Global Matcha Shortage Threatens to Spike Prices of Morning Staple
As The Japan Times reported, Japanese tea manufacturers announced purchasing limits on matcha powder, causing shortages in cafes across major cities. The issue is exacerbated by the fact that matcha is harvested only once a year. While Japan's domestic consumption of matcha and green tea has declined, the rest of the world's demand has surged, contributing to the supply crunch.
However, a silver lining is on the horizon with the 2025 harvest approaching. However, the Global Japanese Tea Association notes that this will lead to many late nights for those in the matcha industry.
"The unique and seasonal nature of matcha production makes it inherently limited," the association said on its website. "High-quality matcha can only be made from spring tea leaves."
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) reported that Japan's tea production nearly tripled from 2010 to 2023 to meet the growing demand, but despite these efforts, more than half of the tea produced in the country is now exported, leaving it less available for domestic use. This shift has made it difficult for cafes and manufacturers worldwide to secure enough matcha powder for their products.
As global interest in matcha continues to grow, its availability could become even more limited, posing a challenge for both producers and tea drinkers alike.
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New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Lucy Guo's advice to other billionaires: 'Act broke, stay rich'
Tech entrepreneur Lucy Guo, 30, recently dethroned Taylor Swift as the youngest self-made female billionaire on the planet. But don't expect her to be popping Champagne bottles. 'I feel like the title changes every year,' Guo told The Post about the Forbes magazine ranking. 'It means almost nothing to me personally.' Guo's billion-dollar bounty comes from Scale AI, the artificial intelligence data-labeling startup she launched in 2016 with Alexandr Wang, when she was just 21. She left two years later but held onto an estimated 5% stake — a small slice that turned into a massive windfall this April when insider shares valued Scale AI at $25 billion, making Guo's cut worth an estimated $1.2 billion. 11 Tech entrepreneur Lucy Guo, 30, recently dethroned Taylor Swift as the youngest self-made female billionaire on the planet. Margot Judge for NY Post So, yeah. She's officially a billionaire, but doesn't feel like one. Guo's motto? 'Act broke, stay rich.' The coder-turned-founder still clocks 90-hour workweeks with a schedule that starts at 5:30 a.m. and ends at midnight — including up to four Barry's Bootcamp classes a day. Guo credits her 'no sleep' DNA to her parents, Chinese immigrants who worked as engineers in the San Francisco Bay area. 11 Guo made the cover of Forbes in April. Her billion-dollar bounty comes from Scale AI, the AI data-labeling startup she launched in 2016 with Alexandr Wang, when she was just 21. guofortit/Instagram The fast-talking tech trailblazer doesn't believe in wasting time. 'I don't watch TV or scroll TikTok,' Guo admitted. 'So that gives me many extra hours in a day. I'm constantly on the go, whereas a lot of people build in relaxation time. I do fill in my schedule with fun stuff, like at 10 p.m. maybe I'll go get dinner with friends.' While she may not splurge on Bentleys or Birkins, Guo has no shortage of interests — including Barry's, EDM music festivals, skateboarding, skydiving, collecting Pokémon plushies and building startups from scratch. Her latest professional passion project is Passes, the creator-driven platform she founded in 2022 that's already generating six-figure incomes for influencers, YouTubers, podcasters, astrologers and even golfers. 11 The Post previously photographed Guo at home in 2022. Sonya Revell for The New York Po 'Passes is a full-stack business platform for creators,' Guo explained. 'They can sell merch, subscriptions, unreleased YouTube videos, live streams and group chats to their superfans all in one place.' The idea for Passes came to her during the pandemic while running a start-up incubator. Guo saw creators like Logan Paul and Kylie Jenner building nine-figure brands and realized the real power lay in ownership. 'Creators are very unique. They can sell anything, and they don't have the typical customer acquisition costs that normal people have,' she said. 'They are these small businesses that can become larger businesses, but they've been mismanaged. No one was helping them get equity or build generational wealth.' 11 Among her extracurricular passions — learning to DJ. guofortit/Instagram With Passes, Guo aims to fix that. She's introduced a suite of tools to help creators monetize their brands, from in-house design to AI. Most significantly, creators keep 90% of their profits. 'We've become 80% to 100% of the creator's income,' Guo said with obvious pride. 'Even creators who have millions of followers on other platforms tell us that we are the most consistent income they have, and the majority of their income as well.' Unlike Instagram or TikTok, Passes is focused on the relationship between creators and their superfans, with monetization baked in. 'Instagram builds for breadth,' Guo said. 'Passes builds for depth. We're more like Patreon.' Still, comparisons to another platform, OnlyFans, persist. She insist's that not accurate. 