Matcha shortages and surging exports reveal a larger trend: Japan’s everyday culture is increasingly being consumed as a global commodity. As inbound tourism grows, what does it mean to protect the deeper value of our traditions?
It is said that matcha has recently become harder to obtain in Japan. A matcha boom overseas has driven exports higher than ever.
I personally prefer caramel ice cream to matcha ice cream, so the shortage does not trouble me deeply. Still, hearing that tea fields are shrinking due to a lack of successors makes the issue feel closer to home. I drink green tea every day, after all. Domestic tea producers also worry that supply shortages and rising prices will weaken demand within Japan itself.
Japan’s culture is being purchased.
Foreign visitors are beginning to recognize the excellence of the traditional ways of living that Japanese people have preserved—our food, clothing, housing, and relationship with nature. Of course, there have always been people abroad who appreciated these traditions, and many cultural artifacts have flowed out of the country. But today’s situation is on a different scale: our everyday lifestyle itself is acquiring “market value.”
The former Prime Minister Abe’s goal of attracting 30 million inbound tourists is becoming a realistic prospect. In a nation of 100 million people, the flow of visitors now approaches one-third of the population each year. It is as if a household of ten had three foreign guests visiting in constant rotation. Our daily life is treated as something worth paying to observe.
Inbound tourism, at its core, can be seen as a form of selling cultural heritage.
For many visitors, traditional Japanese culture is simply an exotic experience—one that ends once the novelty fades. Yet at the same time, the evolution of Japanese culture into anime and otaku phenomena shows how cultural value can transform and expand.
Selling culture is unavoidable.
Precisely because of that, we must treat our unique way of life as something precious—something to be protected and cultivated with care.
