I performed my tourist duties well when I was in Japan. My kids wanted everything Japanese. On my last day in Japan, I went to a local supermarket and stuffed a bag with Japanese cucumbers, fruits, rice, seaweed sheets, confectionary and more Japanese tea, which included matcha teabags. Sound crazy, but I do save up to 70% when I purchase these things here. I even got myself a Canon G16 camera, which I had been eyeing for some time. It was less than $300 here, a 50% savings. Now with HD pix and wifi, my pictures should be slightly better.
And………I bought a Tetsubin. I dropped by a Nambu showroom and came out of the shop with this kettle. The sales staff reminded me that this was a kettle for boiling water and I had to discard the 1st boiled water in the tetsubin before actually using the kettle.
The tea drinking culture in Japan is strong. Whether you go an eatery (where you choose and pay your food choices from a vending machine and give your selected coupons to a waiter) or a high end restaurant, you will be served tea. Tea is easily available. At convenience stores, you have fridges full of teas for your selection, from matcha latte to unsweetened hojicha. At a town at Kanazawa, I stopped by a famous sushi eatery for lunch. Notice the condiment bottles, where the green bottle is actually matcha tea where you squirt matcha powder in your teacup and fill you cup with hot water from the dispenser on your table. What more could you ask when a plate of 10 piece sushi comes with a bowl of traditional salmon soup, drink as much tea as you want - all for only 500yen or $5.
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