Pelletteria is a leather workshop at 124 Takagi, Hanada-chō, run by the tanner-wholesaler Unitas Far East inside Himeji's tannery district. Sessions are booked ahead and run from a single three-hour kit piece to multi-session courses.
Why it's unique
Hanada-chō Takagi in Himeji, with neighbouring Tatsuno, produces about 70% of Japan's adult cowhide leather. That is a published prefectural figure; sources vary between about 70% and 80% depending on whether they count Himeji and Tatsuno or all of Hyogo.
The workshop sits inside the tannery district itself and is run by a tanner, so you are making something from leather tanned a few streets away. Himeji also has its own historic technique, shiro-nameshi, white leather tanned with salt and rapeseed oil.
Before you go
Book ahead: workshops are reservation-only, from kit pieces in a single three-hour session to multi-session courses. A Kobe Shimbun reporter's piece cost ¥4,800 all in.
Ask about shiro-nameshi (white leather tanned with salt and rapeseed oil), Himeji's historic technique. The company holds a "Leather Festival" with about 100 stalls in late March.
