You arrive at a casual sushi restaurant in Hanamaki, a city in Iwate Prefecture in the Tohoku region of northern Japan. Iwate’s proximity to the Pacific coast means seafood plays a central role in local food culture, and this session draws on that tradition.

Your guide meets you at the venue and introduces the format before demonstrating how to make nigiri. You watch a close-up demonstration of how to properly form nigiri — the hand pressure, the rice preparation, and the placement of the topping. Then you replicate each step yourself.

Your guide leads the session throughout, explaining the techniques and answering your questions as you work through the process.

By the end of the session, you have shaped a selection of nigiri pieces with your own hands. With guidance throughout the process, you can put the techniques you have practised into action.

You sit down and eat what you have made, finishing the experience with a direct result of the skills you applied during the lesson.