Matcha tea maker from Kagoshima taps new markets in US
Matcha green tea is extending its fan base beyond Japan. An ambitious producer in the country's southwest is making a pitch for the locally-produced beverage in the United States.
The president of Kagoshima Seicha tea company, Mori Hiroyuki, was in Washington last weekend. He attended an event at the Japanese ambassador's residence.
US government officials were among those lining up to sample a cocktail he offered. It was made from matcha powder and shochu, a Japanese spirit.
One guest had high praise for the drink. "This is really good," she said, "It's like it's such an unusual taste. And with the tea and the spirit, the Japanese spirit, it's really good."
Mori aims to raise consumer awareness of the tea product. "I hope to raise the brand value of Kagoshima tea when demand for matcha green tea is surging," he said.
The company is based in Kagoshima Prefecture, a main hub for unrefined tea. It overtook Shizuoka as the top producer last year. But prices for the Kagoshima variety have not risen as expected because it is still not as widely known as brands from Shizuoka or Kyoto.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Mainichi
an hour ago
- The Mainichi
BOJ set to keep policy rate unchanged, will gauge US tariff impact
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Bank of Japan is expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting next week as it gauges the impact of higher U.S. tariffs and monitors ongoing trade talks between Tokyo and Washington, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday. Following the two-day gathering starting Monday, the central bank is likely to agree on continuing reductions in government bond purchases beyond next April, as part of monetary policy normalization from a decade of unorthodox monetary easing, according to the sources. The latest BOJ meeting will coincide with the upcoming Group of Seven summit in Canada, where Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump are expected to hold bilateral talks primarily focused on tariffs on the sidelines. The summit is set to run for three days from Sunday. Ahead of the G7 gathering, Japan's chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa is expected to visit Washington for a sixth round of ministerial-level negotiations, setting the stage for the Japan-U.S. leaders' meeting, government sources said. The BOJ has said it will continue to raise interest rates if the economy and prices move in line with its expectations. However, Governor Kazuo Ueda told a parliamentary session earlier this month that the central bank would not push to raise its policy rate unless economic and price conditions improve, given the uncertainty stemming from U.S. trade policies. The BOJ has increased its key interest rate three times since March last year when it implemented its first hike in 17 years. But the bank maintained its short-term rate at around 0.5 percent in May for the second consecutive meeting. In July last year, the BOJ decided to reduce monthly government bond purchases by 400 billion yen ($2.8 billion) every quarter through March 2026, aiming to shrink its bloated balance sheet following years of massive asset buying to combat deflation. While the central bank is widely expected to continue trimming its bond purchases beyond April, market participants are monitoring whether it would slow the pace of reduction, BOJ watchers said. Board members are expected to weigh whether to maintain the current pace or decelerate the reduction to avoid triggering a sharp rise in yields on long-term government bonds, which remain elevated partly due to concerns over Japan's fiscal health, they added.
Japan Times
2 hours ago
- Japan Times
Can Apple salvage the AI iPhone in China?
