November 21, 2018
Huaman Hideki,Koki Nakano
Maccha
If I ask you what a famous drink in Japan is, what would you think of? I think there are many options. However, the most the famous drink in Japan would be green tea, definitely. I think it is part of our culture and it is part of our tradition. The green tea is famous in Japan mostly in Kyoto prefecture. Everyone in my country loves it, even foreign people love to drink and eat foods flavored with it. It is also good for our health. Many foreigners come to Japan, to have green tea. There are some reasons for it.
We asked some international students in our school about green tea. Most of them said they like it because it has a similar taste to green tea which they can drink in another country. Also, they like it because they can focus to study when they drink it and what is more, it helps their memory work. Furthermore, green tea contains caffeine, like coffee, so they can keep awake when they want. Also, some exchange students said that the rule of making green tea is very interesting for them because the rule is kind of compact and nobody can learn about it in another country. Therefore, observing green tea being made is popular for foreigners.
There are many tea restaurant. Skin Kyoto called “Maccha house”. There are thousands of maccha houses in Japan and the most popular is the maccha house in Kawaramachi which is in Kyoto prefecture. There is such a long line at the place every day, even when it is raining. Many people wait for two or three hours to enjoy to. The reason why is because of SNS. Many people, mostly students, like to post food on SNS, like Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. In maccha house they provide not also green tea drink but also sweets. Especially the most famous sweets they serve is called “uji maccha tiramisu”. Almost every customer, Japanese or non-Japanese, orders it because they serve it Japanese traditional container which is called “uji maccha” square wooden cup. It is said that it is a great idea using square wooden cup because they feel Japanese culture more deeply.
The last reason is that it is good for our health and it can provide benefits to us. For example, green tea increases or improves metabolism, burns calories, calms the mind and relaxes the body and so on. What is more, it helps us to prevent disease such as high blood pressure, aging, and diabetes, stroke.
Green tea is an important thing. It is a representative drink or food in my country. I am glad that green tea is known by many people from all over the world because it means that they’re able to touch upon Japanese culture. I can proudly say that it’s tasty besides they are many ways to have it. Moreover, green tea can help us to focus on studying and can protect us from disease.
Coffee.
Recently, a news story said that Kyoto was the top consumer of coffee in Japan. People in Kyoto drink more coffee than people from other prefectures. Do you know why? Perhaps, because there are a lot of students in Kyoto. We took a survey of customers in coffee shops in Kyoto city and asked “What do you drink coffee ? And why did you choose to come to this shop?” The consumers answered, “We are students. We saw some pictures of this shop and we thought it is quite nice so we wanted have a chat in a nice and fashionable place.” The students went there to talk or study because they wanted to do it in nice and quite shop. So,it is not only because the students like coffee, it is because they like the space and atmosphere there.
The number of coffee shops in Kyoto have been increasing. They serve coffee like Blue bottle coffee and Arabica coffee. Those shops are not only popular with Japanese people but also they are popular with foreigners, such as Koreans and Chinese, we observed. People paid money to buy coffees. They sat down but they didn’t drink it first. They took many pictures from different angles. They posted on SNS, mostly on Instagram. They finally drank their coffees when coffees were getting cold but they seemed happy. People in Kyoto drink coffee a lot and they also eat a lot of bread, so a culture of western food spreads in Kyoto. Many people ordered coffee with some sweets. Perhaps how much coffee people drink and how much bread and sweets people eat are commensurable. In Kyoto, there are a lot of coffee shops and also there a lot of universities. There are many students and, of course, there are many professors too. People in Kyoto tend to like something new so they want to share information. Coffee shops are used as a place where people can share their information. I learned a lot through this research. In Kyoto, there are a lot of students and also foreign visitors of residents. They communicate and share information with each other while they drink coffee.