Perceptual Differences Across Urban, Suburban, and Rural Residents: A Residential-Context-Based Study on the Recognition of Tea Culture and Landscapes

Abstract

Japan’s ongoing socio-spatial transformation has led to the decline of rural cultures and traditional rural landscapes (TRLs), necessitating alternative approaches to revitalize rural communities. Reinforcing inter-regional urban–rural connections could offer a path to rural revitalization and sustainable regional resilience. This study investigated such perspectives through a large-scale survey (n = 1704) and statistically analyzed the perceptual differences of residents across residential contexts regarding their cultural knowledge, daily practices, consumption preferences, and landscape recognition, represented by traditional tea culture in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Results demonstrated significant residential-context-based differences. Although rural residents showed the deepest understanding and recognition of tea culture and landscapes, they failed to express such perceptual knowledge with confidence. By contrast, suburban residents presented moderate familiarity without deep understanding. Urban residents relied greatly on symbolic representations of rural culture and landscapes, but without distinct recognition. Although all groups showed high levels of interest in tea culture, they generally presented a lack of deep understanding regarding Zairai tea fields, a representative TRL in the region, indicating both its physical decline due to agricultural modernization and its diminishing cultural visibility. Overall, the findings of this study highlight the differentiated perceptions shaped by different residential contexts. By clarifying both perceptual commonalities and divergences that exist among these residential groups, this study provides a new perspective on reconstructing culturally rooted urban–rural connections to contribute to the revitalization of rural communities, culture, and the conservation of TRLs in the region.

1. Introduction

Traditional rural landscapes (TRLs) have been shaped over slow evolutions during the past centuries, preserving their historical characteristics such as specific land uses, landscape structures, and traditional practices [1,2]. These landscapes provide multiple ecosystem services, from food production and biodiversity to cultural heritage, and they continue to play a vital role in the future development of rural areas [2,3]. TRLs are crucial for sustainable development in terms of ecology, economy, and sociocultural aspects. Their significance is universally acknowledged, such as by the Cultural Landscape of UNESCO and the GIAHS of the FAO [4,5]. Yet, despite their recognized value, TRLs worldwide are facing severe challenges, including structural economic changes, shifting social values, and the demographic redistribution associated with urbanization and rural decline [6,7].

To mitigate such issues, many countries and regions are starting to utilize urban–rural exchange and rural tourism for the revitalization of TRLs by drawing on their cultural and experiential values [8,9,10,11]. Some representatives of such successful endeavors include agritourism in Tuscany [12], wine tourism in Portugal’s Douro Valley [13], and indigenous tourism around the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras [14]. Such successful endeavors have illustrated how these rural landscapes can be shaped into tourism attractions for urban markets. Although such rural tourism models have proven to be effective in stimulating the local economy [15,16,17,18], their long-term sustainability is threatened by significant risks such as the potential decline of local TRLs and cultural homogenization under mass tourism [19], resulting in the leakage of economic benefits away from the local communities [20].

Consequently, the limitations of externally driven approaches have led to more sustainable solutions, such as the growing promotion of community-oriented endogenous and neo-endogenous development [21,22,23,24,25]. In Japan, such approaches have been widely practiced and achieved notable results in rural revitalization [26]. However, severe demographic decline, due to factors such as the aging of farmers and the shortage of successors, is now undermining the internal capacity required to sustain community-driven development.

Japan has been undergoing socio-spatial transformations driven by deindustrialization, population decline, and rapid aging, resulting in urban shrinkage, suburbanization, and increasingly marginalized rural areas. These increasing population concentrations in the centers of urban and suburban regions, coupled with economic and social flows largely confined to these areas [27,28], have further isolated rural regions. In turn, this has intensified threats to their economic viability along with their irreplaceable traditional rural culture and landscapes [29].

As current policies have failed to revitalize rural communities, rural revitalization depends greatly on cultivating new forms of population mobility that reconnect urban, suburban, and rural residents [30,31,32]. However, existing studies on urban–rural connections have primarily focused on economic benefits, social benefits, and population migration [33,34,35,36]. More recently, some research has begun to highlight the role of cultural exchange in strengthening these connections [37,38]. Nevertheless, few studies have systematically examined how residential context shapes people’s perceptions of TRLs.

Previous studies further suggest that culture is sustained through daily practices and that cognitive awareness does not automatically translate into behavioral engagement, indicating the need to examine knowledge, practice, and perception in an integrated manner [39,40,41,42,43]. Accordingly, this study examines differences in cultural knowledge, daily practices, consumption preferences, and landscape recognition among urban, suburban, and rural residents to explore their implications for fostering resilient, culturally grounded urban–rural connections.

To address this research gap, this study focuses on Shizuoka Prefecture, whose socio-spatial characteristics exemplify the aforementioned issues. As Japan’s largest tea-producing region, Shizuoka Prefecture offers a representative perspective due to its deeply rooted tea culture and landscapes. In Shizuoka, tea represents a unique intersection between rural cultures, their agricultural products, and distinct TRLs.

As presented in the conceptual framework in Figure 1, in this study, through a large-scale questionnaire survey and subsequent statistical analysis, we aim to understand the perceptual differences of residents across residential contexts regarding their cultural knowledge, daily practices, consumption preferences, and landscape recognition, represented by traditional tea culture in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Specifically, this study addresses the following three aspects: (1) How do residential contexts influence the perceptions of their residents regarding tea culture? (2) What perceptual commonalities and divergences exist among these residential groups? (3) How can these findings contribute to the revitalization of rural communities, culture, and TRLs?

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Study Area

This study was conducted in Shizuoka Prefecture, located on the Pacific coast of central Japan (Figure 2). As Japan’s largest tea-producing region and an important industrial hub, Shizuoka displays a typical urban–suburban–rural structure where the challenges of socio-spatial transformation are clearly present [44,45]. Its two government ordinance-designated cities, Shizuoka and Hamamatsu, are located on the coastal plain as centers of industrial activity [46]. By contrast, the inland and mountainous areas are characterized by agriculture, with tea cultivation as their dominant crop [47]. These socio-spatial characteristics include densely populated urban regions showing signs of shrinkage, declining suburban regions and smaller regional cities where a large share of residents now live, as well as sparsely populated rural regions facing severe marginalization in the mountainous areas.

Shizuoka’s landscapes, ranging from coastal plateaus to steep mountain slopes, have given rise to diverse tea-growing environments and a rich variety of tea landscape typologies [48,49]. With more than 800 years of cultivation history [50], several mountainous rural areas still preserve traditional practices, including the “Tea-grass integrated system”, a designated GIAHS [51], and traditional Zairai tea cultivation. Zairai tea, introduced from China over a millennium ago, represents the historical culture of Japanese tea cultivation and retains the irregular shapes formed by seed propagation and manual cultivation [52,53,54].

Despite their cultural significance, the mountainous rural areas where these traditions persist face severe demographic challenges common across rural Japan, including aging and the rapid decline of farming households. Between 2005 and 2020, Shizuoka’s total population decreased by only 4%, yet the number of tea-farming households fell by 67.1%, leading to a 39.5% reduction in total tea cultivation area, more than half of which (55.8%) occurred in mountainous districts [55,56]. At the same time, cultivar homogenization within the industry is further threatening the survival of traditional Zairai tea [57].

