Tea for two: Fuji city joins Onigiri Society

Asahi Shimbun

6 hours ago

Roasted green tea, left, and ordinary green tea made from leaves grown in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture (Provided by the city government of Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture)
FUJI, Shizuoka Prefecture--In tea-growing Shizuoka Prefecture, the Fuji city government announced it has joined the Onigiri Society, a private-sector group, in hopes of capitalizing on a recent craze for Japanese rice balls.
Onigiri are typically wrapped in dried seaweed and stuffed with any number of tasty fillings.
The Onigiri Society initiated the overture as tea is a typical accompaniment for onigiri.
For Fuji, being the first local government and tea-producing area to join the society represents a 'golden opportunity,' said Mayor Yoshimasa Konagai.
Fuji city officials said they plan to work on joint programs with businesses and local governments that are fellow members of the Onigiri Society to help expand sales channels and develop new tea products.
Founded in 2014, the Onigiri Society has worked to promote the charms of the eponymous rice balls to audiences both in Japan and overseas.
The society defines onigiri as Japanese 'fast food' that is also 'slow food' in that onigiri are made of rice, salt and nori with a tantalizing array of ingredients as fillings.
Since its founding, the society has been run by corporate members across a range of industries with onigiri connections, such as food manufacturers, makers of rice cookers, a convenience store chain operator and a travel agency.
The Onigiri Society has sought to expand its membership to local governments since fiscal 2023.
Eleven municipalities with connections to rice, as well as other onigiri ingredients and miso soup, had joined the society by the end of fiscal 2024. These include Minami-Uonuma in Niigata Prefecture, which is famed for rice; Yanagawa in Fukuoka Prefecture, where nori is farmed; Imabari in Ehime Prefecture, which is known for salt; Minabe in Wakayama Prefecture, which is renowned for ume Japanese apricot; and Rausu, Hokkaido, for sea tangle.
Yusuke Nakamura, who heads the Onigiri Society, said members were keen to welcome an entity with tea connections.
Nakamura said he visited Fuji after learning from a beverage manufacturer and Onigiri Society member that demand for roasted green tea is growing outside Japan. He also discovered that Fuji city authorities had organized promotional tea events in Paris.
'The city's territory extends from Mount Fuji to the ocean,' Nakamura said. 'Both landscapes impressed me. And all that is just right for onigiri, which are born of a marriage of food from the land with products of the sea. The city has been working earnestly on roasted green tea, which is also wonderful.'
He said he already has plans for presenting tea culture at an event to be held in New York from June through July.
In Fuji, tea is the leading farm product in terms of planted area. However, the cultivated land has shrunk to less than half of the levels of 30 years ago due to falling prices.
The Fuji city government has worked with the private sector to pursue new forms of the tea business. It issued a 'roasted green tea declaration' in 2021 and has since been developing roasted green tea and related products, including sweets.
City authorities also advertised tea to an audience of Parisian restaurants and retailers in 2023 and 2024 and expanded the lineup of stores that sell Fuji tea.
The Fuji city government plans to take part in events organized by the Onigiri Society and local governments, and also host the society's 'Onigiri Summit' in years to come.
'Onigiri and tea are symbols of Japan that are well-known and loved both at home and abroad,' Konagai told a May 7 news conference. 'Membership in the society will allow us to work on various projects, so it is a golden opportunity for spreading (Fuji's tea) to the rest of the world.'