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The Development History of Coffee Culture in Japan

Published: 2024-11-03 Author: World Gafei
Last Updated: 2024/11/03, Coffee first entered Japan, brought by Dutch missionaries and merchants around 1630, when the Dutch desperately promoted coffee to their Asian colonies of Sri Lanka and Java, India. But the Japanese don't accept this weird drink at all. It was not until the Meiji Restoration that Japanese society began to learn from the West that people gradually accepted the advanced West.

Coffee first entered Japan, brought by Dutch missionaries and merchants around 1630, when the Dutch desperately promoted coffee to their Asian colonies of Sri Lanka and Java, India. But the Japanese don't accept this weird drink at all. Until the Meiji Restoration era, Japanese society set off the wind of "Western learning", people gradually accepted the advanced western industrial civilization, at the same time accepted one of their way of life: coffee. The earliest cafes appeared in the "clubhouse", that is, hotels dedicated to receiving foreign envoys, most of which were located in port cities such as Kobe and Yokohama. Since then, coffee has gradually entered the life of upper-class society in Japan and become a "high-end drink". In 1883, in order to cater to the needs of Western dignitaries, Japan specially built a luxury hotel "Lu Ming Hall". Everything at the banquet was carried out in accordance with the "French full meal" model, from the start of pre-meal wine to the last coffee, are officially included in the menu.

Like Europe, the earliest cafes at the end of the 19th century always gathered a large number of literati, where they spent only 1/3 of the price of an upscale restaurant on a cup of coffee. At the same time, attacks on coffee are inevitable in a country famous for the tea ceremony. For example, there was a popular folk song called "Black and White Festival" at that time, in which a paragraph read: "it's funny to stick out the western nose quietly, not to drink sake, but to have beer and brandy and drink coffee with the solemn expression of the tea ceremony." But compared with the solemn tea ceremony, the casual social venue cafe is clearly a favorite of young people and radicals. Coffee quickly became a hot popular drink.

The top and most expensive coffee in the world is in Japan, and the most popular coffee is also in Japan. Apart from instant coffee, Japan is the first country to introduce canned (liquid) coffee. In addition, Japan is the only country with an official coffee festival, which is celebrated every year on October 1.

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