Trazee In-Depth: Authentic Cooking Classes in Japan

As if you need more of a reason to want to pack your bags and hop on an airplane to Japan, here is one more. For foodies, avid travelers and authentic experience and culture seekers, there is really no better means of tasting your way through the country than with locally taught cooking classes.

This have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too travel immersion allows tourists to cook, eat and truly feel like a local — for a little while — all with the opportunity to bring some Japanese skills back to their own kitchen.

This concept is airKitchen.

A novel idea, airKitchen is like Airbnb for foodies. Japanese locals can opt to become a host and teach in-home lessons on their favorite family recipes. Everything from expert-level lessons in sushi-making and homemade noodles to handmade tempura, ramen and dumplings is on the menu. Essentially anything a foodie can dream of, airKitchen has a host to teach it.

The site boasts an incredibly simple concept. Travelers can easily shop around on the site, depending on the destination they are visiting and meal they would like to prepare. Guests read around reviews, cook times, price per person, area information and anything else that would inform their decision and book online.

With lessons in homes across Japan, you’ll have your work cut out for you in narrowing down a locale, let alone settling on a dish.

Choose from Japan’s stunning cities and rural regions with airKitchen hosts across the country, including Aichi/Nagoya, Nara, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka, Hokkaido, Chiba, Kanagawa/Yokohama, Okinawa, Hyogo/Kobe, Yamanashi and Hiroshima.

Side note: For near endless options, from beginners to experts, Tokyo has an incredible number of hosts and menu options for guests across all palates, interests and levels of expertise.

Once you magically narrow down the option and choose the best meal, cooking experience and location for you, you actually have to cook. You can communicate a bit with your host ahead of your meal, but overall, the site takes most of the planning out of the process for you.

Plan the date and time online ahead of your trip and make your way to your friendly local’s home to learn about the special dish you will be preparing. You will, more often than not, cook in your host’s kitchen alongside them.

There are also party options where guests can bring a few friends and make quirky dishes, but for the most part, these dishes are authentic Japanese specialties you will want to pay close attention to prepping and cooking — remember, your host already knows what they are doing, this lesson and cooking process is for you so take out of it what you put into it.

Anyway, back to cooking.

Your host will show you all the menu items, how to clean, prep and arrange your ingredients and any important techniques and practices. Follow along as they visually show you the process during each hands-on instruction. Roll your own dough for dumplings and steam your own impossibly thin vegetables for homemade soup. Think of it as looking at a family recipe from that Japanese relative you never see.

Next up, you eat! Yes, of course the pot of gold at the end of this culinary rainbow is you get to sit down with your host and enjoy the beautiful homemade meal you’ve prepared.

Classes typically run $27–65 per person and include everything the soon-to-be chef needs for the meal. Read more about the different dishes, prices, skill level necessary and authentic cuisine and cultural experiences aspiring foodies can have in Japan with airKitchen.