Issue 23: From the Publisher

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…

Issue 22: From the Publisher

“Boom, boom, boom, boom!” he intoned as he gestured with animated hands to indicate bombs exploding. The old Japanese gentleman was recounting a childhood experience of seeing the firebombing of Fukuoka–one of many cities in Japan devastated by such raids during WWII. An even older gentleman, thin and frail in those last couple of years…

Issue 19: From the Publisher

Travel in Japan, Food & Sake Culture. You may have noticed, but that’s what we changed our subtitle to as of the last issue. Prior to that, and since our first issue, we had been using “Celebrating the World of Sake Culture”. But what does that mean? We had an evolving picture of that world,…

Issue 18: From the Editor

  As sake asserts itself in markets around the world, there are more and more tasting contests that tally up evaluation scores and award medals. This spring, I participated as a judge in three within the span of a month. Each had hundreds and hundreds of entries. There were even more in which I did…

Issue 17: From the Editor

I often say that the sake brewing industry is idiosyncratic in a myriad ways. One primary example is that, unlike businesses in other Japanese industries, sake breweries have almost always been family businesses, handed down from father to son (and more recently, to daughters, too), from generation to generation. Many can trace their lineage back…

Issue 16: From the Publisher

It’s inspiring to consider what the ancients knew. Their discoveries and canons of knowledge, developed without the benefit of modern digital technology, are astounding. True, their understanding of the world may not have been as ‘complete’ or as well-balanced as we believe ours is today, but sometimes particular advances they made were extraordinary. There are…

Issue 15: From the Publisher

The American jazz musician Frank Zappa famously (and hilariously) said, “You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.” Japan actually has several beer giants that allow…

Issue 14: From the Editor

Minneapolis. San Francisco. Austin. Denver. New York City. Boston. Seattle. Nashville. Portland (Oregon). Kittery. San Diego. What do all these places–and a few more in the US–have in common? They are all the home of a mini-sake brewery, run by local folks with a passion for sake. Add to that Canada (Toronto and Vancouver), New…

Issue 13: From the Editor

I love blind tasting. It truly excites me. Admittedly, I do not get that many opportunities in which a sake is placed before me and I am told absolutely nothing about it. When that does happen, though, it is a most enjoyable experience. Why? Because there are no wrong answers, and there is no assessment…