It's no secret what the cash crop of Shizuoka Prefecture is: tea.
Green and generally reckoned to be healthful, this brew has fueled Japan for close on 1,500 years since being introduced from the Asian mainland. Now, as my Hamamatsu-bound train winds its way from Tokyo through the Makinohara district in the west of this coastal prefecture, all I see before me are seas of green.
From the carefully sculpted bushes in endless orderly lines that clothe every available inch of land to a nearby hillside emblazoned with the ocha-shaped kanji (ocha is Japanese for "green tea," and the kanji is formed from tea plants, of course), it's clear that Makinohara revolves around one of the most popular drinks in the world.