On display at this month's World Tea Festival are a myriad of teaware, from Japanese earthenware pots to English bone china tea sets, from samovars that have become familiar images in Russian novels to petite Turkish cups.
At tea tastings, Japanese tea experts introduce visitors to a wide variety of teas with rich flavors, grown on the hillsides of Shizuoka Prefecture in central Japan, some of which cost as much as 300,000 yen per kilogram (about $1,500). The most special tea is painstakingly produced by the Kakegawa Jonan Tea Industry Federation, which requires 50 workers a day to harvest just 4 kilograms of fresh tea buds.
In addition, visitors can also enjoy the "tea ceremony" culture imbued with Japanese cultural identity, from the movements of the hands of the tea maker to the way of drinking tea, and the colors of the accompanying cakes also contain meanings. Today, the green tea chosen by millions of Japanese people has become a popular drink in families as well as offices, and is bottled and sold in many stores.
Tea is an important industry in Shizuoka, with an economic value of up to 44 billion yen (equivalent to 444 million USD). Tea trees have been grown here for nearly 800 years, supporting about 15,000 farmers, 800 businesses, providing 100,000 jobs. Shizuoka's tea production meets 40% of the needs of Japan's 128 million people. However, like farmers in all other fields, tea growers face many difficulties.
Three years ago, Shizuoka lost 60% of its tea harvest due to a sudden drop in temperature that prevented the tea buds from blooming. Farmers installed heaters along the paths of the tea plantations to keep the plants warm, said tea expert Hidehiro Inagaki.
After the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, radioactive clouds from the plant spread to many areas and affected tea plantations in Japan. At least 162 kg of dried tea was seized at an airport in Paris, France after being found to have radiation levels exceeding safety regulations.
Currently, the Japanese Tea Research Institute must continue to test the possibility of radiation contamination of tea soil samples.