11 Guo posted a photo with Bill Gates on her Instagram, joking, 'One of my guilty pleasures is being the dumbest person in the room.' guofortit/Instagram 'Our feature set is vastly different from OF. And even if you're not doing nudes on OF, the type of creator we attract would never go on OF because they don't want that as part of their brand.' The digital disruptor also points out that Passes has a no-nudity policy and stricter guidelines than OF. Nevertheless, there's been some controversy at Passes. A class-action lawsuit this year alleged underage content slipped through the cracks — claims Guo calls 'a shakedown.' 'We filed a motion to dismiss,' she said, denying the allegations. 'Their claims don't match the investigation that we found. Bad actors are always going to be bad actors, and we just do our best to try to prevent this.' 11 Guo is also an avid skateboarder. Sonya Revell for The New York Po Passes currently has around 50 employees, thousands of creators and millions of subscribers. The biggest moneymakers include golfer Charley Hull, YouTuber Sssniper Wolf and a surprising niche: astrologers who sell daily horoscopes. 'Our creators are doing amazing things,' Guo said. 'And we're just getting started.' Her career has always been ahead of the curve. She began coding in second grade, studied computer science and HCI at Carnegie Mellon — and then dropped out after earning a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship. The California native interned at Facebook, became the first female designer at Snapchat and met her Scale AI cofounder, Wang, at Quora. The rest is billion-dollar history. But despite her self-made status, Guo is still sometimes underestimated. 11 She founded the platform Passes — which occupies a 25,000-square-foot office in Los Angeles. Margot Judge for NY Post 'People don't understand how much work it takes to get here,' she said. 'They see the headlines, but they don't see the 18-hour days.' And the billionaire has had her fair share of headlines, including the time she hosted a wild rager at her $6.1 million luxury apartment in Miami, replete with a lemur and snake. The party did not win over her neighbors like David Beckham, and she was reprimanded by the building's HOA. Soon after, Guo moved back to the West Coast, and bought a $4.2 million, five-bedroom mansion in Los Angeles that boasts a dipping pool and screening room. Being in LA also allows her to personally interact with creators in Passes' 25,000-square-foot state-of-the-art office. 'They come to our office to shoot content and record podcasts,' she said. 'It's a relationship-driven business. We're even building a music studio.' Guo's love of music, especially EDM, runs deep. Her obsession began at age 20, when she saw Major Lazer at Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. 'When I was living in San Francisco, I was not as happy as a person,' she admitted. 'But I was blown away by my first EDM experience. I think it's been proven that EDM makes you happier based off the BPM. It's all very positive, happy energy.' 11 The billionaire has had her fair share of headlines, including the time she hosted a wild rager at her then-home in Miami, replete with a lemur (pictured) and a snake. Guo's now learning to DJ and often hops behind the decks when friends perform: 'I played for 30 minutes at a club in LA recently and people were like, 'That set was so good!'' She always keeps a music-filled USB in her bag, and will fly to a music festival on a minute's notice, especially for her favorite DJs like Layton Giordani, Kygo, Gryffin, Mau P. and Zedd. Already this summer, she hit Europe for a month of VIP access at various music festivals. Guo also attended the A-list launch of the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection in Barcelona, alongside Tom Brady, Sofía Vergara and Naomi Campbell. She's next planning to visit Kenya and witness firsthand the great migration of wildlife across the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. 11 Guo collects Pokémon plushies. guofortit/Instagram 'I pick destinations based on views or mountains,' she said. 'If it has a Barry's Bootcamp, even better.' Guo is also a low-key Swiftie — though she jokes that beating Taylor Swift on the billionaire list hasn't changed things much for her. 'The only difference is my DMs are popping,' she said. 'Lots of celebrities trying to hang out. But now I'm more cautious. Do they think I'm hot? Do they want advice? Or are they just hoping for a PJ ride? It's made me put up my guard more.' 11 'I've been on all sides — engineer, VC, founder — but what excites me the most is product,' Guo said. Margot Judge for NY Post Guo was even mistakenly linked to Orlando Bloom in a tabloid because they were spotted next to each other at a party. 'I turned around and glanced at a wall, and the paparazzi snapped a photo,' she said, laughing. 'I'm definitely not dating Orlando Bloom.' The 30-year-old insists she doesn't have time to date, in fact. 'I've been on all sides — engineer, VC, founder — but what excites me the most is product,' she said. 'Figuring out the next feature, building tools people actually use, helping creators go big. That's what I love.' Just don't expect Guo to slow down anytime soon. 'I have too much energy to burn.'
