This post may contain affiliate links. This just means I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you for helping them promote their product or service. I don’t endorse any services I don’t personally use or recommend.
As a non-Japanese-speaking traveler, finding “authentic” ways to experience the rich Japanese culture is hard. With seemingly everything from your morning cup of tea to your train ride through the city requiring knowledge of a social code and set of rules I know nothing about. I think this is what makes Japan such an interesting destination in today’s commercialized, globalized world. We crave tradition. We love a place that refuses to optimize and forgo quality for quantity (money). And Japan is certainly THAT place. They have created a culture that centers around masters of craft and doing things the “right” way. Even their egg salad sandwiches are better than everyone else’s. From kitchen knives and denim to onsen/saunas and sushi, Japan has masters trained to deliver perfection.
But most tourist-centric experiences are not led by masters of their craft. You’re getting a diluted version of the experience at best. And it’s certainly not your fault. Japan is an insular society that still excludes “outsiders” in many formal, traditional settings. Quite simply, to paint with broad brush strokes, they don’t want loud foreigners who have to be baby-stepped through each and every custom to interrupt their tea ceremonies and sake-tastings. I also understand this perspective.
Read More: Here’s the local tea ceremony I attended in Kyoto and felt warmly welcomed.
After about a half dozen forays to Japan, Wabunka popped into my inbox. Wabunka means “Japanese Culture,” and this locally-owned Japanese company is bridging the gap between traditional Japanese artisans and curious tourists. On my most recent trip to Tokyo, I tried out one of their experiences, and in this blog post, I’m going to showcase not only the experience but WHY I think this is such a cool company for travelers to be in the know about.
Disclaimer: I was hosted for a sake tasting at Hasegawa Eiga (meaning the experience was free for me). But rather than a trade-for-trade partnership, I requested this visit to see what the experience with an artisan was actually like. Because on paper, this company is EXACTLY what I and so many tourists have been craving when visiting Japan, but I wanted to have some firsthand experience before recommending (or not recommending) this company all over my website.
So let’s get into Wabunka and my Sake tasting experience in Tokyo.
A Quick Overview of Wabunka and What Makes it Such a Cool Company
For starters, this is a Japanese-owned company. We love to support a local business. The original founder started the company out of a desire to support traditional creators, inspired heavily by their own mother, who is a professional Japanese calligrapher.
Unlike massive global booking aggregates, Wabunka builds the platform to support Japan’s disappearing cultural ecosystems. They work directly with local communities, regional shrines, and multi-generational master artisans to keep their traditions economically viable through high-end tourism. And yes, I say “high-end tourism.”
The cheapest experience on Wabunka is Tatami Culture & Hands-On Tatami Making in Osaka for $49 per person. The most expensive clocks in at a whopping $2,141, but it’s a private stay at UNESCO World Heritage site Ninna-ji Temple in Kyoto after hours, including an overnight stay on the imperial temple grounds, a private tour led by a resident monk through National Treasure halls normally closed to the public, a customized light-up event of the grounds just for your party, and an exclusive morning ritual ceremony. You’ll find the bulk of their experiences sit around $100-$200 per person.
If you read this blog regularly, you know I’m a budget traveler (often) and love a deal. But when we’re talking about preserving a slowly disintegrating art form or culture, I understand the value of spending a little more. There are definitely experiences and stays in Japan that I think are worth splurging on. And this is the website to book them on.
Read More: Wabunka doesn’t cover the entirety of Japan (yet). If you’re looking for cool experiences in the Tsuruoka area, you can check out my designated blog post.
My Tokyo Pick: Sake Tasting at Hasegawa Eiga
There are a few things that make Hasegawa Eiga special. First, it’s a 350-year-old brewery with a traditional process. But the brand traces its origins back to the 6th year of Japan’s Kanbun era in the Banshu region (modern-day Himeji, Hyogo). The original patriarch, Eiga Hasegawa, opened the family business as a combination sake brewery and timber merchant.
