TEA GARDENS

Shizuoka, famous for Mount Fuji, is also the largest tea cultivated area and tea production volume in Japan. Shizuoka also has a fairly diverse climate and topography. Shizuoka is blessed with unique terrain, mineral rich soil, a mild four-season climate, plenty of sunshine, just the right amount of rainfall, and a special factor, dense coastal fog. These are all the ingredients necessary to grow superlative tea leaves.
With the opening of Yokohama port in 1859, tea became one of Japanese major goods for export, so tea plantations were reclaimed in various parts of Shizuoka, locating close to Yokohama. At the same time, improvement of technology such as mechanization of production and varieties of cultivars started and people involved in the tea industry including national and prefectural research and development institutes have worked tirelessly. It is the reason there are a lot of tea refiners, suppliers, and wholesalers, and it functions as a distribution center for Japanese tea in Japan. Not only tea leaves from Shizuoka but also tea leaves from other regions are refined and blended in Shizuoka. In terms of distribution, it accounts for nearly 70%, making Shizuoka the best tea place in Japan in terms of both quality and quantity.
Several areas in west Shizuoka are producing high-quality tea cultivation such as Makinohara, Kawane, Kakegawa, etc. Some of them are said where are the production method of Fukamushi-cha started, and Asahina is one of major Gyokuro production areas in Japan. Also, some of the farmers in these areas practice ancient farming methods that protect biological diversity which were selected as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2013.