Sake News from Japan

Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) released the latest version of their regular Nihonshu wo Meguru Jōkyō (State of Sake) report in April 2021, reporting on a range of factors impacting sake production and consumption. The report starts by...

The Japanese National Tax Agency, which oversees all alcohol production in Japan, released a report on 2020 alcohol exports in February 2021.  Coverage of exports has traditionally focused on sake’s long rise - increasing year on year from 2009 to 2019 - but there was...

An article from Tanoshii Osake featured in Gadget Tsushin asks, what’s the difference between cooking sake and normal sake? And which one do you reach for when a recipe lists “sake” as an ingredient? The main is that cooking sake, or ryōrishu [料理酒], is that most...

Saiko Fukushima interviews Norimasa Yamamoto of Heiwa Shuzō for Nikkei Business, hot on the heels of their December win of Sake Brewery of the Year – the first brewery to win it twice after they won it in 2019 – and Champion Sake for Kid Muryōzan junmai ginjō in the...

The Agara Kii Minpo news service reports on a surprising contender for “new normal” – sake on tap, or more accurately serving sake by having it poured from a tap. Sake breweries are feeling the effect of the pandemic in the form of decreased demand, and a group of...

The Kochi Shinbun carries an article by Yūya Nitta [I think – couldn’t find the reading] on a brand new employee at the Suigei Shuzō sake brewery in the Nagahama area of Kochi City, Kochi Prefecture. Their new face is Sugimoto Naoto, aged 28. After shipping out its...

A press release on the Jiji.com site advertises the third in a series of online seminars aimed at those in the sake or hospitality industry, with sake qualifications or in relevant public/government roles. The first Sake Ambassador seminar featured Marie Chiba, known...

Fashion Press and Isuta both have articles on a new team-up between Japanese bean-to-bar chocolate maker Minimal and the Aramasa sake brewery. The fresh chocolate creation, released on 13 January 2021 at Minimal’s main shop in Setagaya and branch in Yoyogi-Uehara,...

An article in @press covers a new sake that goes the extra mile trying to imitate wine – including brewing with wine yeast. The Apero S junmai ginjō was conceived by a specialist wine shop to have a flavour profile that would amaze even professional wine sommeliers....