You like sake and you enjoy sampling the regional flavours of this Japanese brew, but do you own your sake cup?
At the Takaoka Regional Industrial Promotion Centre you can cast your own sake cup! You need to make a reservation for this workshop in advance by calling the Centre.
In two hours, and for yen 3,000 per person, you will produce an original, metal cast sake cup under the guidance of a teacher who will take you through the process step-by-step. If you are not into drinking sake, then how about making a metal cast coffee cup. This should be great for ice coffee on a hot summer day.
This is an enjoyable hands-on experience which will give you a great insight into metal casting.
Your teacher will have prepared a molt, which is filled with sand around a form that will become your sake cup or your coffee cup. The furnace operates at 280 degrees to melt the metal to be used for making your cup. The hot metal is poured into the form. The form is cooled down and finally taken off. There you have your raw cup. It needs to be polished with sandpaper and sponges to make the surface smooth.
Ready to be used at a local Izakaya! Attendants of this workshop receive a coupon for a free drink of sake at a local Izakaya in Takaoka. This is how you "test drink" your cup!
Alena Eckelmann @alena.eckelmann
Founder of Kii Monogatari, my story and the story of the Kii Peninsula of Japan. Originally from East Germany, I came to Tokyo, via Berlin and London, in 2005. In summer 2011 I moved by choice to remote Kumano in the south of the Kii Peninsula where I live, work and play now, and explore every da...
