in which i follow a recipe or instructions from the tutor, instead Michiyo cooked the food in front of us, showing how to do it. I personally would have liked to do more things myself. I told her I would like to engage more in the process and she let me. I think Michiyo was trying hard to give us a good experience, I hope she will be able to relax more in the future and find some time to do small talk. Michiyo's husband was home as well and was very talkative which was nice. He asked us about our experiences in Japan and our home country. He told us about kanji and wrote our names in kanji. The food was very nice :)

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She explained in English the ingredients and we all got involved in diving, chopping, straining and Cooking Japanese Chicken Karaage, Daikon Soup and Sesame seed coated Spinach. Very lively experience and fun cooking with EMI-san.

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Yoshiko's cooking class was wonderful. She began the class with a lesson on the different elements of Japanese cooking and the staples you need in your kitchen like mirin, dashi and ponzu sauce. We then had hands-on lessons in creating a Japanese rolled omelet, stuffing gyoza, baking tofu gratin and chopping marinated tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. Yoshiko gave us detailed recipes and instructions so we can cook these back in the States. This class is so special because it takes place in her home and we all ate together around her dining table. What fun!!!

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In the midst of Sakura (cherry blossom time), we were invited to Machiko Moridawa’s home to cook. At our request, she prepared okonomiyaki-Hiroshima style (a Japanese savory pancake differing from its Osaka cousin in that it layers the ingredients rather than mixing them together). Step-by-step instructions made it easy for my brother to try his hand (with not a bad flip!). In addition to a full meal we enjoyed seeing her home and meeting husband, Daishi, and two of her three children. Machiko’s follow-up provided two videos to assist our efforts in making the “add anything” dish for Canadian friends. A wonderful experience. Thank you!

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My best cooking class, one of my best experience in Japan!! Aki is a passioned cook with a lot of heart, she explains very well in an excellent English. Her place is amazing: traditional Japanese house with a beautiful garden in the very heart of Kyoto. The open kitchen on the living-room was easy to use and very convenient for all of us.We bought seasonal vegetables and fishes at the market and wee cooked dishes far from all the cliché we have on Japanese food, so interesting...We could met really nice people and share this moment together, thanks again for this unforgettable moment!!

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Market Tour

We really enjoyed our lunch. Our host was very friendly and although her English was limited we were able to communicate easily. The house and garden are beautiful as is the area where her home is located. We had two older travellers with us who found it difficult to sit on the floor, chairs were provided.

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Junko in Tokyo was a fabulous host. I arranged to meet her at the famous Tsukiji fish market to purchase some of the ingredients for our lunch. We wandered around the market talking about all the produce and how it was used in Japanese cooking, went to her favorite chicken vendor, tasted some tea which I purchased and gave to a connoisseur friend of mine who said it was the best she had ever tasted. It was a leisurely wander, exploring the market and talking about food. Then we took the metro to Junko's home and she proceeded to prepare a feast. She had already prepared a number of dishes and then cooked some more explaining what she was doing. It was so comfortable to sit in her home and talk and watch her cook and be educated about Japanese food. She gave me extra tastes of a jam she had canned, a plum wine she had made. Then the feast began. She made a soup with daikon radish which was extraordinary. And the chicken teriyaki was like nothing I had had before. There were so many other dishes I was eating for the first time. All delicious. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon with a foodie and gourmet cook and learn about many aspects of Japanese cooking.

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Masako met us at the station and took us through the little streets near Asakusa (old Asakusa where the Geisha are, very traditional Japan) to her studio. We cooked our brains out for a couple of hours - tamago yaki, tempura and of course udon (quite a process to make it from scratch) - all delicious. Masako finished the evening by writing out our names in hiragana and kanji. Definitely a fun experience! You should go.

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Step into Yuko's cozy home in a peaceful Nara neighborhood for a private, 2.5-hour immersive cooking and dining experience, where you'll learn to prepare traditional dishes unique to this historic region. Yuko will guide you through the art of making pressed sushi with seafood and vegetables (and using persimmon leaves, a local favorite), crafting a flavorful bowl of Miwa somen noodle soup, and creating a delightful soybean flour dessert. Yuko offers a cup of aromatic roasted green tea to complement the flavors of Nara’s cuisine. <br><br> During your hands-on Japanese cooking class, Yuko shares her passion for Nara’s culinary traditions, teaching techniques and stories behind each dish. After cooking, sit down with Yuko to enjoy the meal you’ve prepared together, paired perfectly with the roasted green tea. After the class, you'll be provided with recipes so you can recreate these delicious dishes at home. This is more than a cooking class - it's an invitation to experience the heart and soul of Nara’s food culture.