Although the prefectural government has initiated various efforts to preserve tea culture and landscapes, the impact has been limited [52,55,58]. For these reasons, Shizuoka provides an ideal setting to investigate how residents from urban, suburban, and rural contexts recognize, perceive, and understand rural culture and TRLs.

2.2. Definition of Tea Field Typologies

To capture the diversity of tea landscapes in Shizuoka, this study defined six typologies based on three key criteria: topographic features, cultivation method, and management state. As presented in Figure 3, six typical tea field topologies were categorized into three types: modern mechanized types (flatland, hillside, and mountain slope), traditional type (Zairai), and abandoned types (grass-covered, overgrown).

Topographic features determine the agricultural conditions of tea fields. The majority of plains, flat plateaus, gentle hillsides, and some mountainous areas are fully mechanized into high-productivity tea fields. Some mountainous areas were sustained as traditional Zairai tea fields, which preserved the pre-mechanization landscape topologies and manual cultivation methods, inheriting the historical and cultural value. By contrast, other mountainous areas are abandoned. The coexistence of such distinctive tea field landscapes with different topological features and cultivation approaches in Shizuoka endows it with distinctive characteristics as a platform where the public’s cognitive perception and visual recognition of the tea field landscapes can be investigated.

2.3. Questionnaire Design

A questionnaire was designed to distinguish residents across urban, suburban, and rural areas, and to comprehensively understand their cultural knowledge, daily practices, consumption preferences, and landscape recognition. To ensure the scientific rigor and validity of the questionnaire, survey items were developed based on relevant literature and systematic preliminary fieldwork in Shizuoka Prefecture. It was reviewed by experts in cultural landscape studies and rural sociology to ensure content validity. The questionnaire design was organized into four thematic sections (

Table 1. Overview of the questions, descriptions, scale types, and analytical purposes of the questionnaire.

Questions	Description and Scale Type	Analytical Purpose
Section 1: Context
Q1. Residential area	Identification as urban, suburban, or rural resident.	Categorize respondents into urban, suburban, and rural groups, forming the basis for comparative analysis [59,60,61,62].
Section 2: Tea-related recognition
Q2. Interest in tea culture	General interest level. (5-point Likert scale: 1 = Not at all to 5 = Very high)	Capture respondents’ self-assessed cultural knowledge and recognition of traditional tea, reflecting levels of cultural awareness [63].
Q3. Awareness of Zairai tea	Conceptual knowledge of traditional varieties. (5-point Likert scale: 1 = Not aware to 5 = Know very well)
Q4. Tea-drinking frequency	Frequency of brewing and drinking tea. (5-point ordinal: 1 = Not at all to 5 = Almost every day)	Record respondents’ daily practice of drinking brewed tea and encountering tea fields, indicating behavioral engagement [64,65].
Q5. Tea field encountering frequency	Frequency of encountering tea fields. (5-point ordinal: 1 = Not at all to 5 = Almost every day)
Section 3: Consumption behavior and resource
Q6. Information sources	Use of 9 sources (Television, internet, word-of-mouth, etc.); multiple-response available	Understand respondents’ tea consumption behaviors, including sources of information and decision-making factors when purchasing tea [66,67].
Q7. Tea selection preferences	Importance of 8 criteria (Origin, Variety, Price, etc.). (5-point Likert: 1 = Not important to 5 = Very important)
Section 4: Perceptions of tea fields
Q8. Importance of agroecosystem functions	Perceived importance of 8 public good functions. (5-point Likert scale: 1 = Not important to 5 = Very important)	Assess respondents’ perception levels of tea fields as multifunctional landscapes, covering agricultural, ecological, and cultural values [68].
Q9. Recognition of tea field types	Recognition of 6 tea field landscape typologies. (Multiple-response available)	Assess respondents’ abilities to distinguish tea field typologies, including mechanized, traditional and abandoned tea fields, from their on-site experiences, thereby revealing their cognitive perceptions of tea field landscapes [69].

). The first section collected data on residential areas (Q1) to enable group comparisons. The second section assessed the knowledge–practice gap through measures of cultural awareness (Q2–Q3) and daily engagement (Q4–Q5). The third section examined consumer orientations, including information sources and purchasing criteria (Q6–Q7). Finally, the fourth section addressed deeper perceptions by evaluating both the multifunctionality of tea fields (Q8) and respondents’ ability to recognize tea field typologies (Q9).

Although the questionnaire was conducted in a specific region where tea culture is deeply rooted and widely shared, additional measures were taken to minimize comprehension bias and leading effects. Neutral wording was used throughout the questionnaire; key terms were defined at the outset, and concise descriptions with visual guides were provided for technically specific topics such as Zairai tea and tea field typologies.

2.4. Data Collection and Participants

Data were collected through an online survey administered by the research firm Freeasy and randomly distributed to residents of Shizuoka Prefecture aged 20–99. Prior to participation, all respondents were informed that their answers would be anonymized and used solely for academic purposes, that informed consent was obtained, and that they could withdraw at any time.

A total of 2000 responses were initially collected. Cases were excluded if (1) any single question was answered in less than two seconds, indicating inattentive responding [70], or (2) the residential area was not specified. After data cleaning, the final dataset comprised 1704 valid responses, yielding an effective response rate of 85.2%. The demographic structure of the final sample generally reflects the characteristics of Shizuoka (

Table 2. Distribution of survey participants by residential area (n = 1704).

Demographic Characteristics		Frequency (n)	Percentage (%)
Q1. Residential Area	Urban	287	16.8%
	Suburban	1218	71.5%
	Rural	199	11.7%

). The distribution of residential areas is consistent with the prefecture’s spatial structure, with most residents in suburban and regional city zones, a smaller share in urban cores, and a minority in sparsely populated rural areas (introduced in Section 2.1).

2.5. Data Analysis

All statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 27 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA), with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. The analytical strategy followed a stepwise structure, aligning with the research objectives and the dimensions of the questionnaire.

First, respondents were categorized by residential area (Q1: urban, suburban, and rural), which served as the key grouping variable for subsequent comparisons.

Second, we examined responses related to two aspects: knowledge (Q2: cultural interest, Q3: awareness of Zairai tea) and practice (Q4: tea-drinking frequency, Q5: tea field encounters). Group differences across residential areas were tested using one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), which analyzes correlated variables simultaneously and avoids the Type I error inflation of multiple one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) [71,72]. To further quantify the gap, a composite index was calculated as the sum of standardized practice scores (Q4 + Q5) minus the standardized knowledge score (Q2 + Q3). The index was then compared across groups using one-way ANOVA.

Third, to test whether the patterns observed in knowledge and practice (Q2–Q5) were reflected in actual behavioral differences, we used Q6 (information sources) and Q7 (tea selection criteria) to capture broader tea-related behaviors and value orientations beyond everyday habits. Two-step cluster analysis was then applied to identify consistent consumer types. This method was chosen for its ability to handle large samples with mixed data and to automatically determine the optimal number of clusters [73,74]. Associations between cluster membership and residential area were further examined with chi-square tests, providing insight into how these consumer typologies are distributed across residential groups.

