Mitsuru Okubo is the owner of Gallery Okubo tea shop located in Yanaka district, Tokyo, Japan. Her family owns an antique shop, allowing visitors to enjoy traditional Japanese tea in a special way: drinking tea in 300-year-old bowls worth up to 25,000 USD.
The idea behind this tea room is for visitors to feel the bowls and taste the drinks of Japanese tea teachers at an affordable price. That is also a way for art and history to reach the public.
Entering the exhibition room on a small quiet street, visitors will enjoy different cups, bowls and plates exhibited delicately. After that, visitors were invited to the 2nd floor to sit and watch tatami, enjoying the traditional space of the tea ceremony. In addition, this place also prepared a common seating area on the low floor to serve Western guests - those who are not used to sitting on the screen.
In a small room next door, the tea bowls were placed on a four-compartment bed. The waiter will introduce in English the age, origin, and owner of each cup of tea to visitors.
There are many bowls of tea for visitors to choose from, from a few tens, a few hundred to a few tens of thousands of USD. Each one has its own impressive history and story.
However, holding a large cup of tea in hand can make visitors sweat. Therefore, if you do not want an incident, visitors can be careful with their hands and feet, or choose to drink tea in a regular cup and only admire the ancient cups in the exhibition room.
According to the original custom, after being served cakes, hot tea will be delivered to serve visitors. Tea drinkers will hold their expensive bowls, one hand on the side, the other hand underneath. The taste of the tea is so delicious that visitors can forget the value of the cup of ancient tea they have in hand.
If you have the opportunity to visit Tokyo, visitors should go to Gallery Okubo tea shop to experience it once. The restaurant is open from Wednesday to Sunday, 11am to 6pm. The restaurant is located at 6-2-40 Yanaka, Taito-ku, Tokyo, about 15 minutes walk from Nippori train station. The cost for the tea ceremony is 16 USD (about 370,000 VND)/person and you should book in advance.