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Meet your host at JR Chiba station and drive together for 15 minutes to arrive at Chieko's friends home for your home-style Japanese cooking class. This is a hands-on cooking class where you can choose one menu from five options given. You will learn to make popular Japanese dishes from scratch in your 1.5-hour Chiba cooking class. They are authentic home cooked Japanese dishes - you will cook together one main dish + two side dishes. Chieko will share simple tips and tricks that she learned from her mother, so that you can easily recreate these dishes back home. After your hands-on Japanese cooking class, sit down to share these dishes you helped prepare. And after eating, you will practice the art of calligraphy, using traditional calligraphy brushes and ink to write your name or kanji characters. <br><br> If you select the optional alcohol at an extra cost, you will enjoy sake tasting or a tea ceremony, after your meal. Very unique and high-quality sake that is distilled locally will be served. And if you do not consume alcohol, a Japanese tea tasting will be offered.

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Begin your private, Tokyo sushi-making class with a warm welcome drink, a sakura (cherry blossom) latte, and a brief introduction to Edomae food and its rich history from your host, Akemi. During this 2-hour class, you’ll learn how to prepare traditional Edomae sushi, starting with the essential vinegar rice. Akemi will guide you through the art of making four types of sushi: Maki (rolled sushi), Nigiri (traditional hand-pressed sushi), Inari (tofu pouch sushi) and, Gunkan (battleship sushi), alongside freshly grated wasabi and sliced ginger. As you work, you’ll also learn about the history of Edomae sushi, including the use of red vinegar - a unique preservation method from the Edo period, when rice was so valuable that it was paid as tax. The lesson will include a demonstration on how to cut sushi from a whole fish, and you'll leave with a printed recipe book to recreate the dishes at home. After the sushi-making, enjoy your creations with a savory broth and a beverage (Japanese sake, plum wine, orange juice, or cola). The meal concludes with a delightful dessert, such as matcha ice cream or yuzu sorbet. Please note, while Akemi will be busy serving, you’ll have the chance to relax and enjoy your meal. Children are charged the same as adults. A vegetarian option is also available.

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Great personable experience! We learned a lot about Japanese culture while cooking three separate dishes and miso soup. Samurai Max is the perfect host. He contacted us ahead of time for preferences and made sure we had no allergy issues. By explaining the seasonings and sauces we will be able to replicated what we learned. We had teens that he engaged throughout the process, making it fun for them. His cooking studio is close to other major activities and we did a photo shoot with another vendor after to complete the evening. He went the extra mile to make sure my son got what he wanted at nearby market too!

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Market Tour

Join Eri in her modern kitchen to learn how to cool three traditional, Japanese homestyle dishes. Since some of the dishes need to be marinated beforehand, she may have those pre-marinated and ready for you to add the final touch. For the rest of the dishes, you will enjoy a hands-on cooking class during which you will help to chop, fry, grill and learn about Japanese food presentation. Immerse yourself in this Japanese cooking class in a local Tokyo home over conversation about Japanese culinary traditions, unique food ingredients, and secret cooking tips passed down through generations in Eri's family.

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My wife and I took Sato's cooking class in August 2017 and really enjoyed ourselves. Sato is a great host and taught us a lot about Japanese culture and cooking. We enjoyed the meal and it was a nice alternative to eating in a restaurant by ourselves. His apartment is convenient to central Tokyo. Strongly recommend!

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Was very good

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I love using traveling spoon to find local cooking classes. I chose Noriko's class in Yotsuya, Japan because it said she spoke English (not always the case). My husband and I had a fun ~3hrs or so cooking and eating with Noriko and her assistant. We learned the traditional methods of cooking dashi, miso soup, miso salmon, tamago, pork-wrapped okra, and an anchovy rice. Would recommend!

