Begin your private walking tour at JR Uji Station. Meet your guide and set off to explore the birthplace of Japanese tea culture and the origin of Japan's most prestigious matcha, refined here over more than 800 years.

Next, enjoy a hands-on matcha-making experience that very few visitors ever do. At a historic tea house on the Byodoin Omotesando approach — run by a family descended from the tea masters who once supplied tea to Japan's ruling shoguns — sit at a traditional stone mill (ishi-usu) and grind premium Uji tea leaves into vivid green matcha powder by hand, exactly as it was made centuries ago.

Then, whisk the freshly ground matcha into a bowl with a bamboo whisk (chasen) and enjoy it with a seasonal Japanese sweet. The experience is warm and casual with no rigid tea-ceremony etiquette, and photography is welcome throughout.

Visit Byodoin Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site whose iconic Phoenix Hall (Hoo-do) appears on Japan's 10-yen coin and 10,000-yen banknote. Cross the Uji River and the historic Uji Bridge, one of the oldest bridges in Japan, and follow quiet riverside paths and back lanes connected to The Tale of Genji, widely regarded as the world's first novel.

Visit Ujigami Shrine, a UNESCO site believed to be the oldest surviving original shrine structure in Japan, as well as the nearby Uji Shrine and the Sawarabi-no-michi path.

Throughout the tour, your private guide explains why Uji matcha carries such prestige — how the local climate and centuries of craft created Japan's benchmark for tea quality, and how shaded-grown matcha differs from everyday green tea. Because the tour is fully private, you can linger in the temple gardens, step into quiet tea shops along the Byodoin Omotesando, or stop for the town's famous matcha soft-serve and matcha sweets, with the guide adapting the day around your interests.