Finally, to provide a deeper understanding of the differences observed among residential groups in the previous analyses, multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was applied to Q9 (landscape recognition). MCA was chosen because it is well-suited for categorical data and can reveal structural relationships among recognition patterns [75,76,77]. Separate analyses were conducted for urban, suburban, and rural residents, offering a perspective from landscape cognition that synthesizes earlier findings on knowledge, practice, and values into a more comprehensive understanding of how tea landscapes are perceived across different living environments.

3. Results

3.1. Descriptive Statistics of Tea-Related Perceptions Across Residential Areas

This subsection provides a descriptive summary of the questionnaire introduced in Section 2, with results presented separately for urban, suburban, and rural residents.

Table 3. Frequency distribution of responses for key recognition and perception items, by residential area.

Variable	Residential Area	Category 5 n (%)	Category 4 n (%)	Category 3 n (%)	Category 2 n (%)	Category 1 n (%)
Q2. Interest in tea culture		Very high interest	Somewhat interested	Neither	Not very interested	Not interested at all
	Urban (n = 287)	67 (23.3%)	136 (47.4%)	53 (18.5%)	21 (7.3%)	10 (3.5%)
	Suburban (n = 1218)	190 (15.6%)	610 (50.1%)	246 (20.2%)	137 (11.2%)	35 (2.9%)
	Rural (n = 199)	30 (15.1%)	102 (51.3%)	44 (22.1%)	16 (8.0%)	7 (3.5%)
	Total (n = 1704)	287 (16.8%)	848 (49.8%)	343 (20.1%)	174 (10.2%)	52 (3.1%)
Q3. Awareness of Zairai Tea		Know very well	Know to some extent	Know a little	Heard the name only	Not aware at all
	Urban (n = 287)	18 (6.3%)	67 (23.3%)	60 (20.9%)	62 (21.6%)	80 (27.9%)
	Suburban (n = 1218)	40 (3.3%)	204 (16.7%)	274 (22.5%)	262 (21.5%)	438 (36.0%)
	Rural (n = 199)	10 (5.0%)	39 (19.6%)	49 (24.6%)	41 (20.6%)	60 (30.2%)
	Total (n = 1704)	68 (4.0%)	310 (18.2%)	383 (22.5%)	365 (21.4%)	578 (33.9%)
Q4. Tea drinking frequency		Almost every day	A few times a week	A few times a month	A few times a year	Not at all
	Urban (n = 287)	115 (40.1%)	48 (16.7%)	40 (13.9%)	45 (15.7%)	39 (13.6%)
	Suburban (n = 1218)	502 (41.2%)	197 (16.2%)	178 (14.6%)	192 (15.8%)	149 (12.2%)
	Rural (n = 199)	98 (49.2%)	31 (15.6%)	29 (14.6%)	26 (13.1%)	15 (7.5%)
	Total (n = 1704)	715 (42.0%)	276 (16.2%)	247 (14.5%)	263 (15.4%)	203 (11.9%)
Q5. Tea field encountering frequency		Almost every day	A few times a week	A few times a month	A few times a year	Not at all
	Urban (n = 287)	38 (13.2%)	46 (16.0%)	25 (8.7%)	66 (23.0%)	112 (39.0%)
	Suburban (n = 1218)	220 (18.1%)	188 (15.4%)	190 (15.6%)	262 (21.5%)	358 (29.4%)
	Rural (n = 199)	37 (18.6%)	25 (12.6%)	73 (36.7%)	29 (14.6%)	35 (17.6%)
	Total (n = 1704)	295 (17.3%)	259 (15.2%)	288 (16.9%)	357 (21.0%)	505 (29.6%)

Note: Values represent the count (n) and the row percentage (%) of respondents within each group who selected that category. Response categories are ordered from the highest level of engagement (Category 5) to the lowest (Category 1). The percentage in the “Total” row is calculated based on the total sample size (n = 1704). Percentages may not sum to exactly 100% due to rounding. The highest percentage among the three residential areas is highlighted in bold.

,

Table 4. Frequencies of recognized tea field landscape types and sources of information obtained in each residential area.

Thematic Category	Tea Field Type/Source of Information	Urban n (%)	Suburban n (%)	Rural n (%)	Total n (%)
Q9: Recognition of Tea Field Types		n = 241	n = 1030	n = 174	n = 1445
Modern mechanized tea fields	Flatland Tea Field	196 (81.3%)	822 (79.8%)	133 (76.4%)	1151 (79.7%)
	Hillside Tea Field	189 (78.4%)	780 (75.7%)	132 (75.9%)	1101 (76.2%)
	Mountain Slope Tea Field	162 (67.2%)	685 (66.5%)	123 (70.7%)	970 (67.1%)
Traditional tea fields	Zairai Tea Field	106 (44.0%)	391 (38.0%)	52 (29.9%)	549 (38.0%)
Abandoned Tea Fields	Abandoned (Overgrown)	56 (23.2%)	243 (23.6%)	75 (43.1%)	374 (25.9%)
	Abandoned (Grass-covered)	55 (22.8%)	233 (22.6%)	60 (34.5%)	348 (24.1%)
Q6: Sources of Tea-Related Information		n = 208	n = 830	n = 144	n = 1182
Mass media	Television and Commercials	150 (72.1%)	616 (74.2%)	84 (58.3%)	850 (71.9%)
	Newspaper/Magazine	64 (30.8%)	217 (26.1%)	31 (21.5%)	312 (26.4%)
	Pamphlets	42 (20.2%)	174 (21.0%)	34 (23.6%)	250 (21.2%)
Digital media	Internet News/Website	57 (27.4%)	233 (28.1%)	34 (23.6%)	324 (27.4%)
	Social Networking Services (SNS)	26 (12.5%)	81 (9.8%)	22 (15.3%)	129 (10.9%)
Interpersonal-based media	Word-of-Mouth	49 (23.6%)	157 (18.9%)	47 (32.6%)	253 (21.4%)
Place-based media	In-store Information/Staff	50 (24.0%)	144 (17.3%)	17 (11.8%)	211 (17.9%)
Other	Other	4 (1.9%)	11 (1.3%)	9 (6.3%)	24 (2.0%)

Note: The table displays the count (n) and the column percentage (%) for each item. As both questions allowed for multiple responses, percentages within each column will not sum to 100%. For Q9, percentages are based on the number of respondents in each residential area who had seen tea fields (n = 241 for urban, n = 1030 for suburban, n = 174 for rural). For Q6, percentages are based on the number of respondents in each area who actively seek information (n = 208 for urban, n = 830 for suburban, n = 144 for rural). The highest percentage value among the three residential areas is highlighted in bold.

and

Table 5. Mean scores for preferential criteria of tea consumption and the importance of landscape functions by each residential area.

