Cool Spaces Warm Hearts
Japan is famous for its distinct seasons, and summers here are distinctly uncomfortable. Especially in the south from Kyushuu through Hiroshima to Osaka, Kyoto and on to Tokyo, where the temperature is regularly in the high 30s and the humidity gets into the 90s. Which makes dating at this time of year much more difficult. Where do you go on dates with a potential life partner when the persistent heat saps your motivation? And what do you do when the humidity infused air provides a sticky incentive for you to never leave the house? Especially if you’re planning on looking your best for dates with your potential soulmate, rather than a hot mess.
Thankfully, Japan’s long tradition of craftsmanship has given rise to an abundance of hands-on indoor experiences. Many of these are air-conditioned, affordable, and full of memorable moments to share with a partner. Japan’s rich cultural history creates an abundance of dating ideas and activities, beyond the serene yet simple charm of a picnic date or art galleries of Nakanoshima. In Kyoto, you can try kintsugi (the art of repairing ceramics with lacquer and gold dust), carve wearable netsuke charms from wood, weave strands of delicate silk using Kyoto’s tsuzure-ori technique, or even fold sheets of copper into origami samurai helmets.
One particularly charming experience is learning to make wagashi, or Japanese sweets. While there are many places in Kyoto running workshops, Kameya Yoshinaga stands out. It was established over 223 years ago, near a spring of pure water that is still used in their confections today. Their afternoon class is offered six days a week (excluding Sundays) for those looking to learn the secrets of these sweets.
Location:
Kyoto, Kyoto prefecture
Nearest station:
Karasuma Station on the Hankyu line or Shijo Horikawa bus stop
Good for:
- Foodies who love unique culinary experiences
- Mindfulness moments for those who enjoy slow, meditative experiences
- Artists who appreciate aesthetics and seasonal motifs
Quick points:
- Hands-on experience
- Indoors and air conditioned
- Affordable
- Only in Japanese but with visual aids
All you need to make kinton wagashi is bean paste, a traditional rattan tō-dōshi, and your favorite person.
Ichi Go, Ichi E
One moment in time, never repeated.
Wagashi are traditional Japanese sweets. Made from plant-based ingredients such as anko bean paste, chestnut, or even a seaweed based agar jelly, they are crafted to reflect nature’s fleeting beauty and the Japanese love of ephemerality. Thus, they remind us to savor the uniqueness of each season and each shared moment.
Often served with matcha, wagashi are usually prepared for special occasions, and therefore great attention is paid to their colour, shape, and seasonal appropriate symbolism. Though they may appear similar, no two sweets are ever perfectly identical, as each one is shaped by the hands that made it. This individuality reflects the spirit of 一期一会 (ichi-go ichi-e), the Japanese concept that every encounter is a once-in-a-lifetime moment, never to be repeated in exactly the same way.
It encourages all of us, particularly those in the early days of love, to approach shared experiences with mindfulness and appreciation. Like wagashi, love doesn’t thrive through perfection, but through presence, intention, and care.
Summer wagashi often uses translucency to induce a feeling of cool in the viewers. A popular design is made using agar jelly, to simulate water, containing fish, ripples, or flower shapes.
The Workshop
An experienced wagashi chef demonstrates how to make higashi, a dry wagashi made with wasanbon cane sugar.
Representing a motif of the season these 水輪（すいりん / suirin) or water ripple shaped higashi evoke the coolness of water during hot summer months.
The classroom itself feels like a blend of past and present. Soft light filters through intricate geometric kumiko zaiku partitions, which reflect in the TV monitors and echo in the patterns adorning the stools. The clean white countertops and the fully gowned, masked staff preparing the ingredients underscore the importance placed on hygiene and food safety. Yet the presence of the sensei, working with her wooden tools and bare hands, calls back to a time before industrial kitchens became the norm.
Kameya Yoshinaga’s workshop style is highly visual and easy to follow, even for those with little to no Japanese ability. The sensei demonstrates to the class, her motions relayed via large TV screens, then circulates to assist each student. The use of digital technology is especially helpful when learning intricate techniques like how to create the delicate kinton fronds by pressing bean paste through a woven rattan strainer, then gingerly arranging the strands around the center of a ball of anko.
Large monitors ensure a clear view of the action.
Pressing the paste through the strainer, producing tendrils of sweetness, is quite therapeutic.
Sometimes our efforts do not look aesthetically pleasing, but that does not mean they have any less worth. The flavour is what counts.
One of the most rewarding aspects of wagashi making, both in general and in this workshop, is the opportunity to work with traditional tools that have been used in Japan for centuries. Participants might shape anko into delicate flower petals using a triangular wooden spatula called a 三角べら (sankaku-bera), or admire the intricate craftsmanship of wooden molds known as 干菓子型 (kashigata) as the instructor presses a fine sugar mixture into them to create higashi.
Running for an hour, attendees make two types of jo-namagashi (freshly made wagashi), which can be consumed directly, or taken home in a box to enjoy later (though not too much later, as they contain no preservatives). They also receive two pieces of higashi to mellow the bitterness of a bowl of high quality matcha.
Higashi sweets are usually dried over multiple days, and those who have tried a tea ceremony may know them as having a hard, almost crunchy texture. However, freshly made higashi melts on the tongue, with a characteristic soft sweetness that comes from the Shikoku produced cane sugar.
A perfect pairing, just like your love.
After the workshop, couples can browse the thoughtfully curated store on the first floor, where seasonal confections are displayed like miniature works of art. It’s a lovely place to pick up a souvenir to take home.
How the pros do it.
There’s something deeply bonding about a hands-on experience together. Unlike going to a movie or dinner, this kind of shared activity invites conversation, laughter, and the acceptance of imperfection. You learn about each other’s attention to detail and patience (or lack of those qualities), and hopefully learn to love the process, not just the product.
Sweethearts Crafting Deeper Love
So, for those who want to escape the summer heat, a wagashi making class promises engagement of all the senses, the chance to more deeply appreciate Japanese traditional craftsmanship, as well as something to snack on! And since wagashi is so seasonal, no future workshops will ever replicate this one exactly. The date will remain a moment in time, memorialising a love and the steamy season when it sparked to life. Encapsulating again the Japanese ethos of ichi-go ichi-e, something those spending a lifetime together in marriage will come to understand better along their journey together.
Dating in Japan requires a degree of flexibility and thoughtfulness that is rarely needed in other countries, something which takes on an even greater set of dimensions for those dating with Japanese people where language and other cross-cultural issues come into play. Yet the challenges of dating in Japan, with dramatic changes in climate over the seasons amongst other things, also lead to significant opportunities for more memorable dating experiences for those who actually put in the effort when getting to know that potentially ideal partner. Whether you go through a Japanese marriage agency and the process of Omiai, meet through friends, or are fortunate enough to meet through other avenues that help you find that special someone, embracing the culture, through doing things like making Wagashi together, and perhaps enjoying a picnic in Kyoto on the Kamogawa, helps forge deeper love and understanding between you.