Change is inevitable. But that doesn’t mean that it always comes smoothly or that it…
Celebrating the World of Sake Culture
Hitachino Nest is the world-renowned craft beer brand produced by Kiuchi Shuzo, a multi-generational brewery…
Sendai, Miyagi is a party town. Its ample bars and boisterous streets at least give…
Japanese knives are favored by professional chefs all over the world for their quality, sharpness,…
In our interview for this issue, Mark Zheng-Garratt of Gekkeikan USA casually mentioned, “The…
We’ve noticed a subtle but intriguing shift in perceptions of sake over the ten years…
The Craft Brewers Conference, held recently in Nashville, Tennessee, was an unexpected venue to be…
Falling in love with sake is easy to do. We all know that. And along…
When Hot Springs, Arkansas native Ben Bell, hoping to launch a sake brewery in his…
Tottori Prefecture, with its wealth of off-the-beaten-path adventures, rarely fails to delight travelers looking to…
I was in a hotel in Ichinoseki, Iwate when the 7.1 earthquake hit not far…
This warm prefecture that stretches across the southern coast of Shikoku might not seem like…
The Japanese government, with little fanfare from its side, recently reopened the doors to tourism…
Keith Norum is one of the more youthful sixty-year-olds you’ll meet, even in a country…
Waking up in an unfamiliar place is a rush to the senses. In the right…
(Marina Giordano pictured at center; article by Alessandra Polina) Sake is a unique, complex beverage…
My neighbor emerged from her house recently dressed stylishly in bright spring colors. She was…
Fusion cuisine is responsible for many unique ingredient and flavor pairings that are hard to…
Uncertainty is difficult to live with. Think about these last two years if you need…
Production of Okinawa’s homegrown beverage awamori emerged in an atmosphere of cultural cultivation that was…
Sake is an industry focused on consistency to a considerable degree. By comparison, craft beer…
Sake, shochu, and awamori are Japan’s three traditional alcoholic beverages. In Japanese, they are collectively…
Awamori, a distilled beverage native to Okinawa, is in the dawn of a possible renaissance.…
Japan is a paradise of artisanal products and that of course includes beverages. One of…
Sake is Japan’s most famous indigenous alcoholic beverage and its popularity is growing around the…
These attractive, finely crafted bottle wear designs will turn any standard wine bottle or sake…
What brings you sake enjoyment? Is it simply drinking it? Is it about where, how,…
I was afforded the exquisite pleasure of participating in a two-day sake-centric tour of Tochigi…
We’ve been watching the momentum of single-serving (“one-cup”) sake formats in America for some time…
Japan operates on its own timeline. Literally. It counts years according to the reigns of…
Nada, the hallowed sake producing district in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, is home to a handful…
Many people in this world are familiar with Akita as a dog if not the…
Sake heavyweight Ozeki, based in Japan’s sake mecca of Nada, made a powerful statement earlier…
What can we here at Sake Today write to make you feel good about the…
In this new series for Sake Today, we focus on non-Japanese in Japan who have…
World Sake Day, known as Nihonshu no Hi (simply “Sake Day”) in Japanese, takes place…
“Sanuki udon is the soul food of Kagawa,” remarks Hideo Tadokoro, owner of several fine…
The introduction to our previous issue expressed how excited we were for 2020 because of…
2020 should be a watershed year for sake. A major international event–the Tokyo Olympics–will converge…
America has the best selection of sake outside of Japan. Hundreds of brands have been…
Sake is the liquid soul of Japan. It’s as much a part of the country’s…
“Boom, boom, boom, boom!” he intoned as he gestured with animated hands to indicate bombs…
Cheese and sake pairing is growing in popularity. It’s not a ‘classic’ pairing, of course,…
A friend who runs a bottle shop recently put a record player by his front…
Ethiopian food has grown in such popularity that it’s available in most major cosmopolitan cities…
In the waning days of the Edo period (1603~1868) Shitara was a thriving post station…
Cheese and sake. For most people, it’s not as natural to say (or eat) as…
Welcome to the 20th issue of Sake Today! With this issue we wrap up our…
Travel in Japan, Food & Sake Culture. You may have noticed, but that’s what we…
The billowing sea of white stretching for miles proclaims a lush vitality in disjunction with…
One of Japan’s best off-the-beaten-track travel destinations is Shimane, located on Japan’s quiet, rural West…
As sake asserts itself in markets around the world, there are more and more…
Attention San Francisco Bay Area sake fans (especially those in the East Bay)! Takara…
The largest celebration of World Sake Day outside of Japan is almost here. This Saturday…
(photo: the lab at Dassai) In our last issue (ST#17) we looked at the…
World Sake Day on October 1st will be here before you know it! How will…
Sake Spring, Kyoto’s premier sake festival, is back for an autumn edition. No, the name…
I often say that the sake brewing industry is idiosyncratic in a myriad ways. One…
photo: Kaetsu Shuzô president Shunichi Satô with yeast (in solution) text: by John Gauntner A…
The prefecture of Shimane stretches over 1,000km along the western coast of Japan’s main…
It’s inspiring to consider what the ancients knew. Their discoveries and canons of knowledge, developed…
Saga, a small, rural prefecture in a quiet corner of Japan, is not known for…
Kimoto and yamahai styles of sake seem to have something of a cult status among…
Small chunks of cream cheese marinated in sake kasu (lees) is a staple of sake…