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Cooking with Yoko was an amazing experience! She met us right at the Minami-Morimachi station and wore a Japanese kimono as this is what traditional Japanese wear for teaching classes and tea ceremonies. Yoko walked us to her apartment through some of the local shopping streets and gave us a small tour of her area. She was very welcoming and was a great tour guide explaining everything we saw and telling us stories. Yoko is well known in her area as many people greeted her as we walked by on the way to her apartment. She made us feel right at home and greeted us with a cute welcome sign on her door. She had hangers out for us for our jackets and charming aprons to wear. The cooking portion of the experience was very hands on and extremely informational. She taught us so much about traditional Japanese cooking techniques such as how to cut cucumbers into a snake (accordion) design, which looked way better than just a cut up cucumber. She also gave us lots of cooking tips as well including to always mix the miso into a small portion of broth before adding into the soup as it would lose all its flavor, it is easier to cut tofu in your hand (very carefully) since it is so soft, always crack an egg on a flat surface and so much more. One of the highlights of the cooking portion was making the Japanese omelet - one of the best omelets we have ever had! She was so accommodating and even purchased and used gluten free soy sauce as I had an allergy. We had such great conversations over our meal with her about Japan and life that we felt like we were just having a meal with an old friend. At the end of the experience she even walked us about 10 minutes to a local park and pointed us in the direction of the Osaka Castle which is where we were headed to after. She even gave us lots of tips on other places in Japan we would enjoy and wrote them all down for us. We left the entire experience with our bellies full, lots of new Japanese cooking techniques and feeling like we made a new friend. It was an amazing experience altogether!

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If you like cooking, and enjoy Japanese food this is an excellent opportunity to learn simple home-style Japanese cooking, with ingredients that are available in most large U.S. cities. The food was delicious and our host was friendly and engaging. The interpreter did a nice job too. Having the session in an average Tokyo outer suburban home makes it even more interesting as few westerners will have that experience.

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Meet Tomoko at Todoroki station and walk for 13 minutes to her house. You will walk through the Todoroki Fudoson temple and a Japanese traditional garden before heading to her home. During your 2-hour Japanese cooking class learn to make a main dish and a seasonal side dish. Join Tomoko in her home kitchen for your authentic Japanese cooking class in Tokyo. You will learn to cook traditional Japanese cuisine in a local home, just like how Tomoko would cook it for her family. She will use simple ingredients and cooking techniques so that you can recreate each dish back home. You can choose one main dish from options like gyoza, ramen, okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake), sushi rolls, yakimeshi (fried rice), karaage (Japanese fried chicken), or teriyaki salmon, along with a seasonal side dish. <br><br> After cooking, sit down with Tomoko at her dining table to share the meal you helped prepare, which will be served with miso soup, home-made plum wine or beer or green tea and a matcha dessert with red beans and ice cream.

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We booked this at the last minute and are so grateful we invested some of our time in Kyoto in this fabulous experience. Rita is a treasure! Warm, funny, present, curious, knowledgeable, genuinely interested in connection, and a fantastic cook! A Kyoto native, her passion for Japanese cooking, culture and connecting through food was evident from start to finish. We spent 3 hours with her, beginning with touring the modest tofu shop of her friend (a 4th generation tofu maker), where we learned about the various stages of the process, the importance of various elements (like the water used) and were treated to samples of different kinds of fresh tofu, soy beans, and soy milk. Upstairs in the kitchen, Rita had a delicious and authentic meal already underway, but eased us into the cooking process with her to complete our meal together. She taught us not only about tofu, but about meal etiquette, Japanese seasonings and marinades, the aesthetic of meal presentation, and even the spiritual meanings behind some of the food customs. She also accommodated our food preferences (we’re pescatarians), which was so appreciated. We enjoyed every minute and morsel and left with a full and happy belly, printed recipes for everything we ate, gifts (including a lovely cotton kimono for our daughter - see photos), a new friend, and knowledge about the wonderful Japanese culture that is sure to enrich our experience in this fantastic country. Highly recommend.

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Market Tour

Our entire experience with Masa and his team was filled with laughter, kindness, and levity. The experience took place in their cooking school which gave it a slightly more formal feel. However, their attentiveness and care for our experience made the experience very enjoyable. The space is incredibly clean and organized (as you would expect in Japan). All ingredients were ready upon arrival. Then it was very hands-on at each and every step. Their team would demonstrate the technique and then hand over the reins to us. Even when we messed up, they would help us fix the issue and then give it back to us to try again. Piece by piece, we assembled our sushi, nigiri and omelet feast. All three hosts were extremely kind, attentive to our needs, and supportive of our efforts in the kitchen. Then at the end we arranged it on a beautiful platter and sat down with our hosts to the best meal of our entire three weeks in Japan! Truly memorable and enjoyable!

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