Feature: Duke of Cambridge kicked off Japan visit with cup of tea

Britain's Prince William, on a four- day trip here to visit areas in the northeast that were devastated by the March 2011 triple disasters, as well as venues for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, got his tour started Thursday with a cup of tea.

While Brits are known to love a "cuppa," the Duke of Cambridge was treated to a traditional Japanese tea ceremony Thursday at the quintessentially Japanese Hama-rikyu gardens in Tokyo's Chuo-ku.

The ceremony, known as "The Way of Tea" involved an elaborate presentation of matcha, which is powered green tea, whisked to a lukewarm froth, in a time-honored performance known as otemae.

The Prince was said to have been impressed by the ceremony, performed by Dr. Genshitsu Sen, 92, a 15th generation master of the spiritual art of making tea at the 350 year old Nahima tea house, with its deeply-roosted etiquette, accompanied by ikebana floral displays, calligraphic scrolls and its underlying way of showing dignity and respect to both receiver and provider.

But contrary to popular belief, Japan's matcha does not contain multiple times as much caffeine as coffee -- in fact it contains about one third, so the prince would have been perfectly clear- headed as he met throngs of well-wishers in a parade where hundreds of schoolchildren waved British flags and offered the Prince presents.

The prince received traditional rice crackers, a book on the tea ceremony and a tea bowl embellished with a horse in honor of Prince George.

"I got to see a glimpse of Prince William. He's really tall and has a nice big smile," said Komachi Kitazawa, 14, a junior high school in Nihonbashi.

"I was hoping to see Catherine (The Duchess of Cambridge), because she's pretty and is super-stylish, but I heard she couldn' t make it because she is going to have a second child, which is also exciting," Kitazawa, a self-professed Anglophile replete with Burberry scarf, Paddington Bear keyring, Union Jack flag and Beatles anthology playlist on her iPhone, told Xinhua.

The sport-loving prince, being no stranger to speed as he own as a Ducati 1198 S Corse motorbike, also enjoyed a speed boat ride on Tokyo Bay with Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe, where he was introduced to a number of locations that will become developed into a multitude of arenas, housing and training facilities for the Olympic and Paralympic games to be held in the capital in 2020.

Masuzoe said that based on what he'd seen, Prince William was convinced the Games would be a terrific success.

Ahead of his visit to the northeast Friday, where he will spend time with the local citizens, particularly children, of Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, and Onagawa in Ishinomaki city in Miyagi Prefecture, which was pummeled by the March 2011 earthquake and further victimized by the subsequent nuclear crisis, Prince William paid his respects at the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Yokohama, which is run by the London-based Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).

The Commonwealth War Cemetery was built after the Second World War and contains the graves of more than 1550 Commonwealth service people who died in Japan as prisoners of war or with the occupying forces after the war.

It's made up of four main parts; the United Kingdom section, the Australian section, the Canadian and New Zealand section and the Indian Forces 1939-1945 section.

From the cemetery, British Ambassador to Japan, Tim Hitchens, retweeted pictures taken with the prince and representatives of the Commonwealth service people, from the British Embassy in Tokyo and Kensington Palace in London, with the former saying that the prince's second day had been "blessed with perfect weather" as he paid his respects at the ceremony.

"I think its fantastic that Prince William has come to Japan to boost cultural and economic exchanges and I think his mother would be so proud of him and all the hard work he's been doing for various charities and as a philanthropist over the past 10 years," a senior language consultant from the British Council in Japan told Xinhua.

"After all, it was the late Princess Diana who introduced William and his younger brother to her own humanitarian and environmental causes, as she took them to shelters and clinics taking care of those suffering from the HIV virus when they were young."

"Since then Prince William, unbeknown to many and more recently along with his wife Catherine, has done so much for those with so little and has helped keep the spirit of Diana alive through his work, which is great for Britain," The British Council worker said, asking that his name be withheld.

Princess Diana last visited Japan alone in 1995 as the Vice President of the British Red Cross Society and Prince Charles in 2008, with his wife Camilla, where he made a speech about environmental protection.

The prince's four-day trip will conclude on Sunday, when he is scheduled to travel to China and launch the three-day Great Festival of Creativity at the city's Long Museum in Shanghai, as a means to enhance both business innovation and creativity to prospective investors both Chinese, British and from other countries, who are looking to China as a consummate partner for their future business solutions.

One little school girl wishes the prince didn't have to leave so soon.

"I only got to see him for like 30 seconds. I wish he could've stayed longer -- I want to see his smile again. He's such a gentleman," blushed Kitazawa.

"I hope he comes to Japan again soon, with Catherine and their two children. That would be 'superb'," said Kitazawa, in her best faux-British accent, adding that the royal family would be welcome to have a cup of tea at her house any time. Endi