Kona coffee targets Japan market with touristic efforts.

JAPAN -- Hawaii's Kona coffee industry is trying to attract Japanese consumers with special touristic tours. The Hawaii County Research and Development Department helped produce a Japanese edition of the self-guided Kona Coffee Country Driving Tour brochure. The map highlights nearly 60 farms that offer tours, tastings and retail. The brochure also provides background information on the 180-year Kona coffee heritage, the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival in November, coffee roasting and processing, and the list of Kona coffee farms that have won the festival's cupping competition over the last 20 years. Shunta Baba, a master purchaser for Japan's UCC Ueshima Coffee Co. Ltd. and a veteran of the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival said, "Most people in Japan don't know about how to process coffee so visitors here are very interested to see that. For them, it is a first time to be able see this. When you are selling coffee in Japan, you are also selling how coffee is made." UCC Ueshima also sponsors the Miss Kona Coffee Scholarship Pageant and organizes an extended promotional tour of Japan during the queen's reign. The relationship works both ways, with UCC Ueshima hosting a group of Japanese contest winners culled from more than 1 million entries at this year's 37th annual Kona Coffee Cultural Festival.