What We Learned from the Interviews.
Mie Prefecture Tea
There are a number of regions in Japan that are famous for their tea, but Shizuoka and Kyoto are particularly famous among them.
However, although it may not be well known, Mie Prefecture is also a major producer of tea, ranking third in Japan in terms of production.
In particular, the covered tea produced in the Mizusawa and Suzuka areas in the northwestern region of Mie Prefecture ranks first in the nation in terms of production.
Tea is also produced in other areas, especially in the towns of Tokai and Odaicho around Ise City, where sencha and deep-steamed-sencha are produced, unlike in the northwestern region.
It is called Ise-cha and is particularly famous.
However, Mie Prefecture is not so famous as a tea production area because it produces many ingredients for PET bottled beverages and other products.
The Ise Agricultural Cooperative, which we interviewed for this report, handles 1/30th of the amount of tea produced in Mie.
About the Tea Field
In addition to the Ise Agricultural Cooperative, we were also shown the fields and talked to people we know who actually grow tea.
These days, tea is often harvested by machine. However, there are still some areas where machines cannot enter, such as on slopes (right picutre), where harvesting is done by hand.
Machine harvested tea trees will have a flat top surface. Hand harvested tea trees have a rounded top surface. (left picutre)
Current situation of farmers
In the areas we were able to interview, many farmers have stopped growing tea because they have become too old and it has become too difficult for them to make tea. In such cases, they often leave their fields to other farmers or larger farmers. However, in the case of slopes and other areas, they sell the land and use that land for solar power generation. They sometimes utilize the land for solar power generation.
Other
Other things we learned from our interviews with the Ise Agricultural Cooperative can be found on the page below.In addition, the questions asked in the interview and the answers to them are written on a page called Questions and Answers".Please take a look at that as well.
ページへ進む