Fushimi Inari is well-known as a popular tourist destination both in Japan and internationally. Ohtani Chaen, which promotes the deliciousness of Uji tea, provides explanations and multilingual booklets on how to brew tea and prepare matcha (Japanese green tea), and has been selected as a “Member of Sustainable Tourism in Kyoto” under the Kyoto Guidelines for Sustainable Tourism actively promoted by Kyoto City. We spoke with them about their initiatives related to inbound tourism, as well as their efforts to build ties with the local community, including children and the elderly. 

Ohtani Chaen was established 115 years ago in Ujitawara, which is said to be the birthplace of green tea, and after the war, it continued to operate as a tea merchant in Fushimi. The store, which specializes in Uji tea, is located in the heart of Fushimi Inari Taisha, a shrine that is always bustling with visitors, and makes various efforts to help people experience the authentic flavor of tea. 

What makes tea so unique is that there are many different types of tea, depending on the region where it is produced, the method used to cultivate it, and the method used to process it, and there are also many different ways to enjoy it, such as by brewing the tea leaves or making powdered green tea. “As a store that specializes in tea, I believe it is our duty to explain the differences and convey the secrets of bringing out the flavor,” says Hideyuki Ohtani, the store’s fourth-generation owner. Based on the belief that “tea won't sell if you don't talk about it,” he says that they prioritize communication and providing information to people who visit the store. 

“We want to avoid creating a situation where we take advantage of the recent matcha trend and sell cheap, low-quality tea leaves to customers without properly conveying the true flavor of matcha, which could lead to more people developing a dislike for it,” he adds. In order to get people to know what the taste of high-quality Uji tea is like, they offer special sets of matcha and tea sweets, as well as a wide selection of drinks and desserts made with generous amount of high-quality Uji matcha, including matcha au lait, matcha soft serve ice cream, and matcha affogato. 

There are also many die-hard fans of their homemade hojicha (roasted green tea), and their “Issen Pack,” which allows you to choose the type of tea and the packaging, is popular as a unique customizable souvenir. With the Issen Pack, not only can you enjoy choosing your tea, but you can also include a handwritten message, and apparently there are customers who spend nearly an hour at the store trying to decide what to choose. Packing the tea leaves on the spot according to the customer's request is a service that is attracting attention for its efficiency and for the fact that it reduces the amount of tea leaves that go unsold. 

Because Fushimi Inari is an area that attracts a particularly large number of foreign tourists, even by Kyoto standards, Ohtani actively engages in conversation with visitors from overseas to convey the allure of Uji tea. In addition to allowing visitors to enjoy drinks and desserts in the shop, they have also created a booklet that explains how to use a tea whisk to prepare matcha, and how to properly care for it, so that they can continue to enjoy their tea even after returning home. The booklet is written in both Japanese and English, and by scanning the QR code, visitors can access related websites in 11 different languages. 

They also believe that the real joy of travel is experiencing and learning about new things, so they explain not only the taste of the tea, but also its ingredients and health benefits, and if requested, they will even demonstrate how to prepare the tea and let customers try different types to find their favorite. 

These interactions with visitors to Japan have spread by word of mouth, and there are even foreign tourists who visit Fushimi specifically to visit the shop. “I thought that our international customers were all first-time visitors, and that each encounter was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but I was surprised to find that there were more repeat customers than I had imagined,” says Ohtani. There are also an increasing number of people from overseas who have become repeat customers, including those who have visited the shop every morning for five consecutive days during their stay in Kyoto, those who stop by every time they come to Japan several times a year, and those who have been ordering the tea for many years. 

While there is a growing demand for inbound tourism, and issues of poor etiquette among foreign tourists are being widely discussed, Ohtani questions whether many such problems are caused by a lack of communication and information. Ohtani, who previously worked as a ski guide in Switzerland, recalls that at the time, Japanese tourists who did not know the local etiquette were not well-liked in Europe, and were often turned away from tourist attractions and luxury brand shops. “Just as Japanese people have become tourists who are welcomed by countries around the world, I think that things will change if we learn about the differences in each other's cultures and customs,” he adds. 

Regarding the issue of litter, which has become a growing problem at tourist destinations, there is a belief in Japan that providing garbage cans will create a place where people gather to throw away their garbage and spoil the scenery, so as a way of getting people to understand the Japanese culture of taking garbage home with you, sometimes people who buy take-out drinks at Ohtani Chaen are given garbage bags. Regardless of the type of garbage they are holding, whether takoyaki trays, grapefruit peels, or long skewers, the store offers to take customers’ trash and dispose of it for them. “This is where you can really show off your customer service skills, rather than just following a standard approach. If you think about it, it's a cheap way to boost your image,” he says with a laugh.

“It's a shame to make sweeping generalizations about ‘overtourism’ when people come all the way from distant countries to visit Fushimi,” he says, raising the issue of the need to deepen mutual understanding and to think of ways to effectively return the economic benefits of tourism to the local community. 

To date, Ohtani Chaen has been actively involved in contributing to the local community by holding classes at elementary schools where children can experience traditional tea-related activities such as chakabuki (a game where children guess the type of tea by tasting it). What came as a surprise was that less than a third of the children had a teapot at home. If the custom of brewing tea in a teapot and drinking it at home disappears due to the increased popularity of bottled tea and juice beverages, the tea culture that has been passed down over the generations could come to an end. It is important to give children the opportunity to become familiar with tea, and to pass this on to future generations. 

Also, as a business and member of the local shopping district, Ohtani Chaen is involved in activities such as watching over the elderly, and they have created the “Fushimi-Rukaruta” playing cards featuring famous places and historic sites in the area in order to give people the chance to learn about the history of the town. They hold karuta tournaments and stamp rallies, and Ohtani has served as the secretariat for many years.

By expanding their horizons to include not only customers who visit the store, but also everyone who visits the town, they have installed water stations and chairs where anyone can sit at the storefront. “When you're running a shop in a busy shopping district, there's no end to the things that occur, like having to drop off a student who was late gathering with the group while on a school trip, or looking after an elderly lady at the shop while her family went to pray at Mount Inari,” recalls Ohtani.

What lies at the heart of Ohtani's hospitality is consideration for others, such as serving cold tea on hot days and hot tea on cold days. Perhaps that is where you can find something that is truly unique to Japan and Kyoto that tourists are drawn to.

■Related links

[Kyoto Guidelines] Collection of Good Practices

Ohtani Chaen Uji Tea - Inari Prosperity Association