Thematic Category	Item	Urban	Suburban	Rural	Total
Q7: Tea selection preferences		n = 248	n = 1069	n = 184	n = 1501
Intrinsic quality attributes	Origin	3.29 (1.18)	3.15 (1.04)	2.99 (1.12)	3.16 (1.07)
	Variety	3.12 (1.06)	3.03 (1.01)	2.96 (1.16)	3.04 (1.04)
	Processing	3.11 (1.10)	3.03 (1.02)	3.02 (1.15)	3.04 (1.05)
Extrinsic quality	Brand	2.97 (0.98)	2.96 (0.94)	2.87 (0.99)	2.95 (0.95)
	Organic	2.86 (1.01)	2.75 (0.97)	2.77 (0.99)	2.77 (0.98)
	Review	2.81 (1.00)	2.72 (1.00)	2.73 (0.98)	2.74 (1.00)
Aesthetic and convenience	Packaging	2.71 (0.92)	2.65 (0.88)	2.68 (0.91)	2.66 (0.89)
Economic constraint	Price	3.79 (0.91)	3.85 (0.82)	3.80 (0.88)	3.84 (0.84)
Q8: Importance of agroecosystem functions		n = 287	n = 1218	n = 199	n = 1704
Agricultural function	Production	3.69 (1.01)	3.69 (0.93)	3.63 (0.93)	3.68 (0.94)
Ecological functions	Climate and air regulation	3.68 (0.93)	3.65 (0.91)	3.66 (0.91)	3.66 (0.91)
	Biodiversity	3.48 (0.92)	3.45 (0.91)	3.50 (0.92)	3.46 (0.91)
	Disaster prevention	3.64 (1.01)	3.69 (0.93)	3.74 (0.89)	3.69 (0.94)
Socio-cultural functions	culture	3.78 (1.01)	3.83 (0.93)	3.83 (0.91)	3.82 (0.94)
	Scenic beauty	3.65 (1.00)	3.69 (0.93)	3.66 (0.93)	3.68 (0.94)
	Healing	3.64 (0.96)	3.66 (0.92)	3.65 (0.96)	3.66 (0.93)
	Education	3.60 (0.95)	3.60 (0.92)	3.59 (0.91)	3.60 (0.92)

Note: Values represent the mean score with the standard deviation in parentheses. All items were measured on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = “Not important at all” to 5 = “Very important”). The sample for Q7 includes only respondents who drink tea (n = 1501), while Q8 includes all respondents (n = 1704). The highest mean score among the three residential areas is highlighted in bold.

report the distribution of responses across key items such as tea-related recognition, consumption behavior, resources, and perceptions of tea fields. From these descriptive distributions, several preliminary patterns emerge across residential contexts: (1) variation in tea-related cultural knowledge and daily practices of respondents, such as frequency of drinking tea and encountering tea fields, along with the awareness of Zairai tea; (2) variation in consumer profiles, such as the source of obtaining tea-related information and preferential criteria in tea consumption; (3) variation in the recognition of various tea field typologies.

As shown in Table 3, residents’ responses reveal several preliminary differences in how tea culture is perceived and practiced across residential contexts. General interest in tea culture (Q2) was high overall, with more than 60% of respondents in each group reporting at least some interest; urban residents showed the highest proportion of “very high interest” (23.3%), compared to 15.6% in suburban and 15.1% in rural areas.

When focusing on the awareness of Zairai tea (Q3), overall knowledge remained limited, with 33.9% of respondents reported to be “not aware at all”, and 21.4% had only “heard of the name”. Aside from that, urban residents appeared to be more familiar with the matter, with 29.6% reporting they “know very well” or “know to some extent”, compared to that of 20.0% for suburban and 24.6% for rural residents.

Patterns of daily practice presented a different trend. Rural residents reported the highest daily tea-drinking frequency, with nearly half (49.2%) drinking tea “almost every day” (Q4), compared to 41.2% for suburban and 40.1% for urban residents. Similarly, regarding the frequency of encountering tea field landscapes (Q5), 36.7% of rural residents reported encountering them “a few times a month”, presenting a higher frequency compared to 18.6% of suburban and merely 13.2% of urban residents.

As shown in Table 4, recognition of tea field types (Q9) was generally high for well-managed tea fields, with more than three-quarters of the overall respondents identifying flatland tea fields across all residential areas (81.3% of urban, 79.8% of suburban, and 76.4% of rural residents). By contrast, the recognition of Zairai tea fields was significantly lower overall (38.0%), with urban residents (44.0%) having higher familiarity than suburban (38.0%) and rural residents (29.9%). Abandoned tea fields were more frequently recognized by rural respondents, with 43.1% capable of identifying overgrown fields, compared to 23.2% of urban residents.

Regarding sources of tea-related information (Q6), mass media such as television and commercials remained the most common channel, reported by more than 70% of respondents in both urban (72.1%) and suburban (74.2%) areas, and slightly lower by rural residents (58.3%). Urban respondents reported a relatively higher reliance on newspapers or magazines, and in-store information (30.8%), while rural respondents more often mentioned word-of-mouth (32.6%) and pamphlets (23.6%).

As shown in Table 5, the preferential criteria of tea consumption (Q7) were calculated as the mean score on a 5-point Likert scale. Results indicated that price was most consistently perceived as the dominant factor during consideration, averaging 3.84 overall, with suburban residents achieving the highest score (M = 3.85). In contrast, attributes such as packaging (M = 2.66) and review information (such as awards and rankings) (M = 2.74) were rated lowest across all residential contexts. Regarding tea attributes, urban respondents tended to report slightly higher concern for intrinsic qualities such as origin (M = 3.29) and variety (M = 3.12) of tea, whereas rural respondents gave comparatively lower ratings for these items (origin M = 2.99; variety M = 2.96).

Regarding the perception of landscape functions (Q8), the results showed relatively high overall scores. Socio-cultural functions, particularly cultural value, were rated highest across all residential groups, especially suburban and rural residents (both M = 3.83). In contrast, the ecological function of biodiversity (M = 3.46 overall), while still being valued, received the lowest mean score among all functions. Nevertheless, rural residents placed a higher emphasis on biodiversity (M = 3.50) and disaster prevention (M = 3.74) compared to urban and suburban residents. However, these differences were not statistically significant. Thus, Q8 was not pursued further in the subsequent analyses.

Taken together, these descriptive results illustrated emerging contrasts across residential contexts: urban residents appear to report higher levels of conceptual knowledge and concern for product attributes, while rural residents exhibited stronger daily engagement with tea practices and closer contact with the tea field landscape. By contrast, suburban respondents generally fell in the middle. Whether these apparent patterns represent consistent and statistically significant differences is assessed in subsequent inferential analyses.

3.2. The Differences Between Conceptions and Daily Practice Across Residential Contexts: Multivariate Analysis of Variance

Building on the descriptive patterns identified in Section 3.1, this section applies inferential statistics to assess whether the observed differences across three residential groups, especially the apparent gap between tea-related conceptual knowledge and practical engagement of tea-related activities, are statistically significant. To assess this, a one-way MANOVA with residential areas as the independent variable was conducted. The dependent variables were organized into two dimensions: a knowledge dimension (Q2, interest in tea culture; Q3, awareness of Zairai tea) and a practice dimension (Q4, frequency of drinking tea; Q5, frequency of encountering tea field landscape).

As summarized in

Table 6. Summary of MANOVA results for tea-related knowledge and practice dimensions across residential areas.

