Hamamatsu

We did the soy sauce workshop at Meijiya Shoyu, and it was one of the best things we did on our trip! We got to see the production, press our own soy sauce, and taste the difference between various soy sauces. Both the sensei, who is one of the owners of the shop, and our translator, Teresa, were amazing! We talked so much that our tour took a little longer, and we had a wonderful time!

We enjoyed the instruction by Ryu sensei and our interpreter Teresa for the Ando Taiko shop. I have a much greater appreciation for the artistry and skills to make the drums. It was a wonderful afternoon engaging all our senses and learning about all the steps in making the instruments. The correspondence from in Hamamatsu was easy and outlined all the steps to sign up for an available day that both the shop and an interpreter was available. I appreciated the explanation about needing to take or ship the drums ourselves.

We went for the miso-making workshop at Meijiya Shoyu, a shop dating back to the Meiji era as their name suggests. The sensei was one of the co-owners who kindly shared his expertise in guiding us on how to make miso and the differences in the miso we see in the market. Teresa was also very helpful in her translations, which made for an effective and heartfelt cross-cultural understanding. After our miso was made, we were guided to an inner room to do a tasting of the various miso pastes to better understand what was shared in the workshop. We (“Nani” included) thoroughly enjoyed the workshop. Sensei also wrapped our miso nicely in cloth for us to take it home with. We only managed to buy a bottle of shoyu to bring along but hope to be back to try the shoyu making lesson in the future! Highly recommended!!

We went for the taiko making experience at Ando Taiko Drums Shop. It was a wonderful experience! We have 2 adorable little drums now! Our translator Jessica was an excellent and helped make communication with Ando-san smooth. We hope to visit Hamamatsu again!

I booked a tour at Meijiya shōyu as a birthday present for my husband - and he just loved it. And so did our two kids (aged 6 and 11). We learned so much about soy sauce in general, enjoyed the tour of the building and loved to make our very own shoyu as well as to taste four different soy sauces with tofu. But most of all we LOVED the welcoming atmosphere: Everyone was so kind and lovely and patient. The interpreter as well as the young owner and his (I suppose) mom. Of course, the bottles of our own shoyu as well as the kind gifts weren't the only thing we took home: We couldn't resist and bought different soy sauces for ourselves and our families back home. Big recommendation thus! Not only for soy sauce lovers.