The highlight of the morning, I caught sight of a granny playing scissors, paper, stone with her grandson! Awwww so sweet!
Spotted this sign: Amusement - catch user emotion! ha ha It was the name of an Arcade.
Popped into a Lattice House in the Estate! The attraction is FOC! It reminded me of a peranakan house - as the house was narrow but deep!
UJI City
*TO COMPLETE YOUR JAPANESE EXPERIENCE. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU SIGN UP FOR A TEA FACTORY TOUR!
I signed us up for a green tea factory at Marukyu Koyamaen. If you are interested please go to the website to register : http://www.marukyu-koyamaen.co.jp/ The whole trip gave us a chance to encounter the warm hospitality of the Japanese and the tea plant was no exception! In fact the tour was superb and exceeded our expectations. A driver from the plant picked us up at Uji Station and drove us to the plant. When we reached the plant, the VP of the plant came out to receive us, despite his busy schedule. After showing us a video(in english) about the tea making processes, He brought us on a tour around the plant. This was to explain the processes seen in the video and to clarify our doubts!
A covering of straw is used to reduce the amount of incoming sunlight during the growth of the new shoots from a tea plant. The leaves are seperated from the vein, waste and excess straw. Granite stones are cut to exact precision are used to grind the leaves. During the process, light is prevented from entering the room as the grounded match hates light!
At the end of the tour we were treated to a bowl of Matcha (we were taught how to make it) and some sweets! Best of all the tour itself is free of charge, but if you are language bound like us, the plant can hire an interpreter for your group for 1000yen.