Source	Dependent Variable	Urban (n = 287)	Suburban (n = 1218)	Rural (n = 199)	F	p	Partial η2	Post-Hoc (Games–Howell)
		M (SD)	M (SD)	M (SD)				Significant Pairwise Comparisons	p
Knowledge dimension
Multivariate	(Wilks’ Λ = 0.990)				4.07	0.003	0.005
Univariate	Q2. Interest in tea culture	3.80 (0.99)	3.64 (0.97)	3.66 (0.95)	2.97	0.052	0.003	Not Significant	–
	Q3. Awareness of Zairai tea	2.59 (1.28)	2.30 (1.21)	2.49 (1.25)	7.39	0.001	0.009	Urban > Suburban	0.002
Practice dimension
Multivariate	(Wilks’ Λ =0 0.967)				14.34	<0.001	0.017
Univariate	Q4. Frequency of drinking tea	3.54 (1.48)	3.58 (1.46)	3.86 (1.35)	3.49	0.031	0.004	Rural > Urban	0.038
								Rural > Suburban	0.024
	Q5. Frequency of encountering tea fields	2.60 (1.16)	2.89 (1.31)	3.49 (1.45)	28.47	<0.001	0.032	Rural > Urban	<0.001
								Rural > Suburban	<0.001
								Suburban > Urban	0.001

Note: Results from two separate one-way MANOVAs are presented. The “Multivariate” row reports the overall Wilks’ Lambda test for each dimension. The “Univariate” rows show the results of the follow-up between-subjects F-tests. The final column provides a simplified summary of the significant pairwise comparisons from the Games–Howell post hoc test (p < 0.05). Significant p-values are highlighted in bold. Partial η²: partial eta squared; M: mean; SD: standard deviation.

, residential areas had a significant overall influence on both the knowledge dimension (Wilks’ Λ = 0.990, F(4, 3400) = 4.07, p = 0.003, partial η² = 0.005) and the practice dimension (Wilks’ Λ = 0.967, F(4, 3400) = 14.34, p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.017), indicating that differences emerge not only in the conceptual understanding of tea but also in the practical engagement with tea-related activities.

Follow-up univariate tests identified the specific factors that determine these results.

Regarding the knowledge dimension, the result was dominated by Q3, the awareness of Zairai tea (F(2, 1701) = 7.39, p = 0.001, partial η² = 0.009), where urban residents scored significantly higher than suburban residents (p = 0.002), while rural residents were not apparently different. Interest in tea culture (Q2) did not differ significantly across all residential contexts (p = 0.052), reflecting a uniformly high level of interest (urban M = 3.80; suburban M = 3.64; rural M = 3.66) regarding this issue.

For the practice dimension, the strongest contributor was Q5, frequency of encountering tea fields (F(2, 1701) = 28.47, p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.032), which showed a clear monotonic gradient: rural residents reported the highest frequency, followed by suburban, and then urban residents. This pattern directly corresponds to the spatial gradient of their exposure to tea field landscapes. Frequency of drinking tea (Q4) (F(2, 1701) = 3.49, p = 0.031, partial η² = 0.004) also differed significantly, with post hoc tests showing that rural residents drank brewed tea more frequently than both urban and suburban residents.

To quantify the “knowledge–practice gap,” a composite index was constructed (see Section 2.5). A one-way ANOVA test revealed significant differences across residential groups (F(2, 1701) = 21.70, p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.025). As shown in Figure 4, urban residents scored negative values (M = −0.32, SD = 0.91), indicating that urban respondents reported having a higher level of tea-related knowledge than actual tea-related daily practice. Conversely, rural residents scored positive values (M = 0.21, SD = 1.03), suggesting that they possess a higher level of tea-related practice than that of knowledge. Suburban residents showed no significant deviation from zero (M = 0.04, SD = 0.96). Post hoc tests confirmed that urban residents differed from both suburban (p < 0.001) and rural residents (p < 0.001), while the suburban–rural difference was not significant (p = 0.077).

In summary, the results revealed two consistent patterns. Firstly, practice-related engagements follow a clear urban–suburban–rural gradient, with the frequency of encountering tea fields (Q5) emerging as the strongest differentiator. Secondly, knowledge-related engagements do not follow this gradient: urban residents reported higher levels of awareness of Zairai tea (Q3) than suburban residents, while rural residents fell in between. The composite gap index (Figure 4) further confirms this divergence, highlighting urban residents as relatively knowledge-oriented and rural residents as relatively practice-oriented, with suburban residents remaining at a relatively balanced position.

3.3. Regional Distribution of Tea Consumer Typologies

In order to distinguish consumer profiles across different residential contexts, a two-step cluster analysis was performed using variables from Q6 (information source) and Q7 (selection preferences). From Q6, the top three highly selected representative variables were chosen: television and commercials (mass media), word-of-mouth (interpersonal), and in-store information (place-based). Conversely, ‘internet use’ was systematically excluded by the clustering algorithm as a less-significant predictor due to its uniform distribution across three residential groups. Similarly, from Q7, the ‘price’ option was also automatically excluded by the algorithm because of its low variance due to consistent high ratings across all three residential groups. The analysis yielded five distinct consumer clusters, summarized in

Table 7. Results of two-step cluster analysis: consumer archetypes, information source, and value priorities.

Selection Criterion/Information Source		Cluster 1: Word-of-Mouth Information Dependent Consumers	Cluster 2: In-Store Information Dependent Consumers	Cluster 3: Nonpreferential Consumers	Cluster 4: Personal Criteria Dependent Consumers	Cluster 5: TV Information Dependent Consumers	Predictor Importance
Size n (%)		171 (15.4)	199 (18.0)	158 (14.3)	160 (14.4)	420 (37.9)
Information source use n (%)
Uses in-store information	Yes	0 (0.0)	199 (100.0)	3 (1.9)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	1.00
	No	171 (100.0)	0 (0.0)	155 (98.1)	160 (100.0)	420 (100.0)
Uses word-of-mouth	Yes	171 (100.0)	67 (33.7)	1 (0.6)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	0.77
	No	0 (0.0)	132 (66.3)	157 (99.4)	160 (100.0)	420 (100.0)
Uses television and commercials	Yes	98 (57.3)	130 (65.3)	150 (94.9)	0 (0.0)	420 (100.0)	0.58
	No	73 (42.7)	69 (34.7)	8 (5.1)	160 (100.0)	0 (0.0)
Tea selection preferences M (SD)
Variety		3.19 (1.10)	3.29 (1.05)	1.89 (0.59)	3.29 (0.98)	3.46 (0.75)	0.30
Origin		3.38 (1.10)	3.53 (1.02)	2.01 (0.68)	3.41 (0.99)	3.54 (0.82)	0.28
Brand		3.05 (0.91)	3.10 (0.90)	2.03 (0.76)	3.23 (0.89)	3.33 (0.76)	0.24
Processing		3.19 (1.08)	3.33 (1.10)	1.98 (0.77)	3.22 (1.03)	3.41 (0.79)	0.23
Organic		2.89 (0.99)	3.02 (1.01)	2.01 (0.84)	3.01 (1.05)	3.04 (0.76)	0.14
Review		2.96 (1.00)	3.02 (1.00)	2.06 (0.96)	2.93 (0.98)	2.98 (0.85)	0.11
Packaging		2.64 (0.89)	2.88 (0.94)	2.13 (0.88)	2.94 (0.87)	2.89 (0.77)	0.09

Note: The table reports the results of the two-step cluster analysis. The rows are ordered according to predictor importance, with information sources placed above value-related attributes. The first section shows the cluster sizes (n, %) and the percentage of members within each cluster who rely on different information sources (in-store, word-of-mouth, television). The second section presents the mean scores (M) and standard deviations (SDs) for consumer value items (1–5 scale). The overall quality of the clustering solution was ‘Fair’ (Silhouette measure = 0.2665).

