What can we here at Sake Today write to make you feel good about the present moment? Well, if you’re reading this then perhaps your situation isn’t so bad; you’ve at least found yourself some leisure time for reading. Hopefully there’s access to sake wherever you are, if you aren’t sipping it already. Breweries in Japan are still brewing. Many, if not most, retailers are still pouring, despite a challenging year behind them and what lies ahead.
Setting aside whatever immediate challenges we all may be facing, the question above is one that we often pose for ourselves. In a broader context, we’re asking: how do we make this moment in your life worth your while? If we can ensure that your time spent with Sake Today satisfies you, whether through education or entertainment, then it will have been well spent. You’ll feel good about this moment.
To accomplish this, we have to meet all the classic standards of magazine excellence: elegant design, beautiful photography, vibrant writing. If you’re reading this in print, then there’s also the added layer of quality printing (we’ve chosen our printer carefully; that he enjoys sake benefits his cause). But then we have to do more.
People devote less time to focused reading these days. There’s more competition for your attention. On the negative end, social media companies create dopamine machines to dose your brain and keep you fiendishly scrolling through alternating cloudbursts of doom and glitter, as if your days don’t matter. More neutrally, the ubiquity of devices and wifi means that you could just as easily stream decent video content. Positively, the internet has provided a wealth of sake information at your fingertips.
The mode of reading we strive to provide for is more like an oasis of calm. It should be therapeutic (according to science, it is). We approach our subject matter as anthropologists as much as journalists. This teases out the complexities of sake culture and history, and with it, the fascination.
Part of that complexity comes in the form of contradictions we encounter, in the competing trends and narratives of this industry. Sake abides by certain rules, yes, but there are always rule breakers, exceptions, fortuitous accidents or incidents that take on a life of their own. We’ve written about these on numerous occasions. We do so again…
In this issue, we cover a movement to bring aged sake to the main table. We’ve long described koshu as a niche category. Brewers, we’ve written, overwhelmingly intend for you to drink their sake fresh. Historically, was that always the case? Could this change? We’ll let you contemplate the possibilities.
Our regional focus is a prefecture on the Seto Inland Sea: Kagawa. Although small by area–and also a small player in terms of overall numbers of breweries–it packs quite a punch with its products and its specialty food. You can’t talk about Kagawa’s food and beverage culture without mentioning Sanuki udon.
On the topic of food, we present two wonderful recipes for pairing with your sake–one to go with sake from Kawatsuru, the Kagawa brewery we feature. Returning to our discussion on contradictions, is pairing even a thing worth considering? In our parting essay, one brewery CEO chimes in.
Sparkling sake, though not as niche as koshu, has not gone mainstream, per se. Though as a blockbuster product from one major Japanese brewery, that could change. We take a look at the technical aspects behind it, at least. Let the rest of the world keep its hard seltzer…
For extra helpings, we pile on your reading platter the first installment of a new series about expats working in the sake industry in Japan–everyone’s secret dream, admit it. We return to Akita in Japan’s deep north for a special brewery visit, too. Lastly, please take note of our advertisers–while subscribers are the ballast in our boat, our advertisers are the wind in our sails and they make the stuff you love.
If you are a subscriber, thank you. We’ve naturally had a turbulent year that we’ve weathered admirably enough in retrospect and your support without a doubt helped us and kept us engaged. We’ve been conscious of the disruptions to people’s plans and normal working lives, of the political noise amplified by so much of media these days, and of all the usual churn of information (and disinformation) in our brave new world. When your magazine arrives, your mind starts to calm, anticipating the oasis.
Sip the quiet, sip your sake, turn the page.
