Tag - sake

 
 

SAKE

Bottles of Hakkaisan-brand sake for export
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2025
U.S. tariffs overshadow Japan's agriculture and food exports
Japanese goods need to be sold by "emphasizing that there are no alternatives" to them, said Kazuhito Yamashita, senior researcher at the Canon Institute for Global Strategies.
After getting her career started in Japan, Courney Kaplan has become one of Los Angeles' leading sake evangelists from her base at Ototo.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Apr 6, 2025
In Los Angeles, Courtney Kaplan says sake is having a moment
Los Angeles has no shortage of Japanese restaurants, but Ototo makes the country's national drink an easy sip.
Brooklyn Kura's Catskills, a "junmai daiginjō" (sake with rice polished down to at least 50%), is made with water from the New York region of the same name.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 28, 2025
New York's Brooklyn Kura becomes first U.S. sake exporter to Japan
The brewer’s initial exports are “relatively small,” but it hopes drinkers in Japan are "open to trying" American-made sake.
Kazuki Morohashi showcases rice "kōji" at a Japanese sake fair held in Chongqing, China, in November.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2025
Data science helps sake break into wine-dominated market
To preserve the environment for sake production, some breweries are endeavoring to expand their sales channels overseas.
Together, Shinsuke Yamagai (right) and his younger brother, Ryota, have elevated the cuisine at Shintaku, putting it on the map as one of Niigata Prefecture’s premier gastronomic destinations.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Feb 9, 2025
Brothers’ local focus lifts Shintaku to Niigata’s highest rank
From the ashes of a devastating 2005 fire, Shinsuke and Ryota Yamagai have remade their family’s historic Niigata restaurant into a beacon of Japanese gastronomy.
Brian Hutto runs Craft Sake Shoten, a Yokohama shop he calls a hangout for 'real sake enthusiasts.'
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Feb 2, 2025
Sipping down the rabbit hole at Craft Sake Shoten
A chance encounter with sake evangelist John Gauntner led Brian Hutto to reinvent himself with sake as his new focus.
The koji room at Fukuwagura brewery in Mie Prefecture, where metals such as stainless steel, which are easy to manage for hygiene, are widely used
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jan 30, 2025
Japanese food makers step in to preserve sake breweries' legacy
The initiatives by food companies coincide with a growing recognition of traditional sake-making techniques.
Musashi Winery is known for its 'shōkōshi' wines.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 26, 2025
Where to begin when it comes to Japanese wine
Buying your first Japanese wine? Let your own palate lead the way.
It's taken Takuma Watanabe little time to establish himself as one of New York's hottest bartenders.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 16, 2025
From Tokyo to Manhattan, Takuma Watanabe stirs up a stiff drink
Tokyo native Takuma Watanabe offers a formidable addition to New York’s pantheon of cocktail bars.
Tonoike Sake Brewery has been gearing their brewery toward tourism since the late 1980s, attempting to lure tourists to the town of Mashiko.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 3, 2025
Traveling for sake's sake: The emergence of brewery tourism in Japan
While sake consumption has declined in Japan, breweries across the nation are taking advantage of a rise in overseas interest to promote themselves as tourist destinations.
A brewer stirs the mix for making sake at a brewery in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 3, 2025
Brooklyn brewers take on sake, America's new hip tipple
The ancient Japanese drink, which has been exported to the United States for at least a century, is being increasingly localized.
Employees of Takahashi Shouten working on the trial production of sake in New Delhi on Nov. 14.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 17, 2024
Japanese sake brewery to make foray into Indian market
Takahashi Shouten, based in the city of Yame in Fukuoka Prefecture, launched a subsidiary in India in February.
Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Dec 16, 2024
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
A year after disaster devastated the region, brewers have turned to nationwide partnerships and new technologies to sustain their culture.
Despite ongoing struggles, 2024 had plenty of bright spots for Japan's sake industry.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 15, 2024
Glass half full: Japan’s sake industry celebrates a brighter 2024
Despite a general decline in consumption, new openings and greater awareness gave Japan’s sake lovers reason to cheers this year.
Sake bottles are displayed at the 19th World Cultural Heritage Conference, as sake was added to UNESCO'S Intangible Cultural Heritage list, in Asuncion, Paraguay on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 5, 2024
Japanese sake brewing added to UNESCO intangible heritage list
Traditional sake brewing marks the 23rd Japanese entry on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list, joining other culturally significant arts such as washoku and kabuki.
Students give a presentation at a competition in London on Friday for revitalization strategies in the Hokuriku region
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2024
London students compete on ideas to promote Hokuriku region
The presentations set out unique tourism strategies, such as "sake passports" to encourage tourists to visit local breweries, and "health tourism" to promote local foods.
Staff work at a sake brewery in Fukushima Prefecture in October. Sake, a traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage made from grains and water, holds deep cultural significance in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 5, 2024
UNESCO panel recommends sake brewing for intangible cultural heritage list
A UNESCO intergovernmental committee meeting in December is expected to make a final decision on its inclusion in the Representative List.
A visitor tries sake during an event for Japanese food products held on the outskirts of Paris on Monday.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2024
Japanese prefectures showcase food products in France
Ishikawa Prefecture, which was hit by a major earthquake on Jan. 1, offered curry specially arranged for the European market at the event.
At France's Kura Master competition, top honors went to "Shirayuki Daiginjo Itami Morohaku" (left) and "Araroka Matsufuji."
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 3, 2024
Award ceremony for Japanese alcohol held in Paris
1,223 sake products and 197 shōchū and awamori products were put up for the competition.
Osamu Ie, a master brewer at Miyakobijin Shuzo, holds Miyakobijin Taiyou sake that won this year's Champion Sake trophy at the sake division of International Wine Challenge held in London on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2024
Local Hyogo brew wins international sake championship
According to tasting notes, the sake has "aromas of musk melon, strawberries, hints of nuttiness, almond spice with an exquisitely integrated acidity on the palate."

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.