Crafts / Washi paper / Tokyo

Washi paper in Tokyo

Four sessions at four places, and in all of them you form the paper yourself. A shop in Asakusa runs a shared one-hour class. A small studio in Koto and a studio near Ueno offer private sessions, the second starting from raw mulberry bark. Ozu Washi, Nihonbashi's paper house since 1653, appears through a private van tour. Prices run from €33 to €116.77 a person.

Prices checked 11 Nov 2026, in the currency each site showed · Some links may earn us a commission

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The short version

If you have an hour in Asakusa watashino A shared class near Sensoji. You form four postcard-size sheets and take them with you. From €33 · GetYourGuide If you want a half day with pickup Ozu Washi, by private van tour A private van tour built around one A4 sheet at Ozu Washi, Nihonbashi's paper house since 1653. From €80 · GetYourGuide If you want the whole process Washi Labo TOKYO A private session near Ueno that starts with mulberry bark. You make four pieces and leave with them dry. From €116.77 · Viator

Side by side

Cheapest on the left, as listed. Scroll sideways on a phone.
Small groupwatashino
PrivateTsumugu Washi-ya
PrivateOzu Washi, by private van tour
PrivateWashi Labo TOKYO
Price per person
From €33
€37
From €80 (listed as reduced from €91)
From €116.77
Length
1 hour. Klook gives 30 to 40 minutes for the plain plan and 45 to 60 minutes with colored paper.
2 hours
4 hours, including van transfers and other Nihonbashi stops
2 hours 30 minutes
Group size
Up to 8
Your party only. Maximum not stated.
Your party only, 1 to 6. The studio takes 4 at a time, so 5 or 6 split into two sessions.
Your party only. The booking form takes up to 4 adults.
Where
Asakusa, Taito
Higashi-Ojima, Koto (meet at the station)
Nihonbashi, Chuo (hotel pickup)
Taito, near Shin-Okachimachi
What you make, as listed
Form postcard-size sheets of Tosa-style washi yourself. The colored plan adds decorative paper laid on top. Fibers not stated.
Make your own sheet of washi "from scratch" with traditional tools, choosing colors and textures. Fibers not stated.
Form one A4 sheet at the vat: dip the frame in mulberry-bark fiber and shake it to spread the fibers.
The whole process: strip the outer bark and beat kozo (paper mulberry) fibers, then form sheets with a mold and deckle. Two postcards, a rakusui sheet and an A5 sheet.
You take home
Four postcard-size sheets, same day
Your finished washi
One A4 sheet, same day
Four pieces of paper, same day
Drying and getting it home
You take the paper home the same day. How it is dried is not stated.
Not stated. The finished paper is included to take home; drying is not described.
The sheet is dried for you to take home the same day.
Dried during the session while you have tea, so you leave with it.
English
Instructor speaks English, Japanese and Spanish
Instructor speaks English and Japanese
English-speaking driver-guide (also Hindi and Urdu). The class instructor's language is not stated.
Offered in English and one other language
Free cancellation
Up to 24 hours before
Up to 24 hours before
Up to 24 hours before
Up to 24 hours before
Reviews
4.9 from 77 on GetYourGuide. 4.9 from 214 on Viator. 5.0 from 4 on Klook.
None shown
None shown
4.4 from 5 on Viator.
Book
See on GetYourGuide
See on GetYourGuide
See on GetYourGuide
See on Viator

Before you book

Ozu Washi's own class costs much less. Tokyo's official tourism site lists Ozu Washi's papermaking at from 1,000 yen for an A4 sheet, about 45 minutes, up to four people a session, closed Sundays and Mondays. The studio takes bookings through its own website, which we could not reach when we checked, so we could not confirm the price or link to it. Try it before booking the van tour.

The Asakusa class has three prices. The same watashino class was from €33 on GetYourGuide, €34.02 on Viator and US$40.79 on Klook when we checked. The "from" price is the plain plan; colored paper costs more.

Two of the four have no reviews yet. The Koto studio and the Ozu van tour were both new listings with no reviews when we checked. The Koto listing also doesn't give the studio's address, only a meeting point at Higashi-Ojima Station.

Most of what you make is postcard size. The Asakusa class makes four postcards. Only the Ozu class gives you an A4 sheet, and the Ueno studio an A5 sheet plus smaller pieces. If you want one large sheet, check the plan before you book.

Your hands go in the water. Papermaking means standing at a vat with your sleeves rolled up. Take off rings and watches, and wear clothes you don't mind getting wet.

The four workshops

A group around a wooden vat as a man lifts a frame to form a sheet of washi Photo: GetYourGuide
No. 005-1Small group

watashino

1 hour · Up to 8 people · 2nd floor, 1-32-11 Asakusa, near Kaminarimon · English-speaking instructor

A paper shop and studio on Asakusa's Kannon-dori, a short walk from Sensoji. You watch a short video on Tosa washi, one of Japan's best-known papers, put on samue work clothes and form your own sheets at the vat. The plain plan makes four postcard-size sheets. The colored plan lets you lay rakusuishi, a patterned paper the studio makes, over your sheets; it costs more, and GetYourGuide's "from" price is for the plain plan. The studio is up a flight of stairs with no elevator, it has no restroom, and you should take off watches and rings because your hands go in water. Arriving more than 10 minutes late can cost you your place. The same class is on Viator from €34.02 and on Klook from US$40.79.

