Tourism How Uji, Japan's matcha capital, is drained by tourism

While I wait, I stroll through the shop and browse the many matcha products lining the shelves – ice creams, confections, even matcha-infused noodles. But I'm looking for some of the actual stuff: matcha powder. I notice a lady with a basket full of green tins, and a commotion breaks out in the corner. A diminutive Japanese store worker tries to restock a shelf, but she barely places a tin down before it is eagerly snatched up in the throng of tourists. She is swarmed on all sides by grabby arms, and some people even reach directly into her basket to snag canisters of the precious powder. She yells out in Japanese, but her message is lost on the foreign ears surrounding her. Realising these are the few matcha tins left in the shop, I reach into the crowd to wrap my fingers around a white canister. Someone grabs my hand, then grunts and lets go. A second later, a tall woman with an American accent yells out, "It's gone. All the matcha's gone." I guess that it's not past 10:05.

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Another bottleneck in production, Hisaki explains, is the traditional stone mills. These mills produce an excellent powder, but each mill can only yield about 400g of tea after eight hours – enough for 13 tins. Matcha production could be boosted by planting more tea farms, Hisaki says, but it would take years for current investments to reach store shelves. This scarcity of Uji-made ceremonial matcha fosters a sense of exclusivity, which further fuels the zeal of tourists. Hisaki says that since the start of the year, their store will sell a month's supply of matcha powder in a single day. And if the frenzy continues, she says, tea ceremony instructors, temples and shrines could have difficulty securing supplies.

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