.

The two-step cluster analysis identified a five-cluster solution as optimal, supported by Schwarz’s Bayesian Criterion (BIC, see Appendix A,

Table A3. Schwarz’s Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), BIC change, and ratio of BIC changes for the cluster analysis.

Number of the Cluster	Schwarz’s Bayesian Criterion (BIC)	BIC Change	Ratio of BIC Changes	Ratio of Distance Measures
1	9013.046
2	7836.477	−1176.57	1	1.843
3	7252.449	−584.029	0.496	1.038
4	6694.487	−557.962	0.474	1.005
5	6139.88	−554.607	0.471	2.823
6	6020.351	−119.529	0.102	1.106
7	5923.716	−96.635	0.082	1.044
8	5836.082	−87.634	0.074	1.238
9	5788.225	−47.857	0.041	1.022
10	5743.99	−44.235	0.038	1.046
11	5706.876	−37.114	0.032	1.105
12	5684.675	−22.201	0.019	1.015
13	5664.578	−20.096	0.017	1.02
14	5647.195	−17.383	0.015	1.275
15	5659.253	12.058	−0.01	1.336

Note: The five-cluster solution, highlighted in bold, was chosen based on the combination of a continued high ratio of BIC changes and a distinct peak in the ratio of distance measures, indicating an optimal balance of model fit and cluster separation.

). Model validity was confirmed by a Silhouette measure of 0.2665 (‘Fair’ range), exceeding the recommended threshold (0.2) for validity of both within-cluster and between-cluster distances [78]. The predictor importance (Table 7) revealed that consumer profiles are more fundamentally determined by how they obtain information instead of their preferences in the tea selection process.

Based on their distinct characteristics, the five clusters are categorized and described below.

Cluster 1: Word-of-mouth information-dependent consumers (15.4%): This group was composed solely of respondents who reported finding information obtained through word-of-mouth valuable. This group prioritizes trusted personal networks over formal marketing or media. Their tea selection preferences emphasized the intrinsic qualities of tea, particularly its origin, variety and processing.

Cluster 2: In-store information-dependent consumers (18.0%): This group was composed solely of respondents who reported to exclusively value information mainly obtained in-store. Their tea selection preferences also prioritize the intrinsic qualities of tea.

Cluster 3: Nonpreferential consumers (14.3%): This group comprised respondents without obvious preferences during tea selection or with passive involvement with the subject.

Cluster 4: Personal criteria-dependent consumers (14.4%): This group was composed of respondents who reported not relying on any major information source but expressed relatively high preferences for the intrinsic qualities of tea and brand attributes.

Cluster 5: TV information-dependent consumers (37.9%): As the largest group, in direct contrast to cluster 3, this group was composed solely of respondents who significantly valued information from television but reported the highest preferences for nearly all tea-quality attributes, particularly the intrinsic qualities of tea.

To examine the relationship between consumer profiles and residential areas, a chi-square test of independence was performed. The results revealed a statistically significant association (χ² = 34.059, df = 8, p < 0.001), as illustrated in Figure 5, indicating that the distribution of consumer types varies across residential areas.

Word-of-mouth information-dependent consumers were disproportionately concentrated in rural areas, nearly twice the share observed in suburban and urban contexts. Similarly, personal criteria-dependent consumers were also more prevalent in rural areas. Taken together, these patterns suggest a stronger tendency toward practice-based and experience-oriented information used among rural residents, reflecting perceptual orientations shaped by familiarity with tea. In contrast, in-store information-dependent consumers were most prevalent in urban areas, indicating a greater reliance on product-centered information channels when engaging with tea. TV information-dependent consumers were the largest group overall and showed notable suburban concentrations, suggesting that suburban residents, despite their relative proximity to production areas, are strongly influenced by mass media exposure. By contrast, nonpreferential consumers exhibited more balanced distributions across the three residential areas without strong geographic bias.

Based on the cluster analysis and subsequent chi-square tests with residential areas, three distinct profiles emerged. Urban residents were found to be knowledge-oriented consumers with a higher awareness of traditional Zairai tea (Section 3.2). This type of consumer values in-store promotion, which provides product-specific information not available through mass media or word-of-mouth. This pattern suggests that traditional tea culture is partially valued through its commercial value, which may facilitate certain forms of urban–rural connection. Although suburban residents exhibit a balanced level of knowledge and practice, their perceptions of tea were primarily shaped by television, indicating a predominantly media-mediated rather than practice-based orientation. Rural residents were found to be practice-oriented consumers, with the highest frequency of daily tea drinking and encountering tea fields (Section 3.2). Their reliance on word-of-mouth information reflects experiential knowledge acquired through daily practice, providing a perceptual basis for culturally embedded approaches to rural revitalization.

3.4. The Structure of Perception: Cognitive Recognition of Tea Landscapes

Building on the stepwise analyses across residential contexts in Section 3.1 (descriptive baseline), Section 3.2 (knowledge–practice gap), and Section 3.3 (consumer types), this section shifts to a more integrative perspective: the perception of tea field landscapes. This was assessed through a combinational recognition task with text descriptions and photo-based hints (Q9), where respondents were asked to identify and distinguish different types of tea field landscapes (Section 2). Since accurate recognition requires a certain familiarity with the physical appearance of tea fields as well as an understanding of their distinctive characteristics, this last part of the questionnaire served as an indicator reflecting both the knowledge and practice dimensions of the respondents. To analyze these multidimensional patterns, an MCA was applied to capture how these dimensions were ultimately manifested in respondents’ abilities to recognize and comprehend tea field landscapes. The detailed results for each residential group are presented in the following subsections.

3.4.1. Urban Residents: Conceptual Cognition and Limited Practical Awareness

As shown in Figure 6, the MCA results for urban residents yielded a two-dimensional explanation that comprised 59.28% of the total variance (dimension 1 = 41.73%; dimension 2 = 17.55%), which is generally considered satisfactory in social science research [79]. The discrimination measures are presented in Figure 6a, and the joint plot of category points is shown in Figure 6b.

Dimension 1 can be interpreted as the degree of cognitive recognition of tea field landscapes, effectively distinguishing between recognized and unrecognized typologies (Figure 6b). The discrimination measures (Figure 6a) showed that this axis is primarily defined by two abandoned tea field types (overgrown and grass-covered), followed by mountainous landscapes (mountain and Zairai), whereas flatland tea fields contributed the least. Thus, higher scores on dimension 1 represent a stronger ability to identify and distinguish uncommon landscape types, indicating a more advanced cognitive understanding of tea field landscapes.