If you thought Apple's artificial intelligence woes in the U.S. were bad, just know that they could actually be worse. Look at China. The AI iPhone features haven't even arrived on the mainland. And those holding their breath for an update at this week's Worldwide Developers Conference were again let down. Despite earlier reports that Apple Intelligence could launch in the country — where demand for AI is among the highest in the world — in May, the lack of a fresh announcement isn't a total shock. The rollout has long been dodged by outsized regulatory scrutiny on both sides of the Pacific. Last week, the Financial Times reported that Apple's partnership with Alibaba Group Holding to bring its AI services to China was being further stalled by a Beijing regulator in the midst of U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war. Apple can't catch a break here. But there are reasons to hold onto hope that the service can still be salvaged, even if the window of opportunity for Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is rapidly closing. Apple's popularity in China has undoubtedly waned amid the rise of domestic rivals such as the premium smartphone offerings from Huawei Technologies Just 21% of consumers picked it as their top choice for their next phone, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence survey released this week, compared to 29% a year ago. And perhaps more concerningly for Cook is that the marquee smartphone is losing its allure even for existing customers: 62% of iPhone users in China said they are planning on sticking with the brand, versus 81% a year earlier. But the data also reveal a bigger story. It's not just Apple losing its appeal. The popularity of homegrown titan Huawei's smartphones fell by a much larger share than Apple, with consumers across the board putting off replacing their existing phones for longer. While the West has been focused on Apple's problems in China, this is also about the pain of domestic consumers, who are holding back on spending due to deflationary pressures and macroeconomic uncertainty. As Beijing works to turn this around, it could buy much-needed time for the iPhone maker's eventual launch of an AI smartphone to a more hospitable consumer environment. Of course, the biggest hurdle is obtaining regulatory approval in Beijing. The more Cook can lean on local partner Alibaba to speed up this process and portray it to Chinese authorities as a joint win, the better chance of success. While this collaboration has already ruffled feathers in Washington, Apple should emphasize that it would still maintain control over the hardware, while its presence in China slows the global rise of firms like Huawei, which has long been a target for U.S. lawmakers. The company has been typically hush-hush about the scope of its partnership with Alibaba. But there are reasons to be bullish — perhaps even more so than for its U.S. alliance with OpenAI — that this collaboration can revitalize its AI ambitions, at least in China. While Apple's in-house efforts have sputtered, Alibaba's major investments into the technology have propelled it to be a top global player. Even Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang last month called its Qwen offerings "among the best open-source AI models' as he touted the benefits of having it run on American hardware. Their open-source nature also means that developers can continuously optimize the Qwen models, as well as download them to run on their own servers, mitigating some of the national security concerns Washington associates with Chinese technology. Still, relying on Alibaba to do the heavy lifting in AI development would be very un-Apple-like, given its history of seeking to maintain as much control as possible. But the company must find a way to adapt. And the more AI becomes commoditized in China, having a local partner has the benefit of outsourcing some of the expensive legwork. This would also allow it to focus resources on gaining an edge in the next-generation of AI consumer devices. This area is still in its infancy, giving Apple a fighting chance to catch up and do what it does best: Release perfected versions of devices launched prematurely by competitors. The consequences of falling further behind here threatens its global hardware dominance. Much of the recent discourse on Apple's relationship with China has centered around risks from the company's reliance on the country as a manufacturing mothership. But when it comes to tapping into the consumer base, this is also an asset, proof to Beijing that it isn't just a foreign firm exploiting the market, but a partner supporting millions of jobs. It remains to be seen how tenable this precarious position is for Cook. But he's spent decades buying time and playing both sides. For Apple's sake, let's hope there are more decades to go. Catherine Thorbecke is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia tech.
Japan Times
3 hours ago
- Japan Times
How long can Koizumi stay frenemies with the agriculture lobby?
