Do you have a little time? If so, then "ocha shimasho (Let's do tea, or take a break over something to drink)." This is one of Japan's most favored phrases and oldest customs. A breaking of the ice and shortening of the distance between people, the little ritual of ocha is to the Japanese what mealtimes are to the Chinese.
Above all, it offers a small space in the day for relaxation and regrouping. Whether this comes in the form of a chat on a train station platform with a can from a vending machine, or a sit-down-on-plush-chairs affair with crockery from Richard Ginori, ocha no jikan (time for tea -- or any other nonalcoholic beverage) is a daily routine every person in Japan can relate to.
We are, after all, heirs of a history in which warlords and princes held their most important political conferences over cups of tea (when, unlike today, ocha meant green tea and nothing else). Don't ask why, but we've always been prompted to seek meaning in the calm surface of a hot beverage and draw from it all kinds of notions that range from battle strategies to sexual seduction.
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