Tea Ceremony and Yukata at a Free Japanese Festival in Miami

Entry to the festival and to the garden costs nothing, and the park opens at 9:00 AM, an hour and a half before the tents open at 10:30 AM. The paid part is inside the gates, with tea ceremony seats, yukata sessions, the sushi plate and the craft classes sold online through the garden's checkout. Buy early in the week if a particular sitting matters, and carry cash for the food stalls.

Tea ceremony seats cost 15 dollars, each sitting is capped at 25 people, and masks are required during the ceremony. The November 1 checkout sells a single morning sitting at 11:30 AM while the seating note on the same page names 11:15 AM and 1:30 PM, and the receipt settles which sitting you bought. Yukata sessions last 15 minutes at 25 dollars for adults and 15 for children, the sushi demo with a sample plate starts at 2:00 PM at 15 dollars, the ikebana class with supplies is 15 dollars, and the onigiri class at 11:00 AM is 5 dollars.

The festival runs 10:30 AM to 4:00 PM and it happens rain or shine, with an approximate schedule and no refunds or rainchecks if a demonstration moves. The garden sits at 1101 MacArthur Causeway on Watson Island, and parking is in the Jungle Island garage next door at 20 dollars for the day, 15 after the garden's 5-dollar festival coupon. Metrobus 100, 14 and 20 stop at Japanese Gardens on the causeway, about a four-minute walk. The event is cash only, so small bills help at the food tents.