Reviewers liked: Instructors who are patient, funny and good at demonstrating each step, so first-timers end up with paper they are pleased with. Families say it works for children, and several people mention the shop downstairs.

Reviewers didn't: No recurring complaint in the reviews we read.

Summarized from the most recent reviews on GetYourGuide (4.9 from 77) and Viator (4.9 from 214).

Pick it if you want to form real sheets of washi in about an hour, in the middle of Asakusa, at the lowest price here.

Skip it if you want a private session or a full-size sheet. The basic plan makes four postcards in a shared class.

From €33 per person · checked 11 Nov 2026 See on GetYourGuide
A handmade washi sheet with a colored pulp picture of Mount Fuji Photo: GetYourGuide
No. 005-2Private

Tsumugu Washi-ya

2 hours · Private · Meet at the taxi rank, Ojima exit, Higashi-Ojima Station · English-speaking instructor

A new listing from a small studio on the east side of Tokyo, on the Toei Shinjuku Line. The meeting point is the taxi rank at the Ojima exit of Higashi-Ojima Station; the listing does not give the studio's own address or say how far it is from there. It promises an introduction to the history of washi, then papermaking with traditional tools, choosing your own colors and textures, and a finished piece to take home. Tools, materials and the instructor are included. The description is general: it doesn't say what size or how many sheets you make. Wear clothes that can get dirty. Suitable from about age 4.

Reviewers liked: Not stated. The listing showed no reviews when we checked.

Reviewers didn't: Not stated.

No review summary. GetYourGuide showed no reviews for this new listing.

Pick it if you want a private papermaking session for not much more than a shared class, and don't mind a ride out to Koto.

Skip it if you want reviews to go on, or a clear idea of what you will make. The listing is new and vague on both.

€37 per person · checked 11 Nov 2026 See on GetYourGuide
A sheet of handmade washi with a pressed red maple leaf, held up to a window Photo: GetYourGuide
No. 005-3Private

Ozu Washi, by private van tour

4 hours · Private van, 1 to 6 guests · Pickup in the 23 wards · Papermaking at Ozu Washi, Nihonbashi · No Sundays or Mondays

Ozu Washi has sold paper in Nihonbashi since 1653, and its studio is the best-known place in central Tokyo to make a sheet yourself. This listing, from a van-tour company, wraps the class in a half day: pickup at your hotel at 10:30, the class around 11:00, then three to five stops you choose from Nihonbashi Bridge, Mitsukoshi department store, the Haibara stationery shop, Fukutoku Shrine and Coredo Muromachi, and back around 14:30. Each guest makes one A4 sheet, dried for you to take home. Lunch is not included except on the premium options. The studio closes on Sundays and Mondays, so the tour doesn't run then. If the class can't run on your date, the listing says the guide takes you somewhere similar instead.

Reviewers liked: Not stated. The listing showed no reviews when we checked.

Reviewers didn't: Not stated.

No review summary. GetYourGuide showed no reviews for this new listing.

Pick it if you want papermaking at Tokyo's oldest paper house plus a guided look at Nihonbashi, with hotel pickup.

Skip it if you only want the class. It is a short session inside a four-hour tour, and the studio's own class costs far less (see below).

From €80 per person · listed as reduced from €91 · checked 11 Nov 2026 See on GetYourGuide
No. 005-4Private

Washi Labo TOKYO

2.5 hours · Private · 3-30-2 Taito, 5 minutes' walk from Shin-Okachimachi · Tea and sweets included

The only session here that starts with the raw bark. In a small studio between Ueno and Asakusa you strip the outer layer from kozo, the paper mulberry, beat the fibers, then form four pieces with a mold and deckle: two postcards, a sheet of rakusui (paper with a water-drop pattern) and an A5 sheet. While they dry you get tea made from kozo leaves and sweets from a local shop. The session is private but priced per person, and the studio has a resident cat; tell them if you are allergic. The same studio lists a six-hour version on Viator from €544.92 a person.

Reviewers liked: A personal, patient teacher who adapts the session to what you want to learn, and in one case kept giving advice by email afterward. People also mention the kozo tea, the sweets and the cat.

Reviewers didn't: One of the five reviews gave two stars; the reviews Viator showed didn't include it.

Summarized from the reviews Viator showed (4.4 from 5).

Pick it if you want to see the whole process from bark to sheet, privately, with time to ask questions.

Skip it if you are on a budget or short of time. It costs about three times the Asakusa class and takes two and a half hours.

From €116.77 per person · checked 11 Nov 2026 See on Viator