The rest is history. Today, they craft some of the best Sake in the world. Here are a handful of reasons the sake produced here is so special and WHY we chose this experience from Wabunka.
- Special A-Zone Rice: The sake is brewed using only premium Yamada Nishiki rice. It is grown exclusively by contracted farmers in Ozawa—a rare, highly coveted “Special A Zone” in Kato City, Hyogo Prefecture, prized for its ideal clay soil and sharp day-night temperature drops
- Natural Forest Filtration: The brewery uses soft, slightly sweet infiltration riverbed water drawn from underground reservoirs of the Hayashida River. This water originates in Shikagatsubo, a region famous for its pristine natural waterfalls.
- Fukuro Shibori (Bag Pressing): To achieve its ultra-delicate profile, the flagship “Eiga” line (the first three sakes we taste) completely bypasses modern commercial pressing machinery. Instead, the fermented mash is placed into cloth bags hung from ropes, allowing the pristine liquid to separate drop by drop through gravity alone. This yields only half the liquid of commercial pressing but eliminates harsh flavor extractions. This was by far my favorite.
- Futa Koji Method: The crucial koji mold is cultivated entirely by hand using small, labor-intensive wooden trays (futa-koji-hō), requiring brewers to manually turn and rearrange the rice layers every three hours all through the night to regulate temperature.
Let’s take a look at what the experience was actually like.
What The Experience at Hasegawa Eiga’s Tasting Room Was Like
The neighborhood where Hasegawa Eiga is located is a bit ritzy (Roppongi), but not in the nothing-but-luxury-brands kind of way. It’s just very strollable, with lots of parks and a great sushi place next door that is frequented by Tokyo professionals. There’s also a Blue Bottle coffee if you arrive jet-lagged and exhausted as I did.
We arrived at 12:30 PM straight from an overnight flight from Bangkok (nothing more restful than a 5.5-hour red-eye flight) and were brought straight into a simple, elegant tatami room set for two. The experience is only one hour long, so no time is wasted in procuring both the sake and the food. A red Kaiseki-type box filled with lemon-soaked sweet potato, bright green ginkgo nuts, an array of other dishes, and five different-shaped sake glasses is set before me.
Our host thoroughly explains the process of each sake and pours generous helpings of the first two (the fully handmade 350-year-old recipe varietals). These are obviously my favorite. But at $250 a bottle, they probably should be.
For the next three sakes, we are brought larger dishes to pair with each. A velvety chestnut dumpling, vinegar-cured mackerel with dill, persimmon, and turnip, and the famous fried fugu (pufferfish) with a shishito pepper to finish. Not only was every single dish absolutely delicious, but the sake was also incredible, and I could actually taste the difference between the handmade and partially mechanized processes. More importantly, I learned the difference between 30% and 60% sake (it’s not the alcohol content), the difference between Junmai and Daiginjo, as well as other varietals, so that for the duration of my Japan trip I can work my way around a menu with a little bit of confidence.
Finally, with a little extra time, we got to try a specialty bottle of unpasteurized sake (there are only 100 made) to cap off the experience. We left a little buzzed and much more knowledgeable than we had come in.
If I Wanted to Convince You to Come to Hasegawa Eiga, I Would Say:
- You will get a full meal of seasonal delights that would cost you a pretty penny in Tokyo if you tried to eat them on your own.
- Taste some very fancy sake that costs up to $250 a bottle.
- Try some unpasteurized products that aren’t sold on the regular market.
- The experience fully lives up to the price and lets you experience sake from one of the best craftsmen in Japan.
Hasegawa Eiga was our choice of things to do in Tokyo from Wabunka. But it’s not the only one. There are lots of other things you can do in Tokyo on a short stay depending on what you are interested in. But this visit offers an unrivaled food and sake experience that’s well worth having.
Save This Post For Later!
