A new study has found that the roots of domestic coffee production were near Naha, overturning a common belief that the first coffee cultivation in Japan took place in the Ogasawara Islands south of Tokyo.

Mutsuko Kuga, editor-in-chief of the magazine ¡°Shiki no Coffee¡± (¡°Coffee for Four Seasons¡°), recently published the study on the history of Japan¡¯s coffee cultivation based on a reevaluation of several documents, including a book written by an agricultural scientist from the Meiji Era (1868 to 1912).

The discovery came as a surprise to many in the coffee industry, and farmers in Okinawa expressed hope that it would serve as a catalyst for boosting coffee production in the prefecture.

Until recently, the roots of coffee cultivation in Japan had been attributed to the Ogasawara Islands in 1878.

However, Kuga¡¯s finding points out that 112 imported coffee seedlings were transplanted to the then Ryukyu Domain through a Dutch minister in 1875, three years earlier than in Ogasawara. The plantation in Ryukyu followed a proposal to the Meiji government from Takeaki Enomoto, who served as agriculture and commerce minister and in other key government positions.

According to the study, Moriyoshi Kawarada, an agronomist the Meiji government seconded to the Ryukyu Domain¡¯s ministry of home affairs in 1875, reported to the government that ¡°tropical plants, including coffee seedlings, have been growing well in Okinawa since their transplantation.¡±

Kawarada¡¯s book, ¡°Ryukyu Biboroku¡± (¡°Ryukyu Memorandum¡°), and Enomoto¡¯s reports vividly record these details, according to Kuga.

She noted there is also a record of Sho Tai, the last king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, being involved in the coffee cultivation. ¡°It¡¯s very interesting,¡± she said.

Okinawa is at the northernmost tip of the ¡°coffee belt,¡± where temperature and rainfall are suitable for coffee cultivation. Although the volume of coffee production in the prefecture is small, farmers hope that if the history of coffee¡¯s roots in Okinawa becomes more widely known, the prefecture¡¯s coffee industry will gain more momentum.¡¡

In the northern part of Okinawa island, old coffee trees believed to have been planted around the same time as the first ones in Naha still exist, and moves are under way to protect them and revitalize the industry.

Deep in the mountains of the Izumi district of Motobu in northern Okinawa, large trees with red berries stand on a riverside. ¡°Look, this one¡¯s also a coffee tree. It¡¯s growing well, even after a typhoon,¡± Akemi Ishido, a coffee grower from the city of Nago, said to her relief as she checked the condition of the trees.

Many of the old coffee trees in the area are believed to have been planted in and after the Meiji Era or have grown from...