For instance, Koshihikari, widely grown and given the nation's largest rice acreage, is a variety developed by Fukui, Niigata and Miyagi Prefectures. Today about 80 brands of rice are sold in Japan, and even rice sold under the same brand may taste slightly different depending upon the growing area. Because the varieties produced with Kansai water have their own special characteristics, the brands are named so as to highlight the unique cultivation and blending of each. Each center produces an original tea that best suits the climate of the location. But common to all tea cultivation areas are mountains or hills with excellent drainage and river valleys blessed with abundant high- quality water.
People say that the best tea is made using the water of the tea's own production center.
This is because the tea varieties are improved so that the tea suits the area's water. In other words, the water in famous tea production centers is also tasty. Because usukuchi soy sauce takes advantage of the cooking ingredients to add not color but flavor to them, water plays an important role in the production process of this soy sauce. Tatsuno City, Hyogo Prefecture, where usukuchi soy sauce originated, is blessed with rich harvests of wheat, high-quality Mikazuki soybeans from the Harima Plains, salt from Ako, and water from the Ibo River, which is particularly suited to making soy sauce. This water is soft, with minimal iron.