Looking in a Mirror, Vigee Le Brun In the previous entries I have emphasized the importance of looking inward to facilitate the selling of sake to Japanese, but sometimes it is advisable to look outward in order to look in. This concept may best be understood by considering the opening lines of the Velvet Underground’s … Continue reading I’ll Be Your Mirror: Monaco Reflects Japan’s Finest, Part 1 →

Drinking Sake, Hokusai & Sakata Well, what have we learnt so far? First, as the downside of globalization becomes better known by the various publics that have experienced its negative impact on their lives, there will be greater respect and fondness for the national/local. This should galvanize sake breweries, sake retailers, and trade organizations to … Continue reading Advertising for a New Age →

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall This entry will not explore the phenomenon of declining domestic sake sales in great depth, nor will it contain the citations and academic references that characterize many of my blog entries. Anecdotal evidence suggests that in Japan the drinking of nihon-shu carries unwanted baggage for some Japanese youth. In short, … Continue reading Insurmountable Image Problem?: Hardly! →

Fair Travellers Fording the River Oi, Utagawa & Wakasaya, 1800 This week we start our “Marketing Sake Series.” Even readers who are not remotely involved in the selling of this beverage should find the following blog entries of interest. We can assure you that there is nothing hackneyed here. That’s not our style.  From Heraclitus … Continue reading The Dawning of the Age of the National →

These are no slapdash concoctions whipped up “Love Potion No. 9” style. As the subtitle makes clear, they are elegant, and they contain some of our favorite ingredients. The base liquor for both is the seldom-seen kasutori shochu, or sake-kasu shochu (sake-cake shochu). This is rice-based shochu made by refermenting the sake lees. It is … Continue reading Satonowa’s Japanese Herbal Liqueur: Elegant Elixirs from Shiga Prefecture →

L’Orient is an award-winning, Yamanashi-based winery that was established in 1938. Good sign, good sign, good sign. To add another good sign, it is family run! And to add just one more good sign, they know what they are doing. I had the good fortune to meet the vintner, Mr. Uchida, at the Gourmet Show, … Continue reading Trumpeting the Spirit: L’Orient’s Grappa from Muscat Bailey A →

Sake Cup as Boat, Okumura, Masanobu, Edo Period A sultry evening in Tokyo found me at a JSS Media Event, which the organization holds periodically for journalists and sundry. The speaker was Associate Professor Yuki Hata from Meijo University, Nagoya. She was enthusiastically telling those assembled about Edo Period manga containing references to sake and … Continue reading Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association’s Media Event (July 14, 2026): I Left Stirred, Not Shaken →