Visitors experience the fun of picking tea in a tea garden. (Photo/Zhejiang News)

“Eight hundred years ago, tea seeds were brought from the Jingshan Temple in Hangzhou to Shizuoka, then Shizuoka has become the largest tea producer in Japan. And after introducing tangerines from Huangyan in Zhejiang, Shizuoka has  become the largest producer of tangerines in Japan.” Heita Kawakatsu, governor of Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan, once praised Shizuoka's historical connection with Zhejiang in an interview with Zhejiang journalists.

Hundreds of years ago, Zhejiang and Shizuoka were connected because of tea. While these days, enterprises in Shizuoka invest in the health industry in Zhejiang because of the excellent ecological environment here.

In 1990, Kawasaki Kiko Co., Ltd., a leading tea machine enterprise in Shizuoka Prefecture, and Zhejiang Tea Group Co., Ltd. established Zhejiang Kawasaki Tea Machinery Co., Ltd., the first foreign-funded enterprise in China’s tea machinery industry. In 1994, ITO EN, Ltd., a leading manufacturer of unsweetened green tea beverages in the world, established Ningbo Shunyi Tea Products Co., Ltd., a joint venture with Yuyao Tea Garden, after a year's careful investigation and comprehensive consideration of the environment, infrastructure, transportation, culture, and history. In 2006, a century-old tea plantation family in Makinohara, Shizuoka County, also started its investment in Zhejiang, establishing Wanxin Chaiben Tea (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd.

Driven by the tea processing industry, Shizuoka's food processing enterprises began to focus their eyes on Zhejiang. In 2011, SSK Foods Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Suzuyo Group, settled in Pinghu Development Zone and established SKK Foods (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd., producing infant canned supplementary food and compound seasoning products. Nowadays, influenced by the obvious industrial agglomeration effect, many famous Japanese enterprises such as House Foods, and Nissin Foods are settled in Pinghu Development Zone.

Three years ago, Shizuoka AFC Co., Ltd., the first listed company in Japan's health food and cosmetics contract manufacturing industry, set up a trading company in Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone (now Qiantang District), taking Hangzhou's first-mover advantage in cross-border e-commerce comprehensive trial to actively expand the Chinese market.

“Zhejiang provides a good platform for Shizuoka companies and other foreign companies to develop in China. While engaging in production and operation activities and getting investment returns, foreign enterprises make a positive contribution to the economic development of Zhejiang,” the executive director of the Japan-China Friendship Association of Shizuoka Prefecture said.

Translator: Yu Fei

Editor: Ye Ke, Yu Fei(Intern)