{"id":25042,"date":"2019-11-25T15:44:51","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T23:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freshcup.com\/?p=25042"},"modified":"2020-04-28T12:11:03","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T19:11:03","slug":"surprising-changes-in-japanese-tea-culture-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freshcup.com\/surprising-changes-in-japanese-tea-culture-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprising Changes in Japanese Tea Culture & Business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Goushi Iijima examines tea in Northern Japan. All photos by Greg Goodmacher<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[F]or centuries, green tea reigned supreme as Japan\u2019s beverage of choice, and the tea ceremony was a high-status, even an almost sacred, activity. But with the rise of globalization, loose-leaf tea consumption is declining, and the tea ceremony has lost cache among the younger generation.

Attendance at Japanese tea ceremony schools is falling. Japanese youth are more likely to hang out in Starbucks than in a tea caf\u00e9. Soda, imported mineral water, and coffee are stealing supermarket shelf space from Camellia sinensis. Globalization, technological advances, and population decline are changing tea culture.

But the tea industry is fighting back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is Traditional Tea Culture on the Decline?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Various explanations exist as to why traditional tea culture is losing appeal. Journalist Seiichi Oshima thinks that the tendency to communicate by SMS, email, and smartphones has created a generation that is not comfortable with the face-to-face philosophical communication that is an integral aspect of the tea ceremony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A traditional tea shop in Murakami, Niigata.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cultural changes in gender roles also affect tea culture, adds businessperson Satoshi Daiguji. Women no longer feel cultural pressure to master flower arrangement and the tea ceremony.

The Global Japanese Tea Association (GJTA) webpage expresses a concern that worries the Japanese tea industry: \u201cThe younger generations in Japan tend to view tea as old-fashioned.\u201d

\u201cIt is rare to find Japanese teaware in younger people homes,\u201d says CEO Simona Zavadckyte.

Sales of bottled tea are skyrocketing while loose-leaf tea sales are sinking. Youth don\u2019t take the time to make fresh-brewed tea. It does not match contemporary high-paced lifestyles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan\u2019s Population, Tea Farms & Tea Consumption<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Japan\u2019s population has been declining for 10 years. The government predicts a loss of 15 million by 2040. People like Goushi Iijima, a 43-year-old, sixth-generation tea farmer and president of Fujimien Tea, are rare. Most young Japanese, including children of tea farmers, are uninterested in farming. Many farmers are retiring; few are replacing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Goushi Iijima stands in his tea fields in Northern Japan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tea farm acreage declined by almost 15% between 2000 and 2016, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Farms across Japan are disappearing partly due to aging of the farmers. A 2000 census counted 53,687 tea farms; that number plunged to 19,603 in 2015.

Iijima observes that today\u2019s generation isn\u2019t learning from grandparents to enjoy brewing tea. His solution is to create events in which young Japanese learn how to brew and appreciate tea. By partnering with sake producers, who are also competing with imported products and cultural changes, to promote local products, he can reach more people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapt, Innovate & Become Fashionable<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Iijima says the Japanese palate has changed, and therefore tea makers must adapt. He is thinking of creating teas with locally grown fruit. He believes that his small company in Niigata prefecture, Northern Japan, needs \u201csomething unique that the big companies do not do.\u201d

In Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu, Birouen Tea House created a unique green tea mixed with the dried, powdered skin of a rare mandarin orange that grows on a small island. The tea, named Sakurajima Komikan, won a gold prize in the 2017 World Green Tea Contest. Birouen Tea House salesperson Andre Andersson explains that developing new teas is one of Birouen\u2019s strategies for domestic and international sales.

For the Japanese market, his company is in the process of \u201creinventing our domestic stores and creating new markets.\u201d The company is experimenting with cold-brewed teas served in wine glasses, variously shaped to allow customers to savor different aromas.

In big cities, some new tea caf\u00e9s are following the examples of boutique coffee shops. Tokyo Saryo bills itself as the \u201cWorld\u2019s First Hand-drip Green Tea Shop.\u201d Tea makers prepare rare hand-dripped single-origin teas. The caf\u00e9 is introducing unusual Japan-grown teas to customers; most employees are Japanese in their late twenties and early thirties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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World’s first hand-drip green tea shop in Tokyo. We innovate traditional Japanese tea culture for next age. . #\u6771\u4eac\u8336\u5beetea#tokyo#tokyosaryo#minimal#design#teahouse#handdrip#japan#culture#foodgram#cafe#\u30ab\u30d5\u30a7#\u4e01\u5be7\u306a\u66ae\u3089\u3057#\u30b7\u30f3\u30d7\u30eb\u306a\u66ae\u3089\u3057#\ub3c4\ucfc4#\ub179\ucc28#\uadf8\ub9b0\ud2f0#\uc77c\ubcf8\ucc28#\ub514\uc790\uc778#\ub2e4\ub3c4#\ud2f0\uce74\ud398<\/a><\/p>

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