Three weeks have passed since Shinjiro Koizumi was named agriculture minister, and it's hard to think of a day when he didn't make the headlines — for anything from an impromptu announcement to the press to a visit to a local supermarket. It's not just about his photogenic looks and deft use of traditional and social media. What's often depicted is a man taking on one of the most politically influential groups in the country — Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA). 'Never in my life have I thought about rice so much every day, from morning to night,' he said in an interview published in Bungei Shunju, a monthly magazine. 'I am prepared to take any measure without being bound by precedents.' Since his tenure as chairman of the agricultural panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party from 2015 to 2017, Koizumi, 44, has advocated for a reform of the agriculture sector. In the grand scheme of things, his previous attempts at transforming the industry were largely seen as inconsequential. This time around, his performance as farm minister will likely have an impact on his future career plans. Three key sources of potential friction loom over Koizumi and his relationship with the agriculture lobby: government policy over rice production, the structure of agriculture cooperatives, and the logistics of rice distribution. So far, Koizumi has taken an aggressive stance by advocating for a different approach to rice production and greater international competitiveness in the domestic rice industry. This reform-oriented approach was what led Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to name him farm minister after his predecessor's rice gaffe. Both Koizumi and Ishiba share an appetite to overhaul practices that have long dominated Japan's farm sector — so much so that Ishiba was even called , in his own words, the 'worst farm minister' during his one-year tenure in the post in 2008-09. While the Cabinet has just launched a probe to find out the reasons behind the latest rice price surge, experts have cited decadeslong government-led acreage reduction as a factor. Amid declining consumption of rice, farmers were encouraged, through the provision of subsidies, to convert rice paddies to other crops. That endeavor sought to stabilize prices and protect the livelihoods of farmers. Imports of foreign rice was also kept low for a long period of time. In exchange for votes, politicians representing rural constituencies promoted the interests of the agricultural sector to the central bureaucracy, fighting with the finance ministry to obtain budget concessions. JA, the country's largest confederation of small and midsize farmers, backed the acreage reduction policy before it was discontinued in 2018 in favor of a switch to production 'in line with demand.' However, despite the reversal, rice production continued to decline. But to this day, LDP lawmakers elected in rural constituencies still voice their fears over overproduction and a consequent drop in the price of rice that could hit farmers. In this context, Koizumi has said that he would not rule out raising imports of foreign rice — a real bugbear for domestic farmers — or pushing for a pivot to rice exports. Koizumi inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30. | REUTERS Despite a low overall food self-sufficiency rate of 38% in fiscal 2023, Japan produces most of the rice it consumes. Koizumi is not just taking issues with the way rice is produced in the country, but also the business model of agriculture cooperatives as a whole. Since his appointment, he has stressed JA should give priority to the interests of consumers. 'I would like to see farmers explore markets where they can sell their higher-value products,' he recently told a news conference. 'The group should rely on its business activities to make money, not on financial services.' Sales of agricultural products under JA amounted to ¥4.5 trillion ($31 billion) in 2023, according to the most recent data. This is equivalent to 47% of the entire sector, including farmers who don't belong to any of JA's cooperatives. It is also only a fraction of the funds JA handles through the financial services it provides, such as mutual aid insurance and credit. In the same year, the group respectively controlled a total of ¥79 trillion in holdings — a sum higher than those held by more well-known insurance companies — and ¥108 trillion in savings. While a declining number of confederated farmers under JA has affected overall production and sales over the years, the group's insurance and credit business segments have been performing well. Consistent with his 'consumer-first approach,' Koizumi has also set his sights on the rice distribution network, calling it opaque. The initial delay in the sale of stockpiled rice was traced to bottlenecks in the distribution of the first batch in the hands of JA. Late last month, in coordination with the agriculture ministry, the transport ministry set up a task force to facilitate the transportation of stockpiled rice to remove bottlenecks. 'The distribution of rice is way too complex, and there's something unclear in it,' Koizumi told reporters after a meeting with Ishiba last week. 'It's essential to thoroughly review all aspects of the current distribution system and reassess how it functions.' Koizumi's often direct style of communication — in which he bypasses official channels of communication and directly addresses his followers on social media platform X — stands in sharp contrast with that of the JA, an association that has long operated under the radar of most consumers. So far, the two sides have avoided any public flare-up, displaying an intent to work together to stabilize rice prices. 'We are very worried about the decline in rice consumption,' Toru Yamano, chairman of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives and the face of JA, said last week. 'It's important to build an environment where consumers can purchase rice easily.' Yamano crucially avoided any direct reference to the price of rice — based on the apparent conviction that it should be set by the market. This was unlike Koizumi, who — just days into receiving his mandate — said consumers should be able to buy a 5-kilogram bag of stockpiled rice at ¥2,000. 'At this stage, it would be a mistake to make policy decisions because we need to be careful not to offend certain groups,' Koizumi told reporters during his first news conference at the farm ministry. In another news conference, Koizumi fended off insinuations over his alleged clash with the lobby, blaming the media for stirring up such a perception. 'I understand that stoking anxiety works better as a business model,' he said. 'But we don't do business here. We are committed to policies that bring joy, and inspire and encourage farmers.'
