Wood Works Kawagoe — Local services in Kawagoe

Amazing experience! Very tourist centered, but if that's what you're looking for, this is the stop for you!

We arrived on a weekend and so the wait was 1.5 hours before we could get our turn but because it's in a popular shopping street there was always stuff to do.

The entire experience takes a maximum of 40 minutes and an average person 30 minutes.

The process was fast, employees spoke both English and Japanese, and all instructions can be displayed in English as well.

Each chopstick costs a different amount depending on the wood type you choose. It was quite pricy but from what I've seen the wood is very good quality and if you are putting the chopsticks to use it will last for a long time.

I chose the bocote wood and bought a chopstick stand for $7.70 CAD. There is a phone stand for you to record the entire shaving, sanding, and polishing/oiling process.

Overall an experience I...

Such an enjoyable experience. Jump on the Seibu express line from Seibu Shinjuku to Honkawagoe Station. Walk around the town of Kawagoe to see what Japan was like many years ago. Now the fun part. Walk into Wood Works Kawagoe and the customer service person will show you the different woods that you can use to make your chopsticks from softer woods that's easier to shape to harder woods that will take some effort. I chose one of the harder woods so that my chopsticks will last...plus I like the color and grain of the wood. They sit you down at your station and explain the process from shaving the wood, to sanding, and finally oiling the chopstick. The workers helped from start to finish and it was so much fun. I'd highly suggest this for any family from young to old. Left there with our beautiful chopsticks and memories that will...

We were really excited to make our own chopsticks, and we decided it was worth the 1 hour travel time outside of central Tokyo to go here, because the experience would be a nice souvenir.

But little did we know that when we arrived they had just decided to close early due to snowfall. Even though we arrived hours before their normal closing time. And it clearly states it takes about 30 mins for the experience and there were still people making their chopsticks (they had room for us) - they simply said they are closing early due to snow. The said snow that doesn’t even stick to the ground and doesn’t disrupt any transport.

When you are a tourist you have limited time, and it just goes to show that this was a complete waste of our time and very bad service on their behalf not to stay open 15 min longer for us when they were supposed to be...