Japanese Tea Event “Japanese Hospitality and Tea”
2019/1/31
On January 24, the Embassy of Japan hosted the event “Japanese Hospitality and Tea” to introduce Japanese tea and tea culture in Japan. It consisted of the screening of a documentary film about a tea ceremony and a Japanese tea workshop.
After opening remarks by Ms. Yukako Ochi, Director of the Information and Culture Centre, a NHK World Documentary ‘Tsuruko’s Tea Journey’ was screened. This is a documentary film that follows Tsuruko Hanzawa, one of the few “catering chef” of tea ceremonies. She has decided to embark on a unique national pilgrimage to immerse herself in the art, and embodied the spirit of “Every opportunity is unique” through serving food using local ingredients and tea to the people she met along the way. It represented a good opportunity to introduce Japanese tea ceremonies and the spirit of hospitality.
Following the film screening, Mr. Daniel Tremblay, Founder/Owner of Cha Yi Tea House gave a Japanese tea workshop. Mr. Tremblay deals with and promotes teas from Japan and different countries and areas in Gatineau and he is well acquainted with teas and tea culture through his business and independent research. In this workshop, he introduced the charms and characteristics of Japanese tea, and Japanese tea culture along with how to prepare Japanese tea. The participants had also enjoyed tasting two different kinds of Japanese tea, Sencha and Hojicha.
The workshop was concluded with a very active question and answer session, where participants raised many questions and deepened their interest in Japanese tea.
After opening remarks by Ms. Yukako Ochi, Director of the Information and Culture Centre, a NHK World Documentary ‘Tsuruko’s Tea Journey’ was screened. This is a documentary film that follows Tsuruko Hanzawa, one of the few “catering chef” of tea ceremonies. She has decided to embark on a unique national pilgrimage to immerse herself in the art, and embodied the spirit of “Every opportunity is unique” through serving food using local ingredients and tea to the people she met along the way. It represented a good opportunity to introduce Japanese tea ceremonies and the spirit of hospitality.
Following the film screening, Mr. Daniel Tremblay, Founder/Owner of Cha Yi Tea House gave a Japanese tea workshop. Mr. Tremblay deals with and promotes teas from Japan and different countries and areas in Gatineau and he is well acquainted with teas and tea culture through his business and independent research. In this workshop, he introduced the charms and characteristics of Japanese tea, and Japanese tea culture along with how to prepare Japanese tea. The participants had also enjoyed tasting two different kinds of Japanese tea, Sencha and Hojicha.
The workshop was concluded with a very active question and answer session, where participants raised many questions and deepened their interest in Japanese tea.
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| Opening remarks by Ms. Ochi |
Documentary film screening |
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| Japanese tea workshop by Mr. Tremblay | Q&A session |