We’ve noticed a subtle but intriguing shift in perceptions of sake over the ten years we’ve been publishing Sake Today. It’s a shift among non-Japanese primarily living overseas and a harbinger for further appreciation of sake worldwide. It portends promise for the growing number of sake breweries outside of Japan as well as Japanese producers…
The Craft Brewers Conference, held recently in Nashville, Tennessee, was an unexpected venue to be reflecting on the world of sake. It’s a yearly event designed primarily for the craft beer industry. It draws over ten thousand professionals from around the world and is held in conjunction with the World Beer Cup, a kind of…
I was in a hotel in Ichinoseki, Iwate when the 7.1 earthquake hit not far to the southeast off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture. It was an aftershock of the 9.1 earthquake that had struck a few weeks earlier on March 11th, 2011. Water in the bathtub which was filling at the time sloshed around…
The Japanese government, with little fanfare from its side, recently reopened the doors to tourism without the onerous restrictions we mentioned in our introduction last issue. Perhaps they simply wanted as little attention as possible drawn to the decision domestically. It’s still a controversial topic. Many want to revive inbound tourism and return to, or…
Waking up in an unfamiliar place is a rush to the senses. In the right context, that stimulation to the brain can even manifest as a sensation, like a warm tingle of pleasure washing across your body. This description certainly doesn’t refer to the disorienting experience of unexpectedly waking up somewhere unfamiliar–like in a hospital…
My neighbor emerged from her house recently dressed stylishly in bright spring colors. She was wearing her usual artistic jewelry and it was clear she was on her way somewhere. “Going to the beauty parlor?”, I asked. “I doubt there’s anything they can do for me,” she replied. It was funny because her reply was…
World Sake Day, known as Nihonshu no Hi (simply “Sake Day”) in Japanese, takes place every year on October 1st and has become an international phenomenon. This year’s celebration, in altered form, was proof of that. First, a little about the history. The sake brewing season traditionally starts in October as cooler weather arrives in…
The introduction to our previous issue expressed how excited we were for 2020 because of the Olympics and a number of other trends that would place sake in the international spotlight. Now here we are (and thankfully you are still here). We had originally planned for this to be a comprehensive Tokyo issue, as the…
2020 should be a watershed year for sake. A major international event–the Tokyo Olympics–will converge with several consumer and travel trends. The sake torch is lit. Let’s take a jog through the terrain. The Japanese government wanted this Olympics badly and they got it. Japan loves opportunities to proudly showcase its culture. Anyone who has…
Sake is the liquid soul of Japan. It’s as much a part of the country’s civilization and culture as its folk customs or indigenous religion, Shintô. In fact, we’ve written before in these pages on multiple occasions about its close ties to Shintô, as well as certain Buddhist temples. Some cultural commentators have colorfully argued…