Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Home Visit & Cultural Experiences and Short Cultural Experiences?

Main difference is that Home Visit Programs take place at a local family’s house while short courses take place at WAK JAPAN’s machiya townhouse.

Can we wear Kimono only during the WAK JAPAN’s Kimono program? Can we go out in Kimono?

We have a variety of Kimono made in polyester for customers who walk around the town in Kimono.If you’d like to wear a genuine Kimono in the town, we can provide a silk kimono for you. In this case, the cleaning fee is additionally required.(3,000 yen)

Can we learn about Kimono not only dress up?

Yes, you can if you take our Kimono program (1 hour). The WAK JAPAN’s original Kimono booklet is also given away.If you’d like to get profound knowledge about Kimonos such as materials as well as how to make, where are made and how to wear, we’d like to recommend you to take “Immersive 2 lessons for Kimono”. The Kimono expert will give you a lecture about kimono-related stories including its history and types, among others. (The original Kimono booklet given away.)

What difference of WAK JAPAN’s Kimonos from other companies?

We provide our customers with a chance to wear genuine Kimono made in silk as well as made in Japan, especially for women. A lots of kimonos once owned by Michi Ogawa, the director of WAK JAPAN are included. Most of them were made by traditional techniques 40-50 years ago. They are maintained carefully and some of them are tailored again in order to fit any sizes of our oversea customers.

When should I book?

We can take your booking anytime, but as a guideline, 2 weeks prior to your departure to Japan would be appreciate.

Do you accept very late booking?

Yes, we can take bookings of the programs on the day or the previous day. Please guarantee your booking by providing us with your credit card. It may take 1-2 hours to arrange an instructor for you. Please make yourself reachable by giving us your mobile phone number, etc.

Do you still need my credit card even though we wish to pay in cash?

Yes, we can take bookings of the programs on the day or the previous day. Please guarantee your booking by providing us with your credit card. It may take 1-2 hours to arrange an instructor for you. Please make yourself reachable by giving us your mobile phone number, etc.

My friend is just observing the program. Will you still charge her a full price?

Yes, we are afraid that we must ask your friend a full charge as well or we must ask her not to accompany you. The reason, is that there have been many people who at first said that they would just observe but ended up in participating!

Is there any discount for children?

No discount for children. The reason is that, in many cases, letting a child enjoy our programs would require same or even more amount of work for both an instructor and an attendant.

There are some foods I cannot eat. Would you avoid them if I do cooking?

We will try our effort to avoid the foods/ingredients you cannot eat unless there are so many of them. For a cooking experience, please give us accurate information of what you cannot eat well in advance.

Are there any days you cannot take bookings?

We are happy to take bookings any day of the year as long as we can find an instructor for you. However, it is generally difficult to find instructors during year-end and new year holiday period (from 29 December to 03 January). In those days, we will either decline requests or charge extra fees. Also, there are certain days in a year (spring and autumn) when so many people wishing to do the same program and we may not be able to arrange that particular program due to the shortage of the instructors.