Dimension 2 primarily reflects the visual salience of tea field landscapes (Figure 6b). The highest contribution came from flatland tea fields (Figure 6a), which are regarded as the most iconic tea field landscape in Shizuoka. A high score on this dimension, therefore, indicated that landscape types make a salient visual impression to observers, regardless of their abilities to accurately classify them. By contrast, a low score suggested that respondents did not perceive strong, distinctive features in other landscape types, such as mountains or Zairai tea fields.

The MCA results for urban residents reveal three key features: (1) relatively high sensitivity to abandoned tea fields, which serves as the strongest distinguishable factors regarding their perception; (2) limited distinction among managed tea field types (flatland, hillside, mountain); (3) relatively higher, yet not distinctive, recognition of Zairai tea fields, comparatively higher awareness of Zairai tea (Section 3.1 and Section 3.2), revealing that the perceptions of urban residents lie in conceptual awareness rather than experience-based distinction.

3.4.2. Suburban Residents: Visual Familiarity and Limited Understanding

The MCA results for suburban residents yielded a two-dimensional explanation that comprised 54.60% of the total variance (dimension 1 = 35.72%; dimension 2 = 18.88%; Figure 7). The discrimination measures are presented in Figure 7a, while the joint plot of category points is shown in Figure 7b.

Similar to the urban perceptual map, the contribution to dimension 1 (35.7%) for suburban residents formed a gradient from the highest for abandoned tea fields to the lowest for flatland tea fields (Figure 7a). However, Figure 7b showed a relatively dispersed distribution, suggesting a stronger overall recognition capability. Accordingly, dimension 1 is best interpreted as a gradient of recognition salience: higher scores correspond to more attention-grabbing landscape topologies such as abandoned or Zairai fields, whereas lower scores reflect tea field types that are easily overlooked.

Dimension 2 (18.9%) can be interpreted as landscape typicality. This axis is primarily defined by sloping tea field landscapes, mountainous, and hillside fields (Figure 7b). Owing to the suburban context, characterized by proximity to rural areas and mixed residential, agricultural land use, residents cognitively associate these common tea fields with the stereotyped image of tea field landscapes. In contrast, flatland and Zairai tea fields score close to zero on this dimension, suggesting that despite these tea fields’ distinctive features, suburban residents do not perceive them as typical landscapes.

The MCA results for suburban residents reveal three key features: (1) limited ability to distinguish between two types of abandoned tea fields and the tendency to merge hillside and mountainous tea fields into a single landscape type; (2) relatively clearer recognition of Zairai tea fields: Despite the self-reported lowest level of Zairai tea recognition amongst all residential groups (Table 6), suburban residents could clearly distinguish them, suggesting familiarity reinforced through frequent exposure (such as during commute routes, etc.); (3) these results reflected their reliance on visual appearance rather than experiential knowledge.

3.4.3. The Rural Perceptual Map: A Functional and Differentiated View

For rural residents, MCA results produced a two-dimensional explanation accounting for 57.62% of the total variance (dimension 1 = 41.03%; dimension 2 = 16.59%; Figure 8). Figure 8a presents the discrimination measures, and Figure 8b illustrates the joint plot of category points.

The primary axis for rural residents, dimension 1 (41.0%, Figure 8a), reflects a gradient of agricultural management intensity. Abandoned tea fields (overgrown), with the highest contribution, represent the unmanaged tea fields. Followed by mountain fields where climatic and steep slopes constrain the cultivation period. In contrast, the mechanization of flatland and hillside tea fields enables multiple harvests per year and requires more frequent management. Zairai tea fields show the least contribution on this dimension, indicating the greatest management intensity because their irregular shape necessitates great reliance on manual labor.

The secondary axis for rural residents, dimension 2 (16.6%, Figure 8a), can be interpreted as the visibility of historical traces. It is mostly strongly defined by the abandoned tea fields. While these fields lack the clear structure of a tea plantation, they can still be recognized by those with great familiarity, who perceive the historical background embedded in the landscapes. Zairai tea fields, ranked second, reflected the historical heritage of the traditional manual tea cultivation approach within the landscape. In contrast, the modern mechanized fields scored the lowest on this dimension because the appearance of tea fields reflects their current practices rather than the continuity of historical practices.

The MCA results for rural residents reveal three features: (1) a clear distinction between the two types of abandoned tea fields; (2) modern mechanized tea fields are categorized as the same type; (3) perceiving abandoned and Zairai tea fields as symbols of past memories, which is consistent with their high scores on dimension 2. These results revealed their deep understanding based on frequent daily practices and cultural knowledge.

In summary, the three residential groups represent a continuum of perceptual depth: urban residents rely on general conceptual recognition, suburban residents act as familiar observers shaped by daily exposure to tea fields, and rural residents perceive tea fields landscapes and tea culture through an embedded agricultural and historical perspective, reflecting a more grounded form of perception.

4. Discussion

4.1. Shared Interest, Divergent Foundations: Cognitive Patterns Across Urban, Suburban, and Rural Residents

Across all residential groups, the survey indicated a generally high degree of concern regarding tea culture (Q2) and broad recognition of the public functions of tea field landscapes (Q8). This suggests that TRLs retain broad cultural appeal and are widely regarded as meaningful collective assets.

Urban residents exhibit a form of conceptual cognition, whose characteristics include a relatively high level of cultural knowledge but a relatively low level of engagement in daily practices, along with a blurred recognition of tea field typologies. Besides, urban residents comprise high proportions of TV and in-store information-dependent consumers. Such conceptual cognition reveals that cultural knowledge of rural agricultural products such as tea is often mediated through symbolic and commercialized representations within an urban context. This conceptual cognition, lacking experience-based daily engagement, may lead to a perceived lack of authenticity in such rural agricultural products, which could, in turn, undermine their cultural significance [80,81]. Although urban residents reported the lowest frequency of encountering tea fields among all residential groups, they showed the highest recognition of Zairai tea fields, suggesting that their recognition is still largely retained through occasional exposures such as trips or family visits to rural areas.

In contrast, rural residents exhibit practice-based knowledge. They reported high levels of daily engagement in tea-related activities and the ability to clearly distinguish tea field typologies. In addition, rural residents showed relatively higher reliance on word-of-mouth information sources, suggesting that even after urbanization and industrial change, agriculture-centered social structures and local networks continue to persist in rural communities [82,83]. Yet their reported awareness of Zairai tea was not the highest. This pattern is most likely attributable to the Dunning–Kruger effect, whereby individuals with limited experience, such as urban residents, may overestimate their level of knowledge, whereas those with extensive hands-on experience, such as rural residents, tend to underestimate their own competencies [84].

Meanwhile, suburban residents exhibit more balanced knowledge. They live rather close to agricultural zones and showed a certain ability to distinguish tea field typologies, yet their cultural knowledge scores and awareness of Zairai tea remained limited. This suggests that physical proximity alone does not facilitate cultural inheritance. Many suburban cities in Japan were developed as commuter towns, prioritizing housing and accessibility over integration with local agricultural or cultural systems [85,86]. As a result, tea fields are often perceived merely as scenery along daily commute routes, generating visual familiarity but limited significance. Notably, suburban residents formed the largest group in this survey, mirroring their demographic dominance in contemporary Japan.

