There is a clear indication that Mount Fuji-shaped green tea ice cream was an item on the menu at the royal dinner party during the Meiji period (1868-1912). The true origin of green tea ice cream, however, is unknown. Although green tea itself seems to have existed as local handmade ice cream at some districts in Japan, none of the Japanese flavored ice creams were really merchandised until the 1990s because the major Japanese ice cream manufacturers were producing vanilla, strawberry and chocolate as their primary flavors. However, green tea shaved ice has been well known and popular in Japan long before green tea ice cream.