Kyoto is rich with small eateries and tiny bars. Some of them are hidden away,…
(Kazuhiro Sakurai, holding a bottle of Dassai 23) Successful companies rise to greatness through leadership.…
Drinking sake for charity. Does that sound like a difficult challenge? If you’re a sake…
You always need a bowl with something to nibble on when drinking sake at a…
2017 marks the 350th anniversary of the Yoshidamachi area of Yokohama. We thought it would…
The American jazz musician Frank Zappa famously (and hilariously) said, “You can’t be a real…
Minneapolis. San Francisco. Austin. Denver. New York City. Boston. Seattle. Nashville. Portland (Oregon). Kittery. San…
I love blind tasting. It truly excites me. Admittedly, I do not get that many…
There are many roads to sake knowledge. At least that’s what my Sake Today cofounder…
My connection to Japan started in the late 1980s, before I ever dreamed of travelling…
Yoram Ofer is something of the lone wolf with a reputation. People who know of…
One of the primary forces currently driving the positive state of affairs in the sake…
Countryside towns in Japan, while short on residents, never seem to be lacking in folklore…
Kumamoto’s pastoral charm can tug at you like the shiranui, or “unknown lights” that for…
People have long said that the warm climate of Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four…
When you visit Japan and look for some good sake to bring back to your…
Imagine for a moment running a family-owned business founded in 1550. What would you feel?…
Daiginjo Chotokusen While ginjo aromas are usually described in terms of melon, banana and apple,…
Not every kura can be a rustic reminder of the past. As technology advanced it…
Nikkô, whose shrines and temples earned UNESCO World Heritage status in 1999, has greater name…
Tochigi Prefecture is well-known for the internationally famous tourist spot Nikkô. It is also known…
Angkor pepper seeds from Cambodia. This interesting pairing combination was discovered by Villapon, a small…
Tofu marinated in shoyu moromi, the unpressed mash from the soy sauce making process.
Crab sake soup in the shell. Some casual restaurants in Japan (like izakaya) will cook…
Daitokuji fermented black beans. Named after the Kyoto temple nearby which you can purchase these…
French fries? More like Kyoto fries. A restaurant in Japan’s ancient capital city used baby…
The foreground is just natto (fermented soybeans) and some generic potato salad. But in the…
Marinated tomato slices and sashimi in red-peppered olive oil with light garnish. Recipe coming soon.
Seasonal dish of lightly breaded and fried beans from Gastropub Ales in Fukuoka. Recipe coming…
The all-important chef-proprietor of the small Kyoto restaurant where we had this delicate dish declined…
This dish comes is garnished with some extras (cucumber, sliced spring onions, etc), the meaty…
Yamagata, meaning “shape of mountains,” is an appropriately named prefecture with distinctive rural character…
The Japanese archipelago, stretching far from north to south, east to west, has several distinct…
Late last month, the sake of Yamagata Prefecture was officially granted GI (Geographical Indication) status…
The Shimbashi area of Tokyo has no shortage of drinking establishments and great sake bars.…
Export numbers for Japanese sake in 2016 extend a trend from the last few years,…
“Onko-chishin.” 温故知新 What’s old is new. There may be other translations and interpretations of the…
According to a recent survey by IDA Ryogokudo Co., Ltd., a company that produces cosmetics…
Sake and all that suffuses it is slowly seeping into mainstream media. The fact that…
What kind of restaurant do eight sake breweries and a shoyu (soy sauce) maker, all…
There’s an app for everything these days. Too bad most of them aren’t very useful…
As readers are surely aware, a series of earthquakes struck Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s…
by Matsuzaki Haruo | photography by Brian Kowalczyk Shukoku Tosa– “Tosa, the land of sake.”…
Osaka-based market research firm Cross Marketing recently conducted a survey of 1000 residents aged twenty…
What’s a night with Enter.Sake like? Enter music, dance, great sake and ample fun. World-renowned…
One rarely gets to hang out with a toji. ‘Hang out’ as in sit there…
Which was the more important year for Fujioka Shuzo, 1902, the year of its founding,…
My connection to Japan started in the late 1980s, before I ever dreamed of travelling…
At 7:30pm on the evening of October 1st in Japan, happy drinkers synchronized a nation-wide…
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Welcome to Issue 6 of Sake Today! Thanks to your support, we have crossed yet…
The sake world is shining bright, though some dark corners remain. It is easy to…
I have been buying sake from the same shop here in Kamakura for over twenty…
I have been buying sake from the same shop here in Kamakura for over twenty…
Rice region. Sake region. There are probably no two greater associations that the Japanese make…
A recent social media post by a sake brewer who travels the world proactively promoting…
A recent social media post by a sake brewer who travels the world proactively promoting…
Everyone is familiar with the destruction that the tsunami of March 11th, 2011 caused along…
You just never know how things will go. When we embarked on this Sake Today…
You just never know how things will go. When we embarked on this Sake Today…
The Japanese archipelago, stretching far from north to south, east to west, has several distinct…
Rice. The key ingredient of sake is also the staple of Japanese food culture. There…
Why an English-language magazine about sake? Why now? Because it is, quite simply, an idea…
