The tea fields and office of Kyoto Obubu Tea Plantations, LLC is located in the rural community of Wazuka, Kyoto. With a population 4820 and some 300 mainly family-operated tea farms, the area was selected in the Kamakura period (1192 – 1333) for tea production by and has enjoyed an 800-year history as one of the main production areas of Ujicha. Today, while Ujicha comprises only 3% of the tea produced in Japan, it enjoys royal status as one of the most highly prized and respected teas in the country.

Interested in visiting our tea fields? Find out more here!

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Problems of Rural Communities in Developed Nations

While our business is to sell tea, we are also very concerned about social issues related to tea farming. This concern begins on our front porch.

Wazuka, like similar rural communities in developed nations, faces many problems in an urbanizing and aging society. The aging population and long-term trend for descendants to move to the city instead of continue family farms has resulted in less and less people farming tea in our town. The population of Wazuka was over 7600 in 1960 and is projected to be 2500 in 2030.

This situation underlines the importance of our company mission, “to make farming fun”–summarizes our effort to raise awareness of farming and to increase the number of people willing and passionate about farming tea is to save this historic community.

We currently lease several tea fields in various parts of Wazuka where we grow our various senchas (hence the term “plantations” in our name (^,^;) ). We lease because we are not a family-owned farm, but rather individuals who became passionate about creating our own tea, and started our own company to do so. Legally, our company buys its tea from the farmer Akihiro Kita, who is also our company president. The set up allows us to get around Japanese land laws hindering corporate entities from entering the agriculture business. The various laws have been hugely successful in preserving small farms, but has also made it difficult for new individuals to enter the farming business…especially when successors to family farms decide to abandon farming.

An overview and discussion of the effect of the 1952 Agriculture Land Law in post-2000 Japan can be found in the articles here: “The Issues in the Farmland System” by Kazuhito Yamashita, The Tokyo Foundation. December 16, 2008. While the issues are more complicated than the simple explanation here, the problems are very real and we thank you for your support!The tea fields and office of Kyoto Obubu Tea Plantations, LLC is located in the rural community of Wazuka, Kyoto. With a population 4820 and some 300 mainly family-operated tea farms, the area was selected in the Kamakura period (1192 – 1333) for tea production by and has enjoyed an 800-year history as one of the main production areas of Ujicha. Today, while Ujicha comprises only 3% of the tea produced in Japan, it enjoys royal status as one of the most highly prized and respected teas in the country.

Interested in visiting us in Wazuka, Kyoto?

Wazuka is in the southern most part the Kyoto Prefecture, 45 minutes south of Kyoto city by train. The nearest train station is Kasagi (笠置) on the JR Kansai line, and the town is a 20-30 minute bus ride from the station. The simplest way to get to us is a taxi ride to our office — around 2000 yen. Please contact us in advance if you plan to visit to see whether or not staff are available to show you around.

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Problems of Rural Communities in Developed Nations

While our business is to sell tea, we are also very concerned about social issues related to tea farming. This concern begins on our front porch.

Wazuka, like similar rural communities in developed nations, faces many problems in an urbanizing and aging society. The aging population and long-term trend for descendants to move to the city instead of continue family farms has resulted in less and less people farming tea in our town. The population of Wazuka was over 7600 in 1960 and is projected to be 2500 in 2030. This situation underlines the importance of our company mission, “to make farming fun”–to increase the number of people willing and passionate about farming tea is to save this historic community.

We currently lease several tea fields in various parts of Wazuka where we grow our various senchas (hence the term “plantations” in our name (^,^;) ). We lease because we are not a family-owned farm, but rather individuals who became passionate about creating our own tea, and started our own company to do so. Legally, our company buys its tea from the farmer Akihiro Kita, who is also our company president. The set up allows us to get around problematic Japanese laws preventing corporate entities from entering the agriculture business. The law prevents corporations from buying farmland and converting it to other uses, but has also made it difficult for new individual to enter the farming business.

An overview and discussion of the effect of the 1952 Agriculture Land Law in post-2000 Japan can be found here: “The Issues in the Farmland System” by Kazuhito Yamashita, The Tokyo Foundation. December 16, 2008.