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Demonstrated interest bolsters acceptance rate
As of March 2025, more than 8.5 million college applications had been filed with the Common Application, according to Forbes, for students seeking admission for the fall of 2026, a 6% increase from the prior admission cycle, with students applying to more institutions. The Common App, which is currently accepted by more than a thousand colleges and universities nationwide, makes it easy for students to seek admission to as many as 20 schools using just one application. This presents a dilemma to universities with multi-billion-dollar budgets to meet, as they need to identify and accept those applicants who will likely enroll. That's the reason students are wise to show 'demonstrated interest,' showing that they've taken the time to get to know each school. There are several ways students can accomplish this goal. More: College essays present unique opportunity to shine | College Connection First, students should visit, in person, the colleges to which they're applying. Admission officers assume that if students are seriously considering spending the next four years of their life at the institution, they would want to get a look at the campus in advance. Most applications directly ask if a student has visited the campus and, if so, what month and year. Students should always sign in at the Admissions Office when arriving for a college tour to be sure their visit is documented. Students should also seek to connect with the college representatives who visit their high school or local college fair. Students should introduce themselves, express interest in the college, and ask a relevant question or two. Also, they should take the representative's business card and send a follow-up email expressing interest. These college representatives are often the very same admission officers who will ultimately decide if the student is admitted. More: The ideal college application timeline | College Connection Another amazingly simple, but often overlooked, way to show demonstrated interest is to open the emails received from colleges. A software surveillance company, Technolutions, is utilized by more than 2,000 colleges in the U.S. to provide feedback on whether students open college emails and click through the links, and how much time they spend on the site. In short, tracks demonstrated interest. Students can also show demonstrated interest by personalizing their Common App and supplemental essays, sharing with each college the specific reasons it would be the best-fit institution for their college years. By informing colleges that they've taken the time to learn about the academic, extracurricular, and social offerings on campus, students can greatly increase the likelihood of being invited to attend their institution. Susan Alaimo is the founder & director of Collegebound Review, offering PSAT/SAT® preparation & private college advising by Ivy League educated instructors. Visit or call 908-369-5362. This article originally appeared on Demonstrated interest bolsters college acceptance rate | Opinion Solve the daily Crossword
9 hours ago
Japan votes in a key election as Prime Minsiter Ishiba faces a loss and political uncertainty
TOKYO -- Japanese were voting Sunday for seats in the smaller of Japan's two parliamentary houses in a key election with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his ruling coalition facing a possible defeat that could worsen the country's political instability. Voters were deciding half of the 248 seats in the upper house, the less powerful of the two chambers in Japan's Diet. Early results were expected Sunday night. Ishiba has set the bar low, wanting a simple majority of 125 seats, which means his Liberal Democratic Party and its Buddhist-backed junior coalition partner Komeito need to win 50 to add to the 75 seats they already have. That is a big retreat from the 141 seats they had pre-election, but media surveys predict big setbacks for Ishiba. A poor performance on Sunday would not immediately trigger a change of government because the upper house lacks the power to file no-confidence against a leader, but it would certainly deepen uncertainty over his fate and Japan's political stability. Ishiba would face calls from within the LDP party to step down or find another coalition partner. Soaring prices, lagging incomes and burdensome social security payments are the top issues for frustrated, cash-strapped voters. Stricter measures targeting foreign residents and visitors have also emerged as a key issue, with a surging right-wing populist party leading the campaign. Sunday's vote comes after Ishiba's coalition lost a majority in the October lower house election, stung by past corruption scandals, and his unpopular government has since been forced into making concessions to the opposition to get legislation through parliament. It has been unable to quickly deliver effective measures to mitigate rising prices, including Japan's traditional staple of rice, and dwindling wages. U.S. President Donald Trump has added to the pressure, complaining about a lack of progress in trade negotiations, and the lack of sales of U.S. autos and American-grown rice to Japan despite a shortfall in domestic stocks of the grain. A 25% tariff due to take effect Aug. 1 has been another blow for Ishiba. Ishiba has resisted any compromise before the election, but the prospect for a breakthrough after the election is just as unclear because the minority government would have difficulty forming a consensus with the opposition. Frustrated voters are rapidly turning to emerging populist parties. The eight main opposition groups, however, are too fractured to forge a common platform as a united front and gain voter support as a viable alternative. The emerging populist party Sanseito stands out with the toughest anti-foreigner stance with its 'Japanese First' platform that proposes a new agency to centralize policies related to foreigners. The party's populist platform also includes anti-vaccine, anti-globalism and favors traditional gender roles. Conservative to centrist opposition groups, including the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, or CDPJ, the DPP, and Sanseito have gained significant ground at the Liberal Democrats' expense. The spread of xenophobic rhetoric in the election campaign and on social media has triggered protests by human rights activists and alarmed foreign residents.