Overall, although all three residential groups expressed a high degree of concern for tea culture and landscapes, there were distinct differences in their perceptions. These perceptual differences across residential contexts do not lie in whether tea culture and landscapes are valued, but rather in how they are understood. Such differences can be further interpreted through regional opportunity structures [87]. It conceptualizes the regional scale as a crucial spatial context of access to opportunities and participation, emphasizing that social engagement and sustainability practices are shaped not only by individual motivation but also by spatial conditions. From this perspective, the differentiated cognitive and behavioral patterns observed among urban, suburban, and rural residents reflect specific socio-spatial characteristics that determine people’s perceptions.

4.2. From Recognition to Participation: Potential Rural Revitalization

Although urban, suburban, and rural residents share an interest in tea culture, their cognitive foundations differ distinctly. Accordingly, novel strategies should be developed to align with these varying modes of perception so that shared interest can be translated into tangible inter-regional connections for potential rural revitalization.

For urban and suburban residents, daily engagement needs to be strengthened through various experiential forms. Existing studies indicate that authenticity and hands-on involvement are key drivers of emotional response and place attachment in rural tourism [81,88,89]. The post-pandemic turn toward nature-oriented and health-oriented leisure has further increased demand for immersive rural experiences [90,91,92]. Given that urban and suburban residents already engage in occasional visits (trips or family visits), enhancing their emotional attachment within such cultural encounters may help foster a stronger sense of urban–rural reconnection.

Previous research suggested that lifestyle changes and urban decline are prompting increasing numbers of suburban residents to reconnect with nearby rural areas [93]. Therefore, considering the large demographic scale of suburban residents, motivating them to have even minor behavioral shifts may generate a great impact.

In rural areas, the key challenge remains improving communication with outer communities and gaining broader visibility for TRLs such as tea fields. Rural residents retain rich experience, knowledge and territorial cohesion, foundations for the preservation of TRLs and long-term sustainability of rural communities [94,95,96]. However, much of this knowledge is rarely expressed with cultural confidence.

Under contemporary conditions of worldwide demographic aging and labor shortage, the sustainability of TRLs is generally becoming fragile. Cross-national comparative case studies indicate that market, policy, and external collaborations critically support local farmers in sustaining TRLs [97]. Based on the aforementioned findings, rural revitalization via urban–rural reconnection, such as collaboration with professionals, researchers and visitors, could help translate local expertise into recognizable cultural value via preferred media sources by each residential group, thereby reinforcing both pride and local economic viability [53,98,99].

4.3. Differentiation as Strategy: Revitalizing Zairai Tea Amidst Landscape Homogenization

Although public attitudes toward tea culture and tea field landscapes were generally positive, awareness of Zairai tea remained relatively low across all residential contexts. Traditional Zairai tea fields are already physically scarce, as most production areas have shifted toward highly productive species of plantations with intensive farming [57,100,101]. When a TRL is disappearing both physically and conceptually, rural regions risk losing distinctive cultural assets and historical heritage.

Against the backdrop of increasing landscape homogenization, repositioning Zairai tea as a culturally distinctive local asset may offer a context-appropriate response [102,103]. In marginal mountain settlements where demographic aging is severe and large-scale capital investment is unlikely, development strategies need to be established with existing landscapes and inherited practices. Landscapes rooted in cultural history are often key to the perceived appeal of rural environments [8,104].

The conservation of TRLs within any region’s unique cultural context requires not only local efforts but also collaborative endeavors across different residential contexts. As revealed in the results, for urban and suburban residents, satisfying their preferences for authentic and unique local TRL-related experiences may provide strong motivation for a modern form of urban–rural reconnection. For rural communities, by contrast, TRLs can reinforce a sense of place identity and place attachment. Our previous research in Shizuoka’s marginal rural areas has also shown that, when economic benefits are no longer significant, cultural exchange emerges as one of the primary drives of sustained urban–rural connections [53].

Therefore, framing TRLs as a shared cultural symbol is significant not only for rural revitalization and enhancing inter-regional connection but also for the effective conservation of cultural diversity as well as human historical heritage [105].

4.4. Limitations and Future Perspectives

A few limitations remain in this study. First, the distribution of respondents was uneven across residential groups. Suburban residents constituted most of the sample (n = 1218), while urban (n = 287) and rural (n = 199) groups were comparatively smaller, which may limit the robustness of inter-group comparisons. Second, as the survey was conducted through an online panel, residents who do not use such platforms were likely underrepresented. Therefore, subsequent studies could adopt mixed surveying strategies in collaboration with local governments or community organizations to improve coverage of all aspects of residents. Finally, the findings offer a useful basis for a cultural perception-based approach to urban–rural connections, applications of which require further investigation. In particular, in-depth field studies in rural areas where traditional Zairai tea is fully preserved could be of great significance. Such studies could uncover and contextualize the cultural resources embedded in local communities. Moreover, given that cultural perceptions are shaped by regional histories and urban–rural relations, the interpretations of results in this study into other cultural settings remain uncertain. Future research should extend this investigation through cross-regional and cross-cultural comparisons.

5. Conclusions

This study employed a questionnaire survey to explore how urban, suburban, and rural residents differ in their cultural knowledge, daily practices, consumption preferences, and landscape recognition, as exemplified by the tea culture and tea field landscapes of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The findings highlight the diverse ways in which people from different residential contexts engage with and understand traditional tea-related cultures and landscapes. The analytical results indicate that all residential groups showed a high level of concern for tea culture and a strong appreciation of the public functions of tea fields, suggesting that TRLs continue to possess considerable cultural, emotional and functional appeal.

However, distinct cognitive patterns were observed among residential groups. Urban and suburban residents relied more on symbolic or visually mediated impressions, whereas rural residents retained experience-based knowledge rooted in daily practices. The analysis also revealed various notable findings. Suburban residents have more frequent exposure to tea field landscapes than urban residents, yet their recognition and cultural understanding remain limited. This suggests that physical proximity alone does not foster deeper cultural understanding. In contrast, much of the practical knowledge among rural residents remained tacit and is seldom expressed with cultural confidence, reflecting that rural knowledge has been undervalued in the contemporary cultural context. Furthermore, the recognition of traditional varieties such as Zairai tea remained consistently low across all groups. Such results revealed both the physical decline of Zairai tea due to agricultural modernization and its diminishing visibility within the contemporary cultural discourse. Moreover, suburban populations may represent a strategic focus. As the largest demographic group, they hold considerable potential for reinforcing the rural–urban connection.

Therefore, mobilizing non-local residential groups toward more active engagement could strengthen inter-regional connections. This, in turn, generates significant cumulative effects on both rural revitalization and the long-term conservation of local TRLs.

Overall, the findings of this study highlight the importance of recognizing the differentiated perceptions shaped by different residential contexts. The insights acquired in this study provide an empirical foundation for developing targeted strategies that correspond to every region’s specific cultural and residential characteristics. Such differentiated approaches based on perceptual differences across residential contexts in each region could provide a more precise strategy for reinforcing inter-regional connections, thereby contributing to the revitalization of rural communities and the conservation of local TRLs.