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| OUR MISSION |
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THE PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND TO THE FOUNDATION
UJICHA BRANDING ASSOCIATION was established based on the Ujicha Overseas
Market Expansion projects jointly launched by the two entities, Kyoto Tea
Cooperative and Development Research Institute Inc, during the fiscal year
of 2011.
The two entities applied the grant proposal named “JAPAN Brand Development
Programs” offered by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and obtained
federal funding to explore the following projects:
1. Study on the branding methods of the foreign tea companies, and on some
cases that are registered as the World Cultural Heritages in the field
of a beverage such as wine, tequila, coffee,
2. Survey on the Ujicha name recognition among visitors and tourists from
foreign countries to Kyoto,
3. Interview some foreign guests who stayed at Hyatt Regency Kyoto and
challenged the Ujicha Tasting.
As well, the two entities organized the forum to report and share the outcome
of the above projects among those who are in the tea industry in Kyoto,
inviting Prof. Monte Cassim from Sri Lanka as a keynote speaker who took
up the post as the President of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU)
and then the Vice-Chancellor of the Ritsumeikan Trust. Those who assisted
in this forum were shocked by Dr. Cassim’s speech on the status of the
Sri Lanka tea farms that had been affected by the recent climate changes,
and showed great interests for what Dr. Cassim and his co-researchers were
trying to do in Sri Lanka and in Oita Prefecture at that time.
Responding to some members of the Kyoto Tea Cooperative made up their mind
to challenge to test the “climante change impact assessments on the Ujicha
farming,” along with a newly established non-profit-organization named
Global Futures Kyoto (GFK) whose chairman was Dr. Cassim himself.
Both Kyoto Tea Cooperative and GFK jointly applied to the Kyoto Prefectural
Government subsidy for the fiscal year 2013, and embarked on a project
named “Ujicha branding experiments via new networks to the world.” To be
more specific, these two entities established an industry-government-academia
research group inviting tea growers who share the same sufferings and worries
for their future. In addition, thanks to the two tea farms, Marukyu-Koyamaen
and Horii-Shichimeien, they installed two meteorological equipments to
monitor various climate change factors.
Based on the results of the above projects, those who share the same missions
for the future of the Ujicha Industry established an organization, UJICHA
BRANDING ASSOCIATION, on the 23rd of April, 2014.
Aiming at contributing to a bright future for the Ujicha Industry, this
organization has been strongly motivated to continue to develop the projects
initiated by the two entities, Kyoto Tea Cooperative and GFK.
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