{"id":112,"date":"2021-02-26T16:17:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T07:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/workmill.jp\/en\/?post_type=webzine&p=112"},"modified":"2023-09-04T11:02:38","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T02:02:38","slug":"japanese-green-tea-2ae370fdb892","status":"publish","type":"webzine","link":"https:\/\/workmill.jp\/en\/webzine\/japanese-green-tea-2ae370fdb892\/","title":{"rendered":"How Japanese Green Tea is Replacing Soda in Silicon Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The original article \u201cBE THE NEW STANDARD\u201d is a part of the <\/em>WORK MILL<\/em><\/a> with <\/em>Forbes JAPAN<\/em><\/a> Issue 3 \u2014 The Age of Post-Innovation \u00a9<\/em>WORK MILL<\/em><\/a>, published on October 2, 2018<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenichi Kakuno, who was sent to San Francisco from Ito En<\/a> to sell
green tea, was at a loss. He\u2019d arrived in high spirits to find new sales outlets, but he\u2019d been turned away at the door for days on end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNobody felt the need to try and sell new drinks. All they had to do was stock and sell Coca-Cola, and everyone was content.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

ITO EN<\/strong><\/a>
A green tea maker founded in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1966. They introduced the world\u2019s first canned green tea in 1985, and the first plastic bottle green tea in 1990. The group\u2019s total revenue is 494.7 billion yen (as of April 2018).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The market for unsweetened green tea was limited in the US, and not many had heard of \u201cOi Ocha\u201d green tea. Wholesalers didn\u2019t have a reason to promote it, even if it was healthy.
Who would buy it? Kakuno shifted his target to IT firms in Silicon Valley<\/a>. They had the money to buy higher-priced drinks. Plus, they tended to be health-oriented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany IT firms offered free drinks at their cafeterias, and my intention was for them to stock \u2018Oi Ocha\u2019 as a choice.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Nobody would listen to him at first. That was when Hitoshi Hokamura, the then chairman of Evernote Japan, gave him a piece of advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMarketing is far advanced in Silicon Valley. The \u2018pushing\u2019 kind of sales would only have adverse effects. It\u2019s a city of engineers, so it\u2019s best to understand how they live.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n

\n\n\t

\n\t\tRelated Article<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t

The Fascinating World of Furoshiki : Interview with the Furoshiki Girl<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t

Reasons why a company\u2019s employee Asami Takino (Furoshiki Girl) is so fascinated by making Furoshiki. Often being taken as \u201cold-fashioned goods,” Furoshiki is actually a very useful item from the point of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and disaster\u2019s prevention. In recent years, fashionable and cute Furoshiki are getting popular as a substitute for eco-bags. Asami […]<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tRead Article\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t