Stubbornness and prudence seem to have paid off for Stephane Danton, a 44-year-old French entrepreneur who runs Ocharaka, a Japanese tea shop in Tokyo's trendy Kichijoji district.
Danton, a native of Lyon, France, who has lived in Japan since 1993, is stubborn when it comes to marketing his products. He has bucked conventional wisdom by adding flavors — peach, orange and baked sweet potato — to his green tea products.
He has defied criticism from traditionalists who say flavored green tea is not authentic and says regular green tea would have a hard time being accepted by first-time drinkers overseas.