Frequently asked questions

It depends on the classroom — check "What to bring" on each classroom page. Typically the classroom provides the tea utensils and sweets, and you only bring a pair of white socks.

Anything comfortable to sit in seiza is fine. Jeans or a skirt work too — clothing that covers your knees is recommended.

A trial lesson usually goes like this: a greeting and introduction to the utensils, watching a tea preparation demonstration, trying it yourself, and a Q&A at the end. The length varies by classroom — see "Typical lesson length" on each classroom page.

The three main schools are Urasenke, Omotesenke, and Mushakojisenke, and their procedures and handling of utensils differ in small ways. For example, when whisking thin tea (usucha), Urasenke raises a fine, full foam, while Omotesenke leaves part of the surface unfoamed. Each school has its own page in the glossary. Beginners can start from the basics in any school.

Yes — using Chaen as a student (searching, browsing, and booking classrooms) is completely free. You only pay each classroom directly for lesson fees.

Of course. Use the "Beginner friendly" filter to narrow down to classrooms that welcome beginners. Many classrooms also lend equipment and offer trial lessons, so you can join with confidence.

Many classrooms let you practice seated in a chair. Use the "No seiza required (chairs available)" filter when searching to narrow down to those classrooms.

Whether you can cancel and how much is refunded follows each classroom's own cancellation policy. Please check the classroom detail page and the confirmation screen before booking.

Your personal information is sent over encrypted connections (TLS), and only the minimum number of people who need it can handle it. Passwords are stored in a form that can't be turned back into the original, so not even Chaen's staff can see them. See our Privacy Policy for details.

No. Chaen never asks for your card number or password by email, phone or text message. Emails from Chaen come from "chaen-navi.com". If you receive a suspicious message, don't open its links — please let us know through the contact form.

You can close your account from the "Account" tab in Settings. Your profile (name, email address, phone number and so on) is anonymized, and your favorites, notes, practice logs, notifications, blog comments and login details are deleted. Past booking and payment records and reviews are kept in anonymized form as far as needed for accounting, tax and similar purposes (transaction records for 7 years). If you have upcoming bookings or an active monthly plan, cancel them first. Unused lesson-pass lessons expire when you close your account and are not refunded. See our Privacy Policy for details.

First, check your spam folder. If you use a Japanese mobile carrier address (docomo, au, SoftBank, etc.), it may be set to refuse mail sent from computers, and such mail doesn't reach your spam folder either. Allow mail from "chaen-navi.com" in your carrier's spam settings. If emails still don't arrive, please contact us.

Yes. On the booking, visit or event form, choose “Someone else (e.g. a family member)” under “Who is attending?” and enter their name. The teacher will see the name of the person attending, and booking emails and notifications will still be sent to you.

One email address can hold only one account, so the second person needs to register with a different address (such as Gmail). For trial lessons and single lessons only, the registered person can log in and enter the family member's name under “Who is attending?” when applying. Monthly plans are signed up for one person at a time, so if you both want monthly plans, each of you needs to register with your own email address.

You can't change just the number of people. Cancelling cancels the booking for everyone on it. If one person can't come, let the classroom know instead of cancelling. To add people, make another booking for the extra people.

We'll let you know by email and notification. Your booking or registration moves to the new date and time, so you don't need to do anything if you can still attend. If it doesn't work for you, cancel from My page for a full refund (or your monthly plan or lesson pass use is returned), regardless of the cancellation policy.

After creating an account, you can list your classroom simply by entering its details from the management dashboard. You can start with the free plan at no cost.

Yes, you can edit your classroom's information, photos, and schedule from the management dashboard at any time. Changes take effect immediately.

Yes. There is no button for changing a classroom's owner, so Chaen handles it for you. Choose "Handing over a classroom to a new teacher" on the contact form and send us the classroom name and the new teacher's name and email address (a family member may contact us on the teacher's behalf). The student list, reviews, blog, and remaining lesson-pass lessons carry over as they are. Monthly plans have to be signed up for again because the bank account that receives payments changes, and we will help you let your students know. Handing over your account's email address and password is not allowed under the Terms of Use.

The "Student management" section of the dashboard lets you manage bookings, attendance records, and contact history in one place. A broadcast messaging feature is also available.

With the Premium plan, you get access to a detailed analytics dashboard covering page views, booking rate, student trends, and more.

It varies by classroom: some trial lessons are free and others are paid. Please check the pricing section of each classroom's page for the exact amount.

It varies by classroom, but the three most common are: a mizuya fee (for the tea, sweets, charcoal and so on used in lessons — often paid monthly; the amount differs by classroom), utensils (a fukusa cloth, folding fan, kaishi paper and so on, which you buy when you start), and licenses (kyojo — something you may apply for as you progress, after talking with your teacher; they are not required). Each classroom's amounts are listed under "Costs to check at enrollment" in the Pricing section of its page. If they are not listed, you can ask the teacher from the classroom page.

We support online payment by credit card (Visa, Mastercard, JCB, AMEX). Some classrooms also accept payment on-site.

No. You enter your card number on the payment page of Stripe, our payment processor, so it is never stored on Chaen's servers and never reaches the classroom's teacher. Stripe is certified to PCI DSS, the card industry's international security standard.

Card payments on Chaen (bookings, events, lesson passes and monthly plans) appear on your card statement as "CHAEN" (Chaen), not as the classroom's name. You can match the date and amount against the booking and payment records on your dashboard and the email you received when you paid. If it still looks unfamiliar, please reach us through the contact form before contacting your card company.

The Free plan gives you the core features at no cost. The Premium plan (billed monthly, or annually with 2 months free) lets you create up to 5 classrooms, with up to 15 photos and 50 broadcast messages per month per classroom, up to 250 active students across all your classrooms, detailed analytics, and more. The student count is totalled across every classroom you run and only includes students on an active monthly plan — single-session and trial bookers are not counted.

You'll automatically move to the Free plan at the end of your current billing period. Your listing, booking, and roster data will not be deleted. However, the Free plan can publish only one classroom, so any additional classrooms become unpublished: their students' monthly plans stop at the next billing date and any unused lesson passes are refunded (you choose which classroom to keep on the cancellation screen). If you have more than 10 enrolled students, your roster stays as it is, but you can't accept new enrollments (including monthly plans and lesson passes) until you're under 10. Premium-only analytics and the booking and monthly-fee report exports also become unavailable (roster export stays available on the Free plan).