Incorporating Catechin into Your Diet The Unexpected Link Between Catechin and Cholesterol Catechin is the component that gives green tea it’s astringency. Catechin can be divided into two main types. In this article we’ll be introducing the ‘Gallate-Type Catechin’ and how it relates to cholesterol. What is Cholesterol? Cholesterol is a lipid (fat). It plays […]

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てん茶 Tencha Tea that has been dried without the kneading process. After the leaves are steamed, they are dried without any kneading and the stems and leaf veins are removed. The resulting product is referred to as Tencha. Similar to Gyokuro, traditional reed or straw material, or alternatively cheesecloth, is used to protect the leaves […]

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煎茶 Sencha Sencha is the mascot of all green teas, and is most commonly enjoyed. Tea is made by processing fresh tea leaves harvested from tea plantations. The fresh tea leaves alter from the moment they are plucked due to oxidisation, however green tea is referred to as ‘unfermented tea’ as the oxidisation process is […]

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Tokyo City isn’t just the capital city of Japan, it’s also the capital of Tokyo Prefecture! More accurately, it’s Tokyo Metropolis and it’s one of the smaller prefectures in Japan, despite housing over 13 million people. There’s a lot of history in Tokyo (previously called Edo) and as it has been a business centre for […]

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Osaka Prefecture is a special one! Not only does it have the second largest city (Osaka City), it’s one of only two prefectures to be classed as an “urban prefecture”, so instead of being called Osaka-ken in Japanese, it’s Osaka-fu. It’s also the centre of the Kansai region, alongside other major prefectures like Kyoto and […]

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Fukushima Prefecture is most well known abroad as the site of the 2011 Tohoku tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster. Efforts to rebuild and revitalise the prefecture are well under way and one of the best ways to help out is to visit them. Fukushima Prefecture is the third largest in Japan, so there’s actually a […]

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Toyama Prefecture is on the coast of the Japan Sea and is home to the only glaciers in Asia (outside Russia)! The prefecture is mainly industrial and uses the coastline as a hydroelectric power source. Toyama Prefecture is the host of the All Japan Chindon competition. Chindon are marching bands that wear elaborate traditional Japanese […]

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Yamaguchi Prefecture is the very bottom tip of the main island, Honshu, and is part of the Chugoku region. The best area for sight seeing isn’t the capital city (also called Yamaguchi), but instead the largest city of the prefecture, Shimonoseki. Kintai Bridge is a popular destination thanks to its beautiful design and the fact […]

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Located in the Kanto region, Gunma Prefecture is one of Japan’s few landlocked prefectures. Gunma Prefecture has some unique things for tourists to see, like the melody road – if you drive over the bumps on this road at 50km per hour, the tacticle vibrations through the wheels of the car will play the tune […]

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Kochi Prefecture is well known for having a lot of mountains, and a lot of rivers. Bordering Ehime Prefecture on Shikoku Island, it’s home to one of the 12 original Japanese castles, Kochi Castle, Mount Godaisan which had a planet named after it, and the Anpanman museum! Getting to Kochi Prefecture isn’t hard, it’s 90 […]

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