Japanese Tea Exports at the Time of Okakura Kakuzo

Yokohama Tasting Room c.1890Commodore Perry’s “Black Ships” opened the port of Yokohama in 1859 for the benefit of the United States whaling industry but, within a few years, Pennsylvania kerosene, rather than whale oil, was lighting American homes. The great hunting ships were idle and rotting in harbors across the eastern seaboard. Sailors who once…