Hi, my name is Sen.
I’m a Japanese Canadian freelance Creative Director who lives for the seasons and hosts wagashi cooking workshops.
I love taking photographs, curating my table, and sharing my knowledge of traditional Japanese culture through hosting cooking workshops and my instagram kintokisweets.
I create all the wagashi featured on this website from scratch, and I also introduce other seasonal themes such as Japanese festivals, seasonal teas, tableware and Japanese antiques that all relate to these small ephemeral pieces of edible art.
What is Wagashi?
和菓子 Wagashi Japanese sweets observe and celebrate seasonal events, often taking cues from nature and artistically interpreting the seasons into beautiful pieces of edible art.
By exploring themes and stories behind wagashi a glimpse of a hidden world of traditional Japanese culture can be experienced.
Rich History - Wagashi has a 2000+ year history in Japan and closely tied with many seasonal festivals and cultural events.
Plant-based Ingredients - Wagashi traditionally is a plant-based sweet with only the occasional egg used for their creation which can be easily replaced with plant based substitutes.
Gluten-Free - Wagashi uses primarily beans and sugar for their base. Only on occasion is flour used and Kintokisweets recipes always provides an alternative otpions for the gluten intolerant.
Seasonal Ingredients - My wagashi explores many seasonally available and local ingredients to celebrate the season.
Workshops
I currently host cooking workshops for wagashi with community partners such as the Nikkei National Museum the Dojin Japanese Arts Society , and the Greater Vancouver Japanese-Canadian Citizen Association.
The in-demand workshops often sell out within 5 min of going live and often have a waitlist.
Nikkei National Museum - 2024 Summer Wagashi Worship Series
Ichigo strawberry daifuku mochi workshop
Kuzu-manju workshop
Kanten Workshop
Nikkei National Museum - 2024 Spring Sakura Festival Sakura-mochi workshop
Cherry Blossom Fest Sakuramochi workshop
Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizen Heritage Cooking Series - 2023/24
Mochi based snacks workshop
Aemono Japanese Sauce workshop
Dojin Japanese Art Society - 2023 Japanese Winter Sweets Workshop Series
Kuzu-yu workshop
Otoso spiced sake workshop
Amazake sweet sake workshop
I primarily post on Instagram under the handle kintokisweets where I write about how to create these traditionally vegan friendly and wheat-free sweets from scratch, and introduce other seasonal themes such as Japanese festivals, seasonal teas, setting a narrative table and explore Japanese antiques that all relate to these small ephemeral pieces of edible art.
First Post - August 8, 2019
Following of 2000+ - Mostly local Vancouver followers
400+ Posts- Multi-photo posts weekly
In-Depth Content - Content often reaches the maximum word count with deep dives into the history or process of each wagashi.
Comprehensive Process Photos - Photographs are all taken by myself unless otherwise noted and showcase a series of often 10 process photos of each wagashi sweet.
Medium Articles
Longer format research essays on Japanese food and customs also published online on Medium.
Links to each article available