Three Counters on One Street — Gold Leaf, Six Seats Inside a Knife Shop, and 120 Sakes to Choose From

Higashi Chaya was licensed in 1820 as a place to be entertained. Not to look at — to be received in, poured for, played to. The lattice fronts you photograph were the outside of an economy built entirely on hospitality at close range.

Two hundred years later the trades have changed and the format hasn't. This activity is three counters on one street, and at each of them somebody hands you something across it.

The first is a workbench. A house that has beaten gold here since 1919 — Kanazawa makes almost all of Japan's gold leaf, because the humidity here lets a beater push a sheet past the point where it tears anywhere else. What you'll handle is one ten-thousandth of a millimeter thick. You mask a design onto a pair of chopsticks, brush the adhesive, lay the leaf, sweep the excess. Your first sheet will tear. The chopsticks go home with you.

The second is six seats. A counter that opened in 2026 inside a Japanese knife showroom — the blades on the wall behind you are the ones being used in front of you, and you can buy the one you liked watching. Fish comes from the Kanazawa market each morning, some of it aged before it reaches you. Each piece is about a third larger than usual and arrives unwrapped: you lay it on the nori yourself and eat it in two bites, so the flavour shifts halfway through. Rice from Ishikawa, nori from an old Tokyo house, a sweeter western-Japan soy, salt worked with scallop and kombu.

The third is a room with a hundred and twenty sakes in it, all from this prefecture. You taste in small pours, with your guide translating the differences that matter — which river the water came from, how far the rice was polished, which brewery is three people and which is thirty. You leave with the bottle you liked.

Craft, then fish, then rice turned into something else. All of it within four minutes of the first door.

◾️ Good to know
Please arrive at Kinpakuya Sakuda at the time specified by your guide.
The gold leaf workshop runs on fixed session times.
Maximum 6 participants — the sushi counter has six seats in total, so groups are kept small by design.
The sake tasting is for guests aged 20 and over, as required by Japanese law.
Under-20s are welcome on the rest and can wait with a soft drink.
Please tell your guide at booking about allergies, shellfish included — raw oysters and seafood feature heavily.
Total walking is under 10 minutes across the whole activity.
Chopsticks are the included workshop item; other pieces can be upgraded on the day at your own cost.
One bottle of sake per guest is included; anything further is your own purchase.
Not suitable if you'd rather avoid raw fish — tell your guide at booking and the counter will adjust where it can.