Many companies and organizations restrain or control their business activities and events on account of the coronavirus pandemic. In Shizuoka prefecture in Japan, Shizuoka Tea Market Co. Ltd. has also decided to stop the ceremony for the initial trade of 1st flush of Japanese tea and the observation tour for visitors in this year. Besides, Shizuoka Tea Market asked its buyers and vendors to wear mask and plastic gloves and use disposal paper cups for sensory test instead of stainless spoon during tea trade. The market announced the decision and 14 additional measures, including the trade with sufficient distance, for prevention of COVID-19 to its buyers and vendors, at the middle of March, approx. 1 month before the initial trade annually held at the late of April.
Their decision is “right measure at the right time”, I think.
The measures sacrifice some merits of traditional trade, such as direct-sensing the properties of crude teas by hand and nose, which enable buyers to sense the tea quality undetectable by machines, for the sake of more safety trade. Tea businesses in Shizuoka agreed with the hygiene policy in spite of the sacrifice. The supply chain of food also must keep working for our lives under the worldwide viral disaster, although it is recommended for most of us to avoid nonessential outing.
In this situation where we should stay at home, many athletes have uploaded various movies of their training and talented persons have shared their artistic works, pictures and photos on the worldwide web through Youtube, SNS and other tools.
Thus I’m eager to share my photos worldwide in this blog. Although I could not take photo up-to-date because of the recommendation avoiding nonessential outing unfortunately, I’d like to share the old pictures of beautiful cherry blossoms around tea gardens in the United Tea Estates of Shizuoka, including uploaded on the past posts. I hope the subtle and profound cherry blossoms could provide serenity and inner peace.
Cherry blossom at Ushinshiro region in Kawane tea estate.
A subtle and profound cherry blossom with mystic atmosphere in tea garden on the mountainside.
A tea shoot with background of cherry blossom in Sumpu Castle Park in Shizuoka city.
Cherry blossoms with the background of Mt. Fuji beyond the tea plantation in Ryogochi tea estate.
A low of cherry blossoms between tea plantations.
The contrast of yellow green of young tea shoots and pale pink of cherry blossoms.
Cherry blossoms next to tea gardens on the mountainside in Uchimaki region in Honyama tea estate.
Cherry blossoms around tea garden in Honyama tea estate.
New greens and pale pink symbolizing spring!
Cherry blossoms and tea gardens with beautiful blue sky. I enjoyed this great view with my wife on this February on Miwa region in Honyama tea estate. The cultivar of cherry is ‘Kawazu Zakura’, which blooms on February, earlier than ‘Somei Yoshino’.