A participant at Edo Saryo (Craft and Cafe) Aoyama pours tea into a cup that has just been painted before enjoying it with a friend. (Photo by Yoshinobu Goto/The Japan News)
Tokyo: Near the National Stadium, in an area of Tokyo full of shops and restaurants, there is a cafe that is also a craft workshop, where customers can paint whatever they like in their favorite colors on cups before drinking Japanese tea from them.
Edo Saryo (Craft and Cafe) Aoyama in Shibuya Ward opened in March.
Customers can choose from about 30 teacups and handleless mugs and apply special acrylic paints in around 10 colors, including red, blue and pink, to the surface to depict flowers, stripes or whatever they fancy.
They then dry the painted areas with a small hair dryer and apply colors again. Customers repeat this process three times and then apply a coating agent to the surface at the end.
The workshop lasts about two hours and results in customers making teacups that are totally unique.
They then drink Japanese tea from Shizuoka Prefecture or Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, both of which are famous tea-producing areas, and eat sweets. Customers can keep their cups.
"I'm happy that my memory of having a good, special time here has been given a physical form and I can use the cup at home," said Sayaka Kase, 22, a company employee from Chiba Prefecture who visited the cafe with a friend. "I also felt refreshed from enjoying tea and conversation," she said.
The cafe attracts many families with children and foreign tourists on holidays as they want to enjoy painting and Japanese tea together in an easy manner.
"I want to give everyone an opportunity to enjoy making their creations casually. I hope the cafe's customers will take a break from their daily lives and enjoy tea and conversation using the cups with their original paintings," said Sota Takahashi, 27, a workshop instructor, adding, "I recommend this workshop to people who feel that 'traditional crafts' are too hard to enjoy."
