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July 04, 2026
 

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SAKE

Tomomi Duquette is the owner of Snow Satoyama Sake, one of just three breweries that have opened in Niigata Prefecture since 1953.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 14, 2026
Newcomer to hallowed Niigata sake scene is already winning awards
Sake evangelist Tomomi Duquette is breathing new life into the heartland of sake brewing.
Assemblage, a blending technique foundational to Champagne, is almost never used in sake but serves as the core of Heavensake.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 31, 2026
The Frenchmen who gave sake a Champagne soul
Carl Hirschmann and former Champagne cellar master Regis Camus lean on techniques from the wine world to produce a sake that has a foot in both Europe and Japan.
Japanese sake brewer Dassai is working to enhance its brand recognition and expand into foreign markets, aiming to achieve annual sales of ¥100 billion.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2026
Sake brewer Dassai features art in pop-up at Mitsukoshi store
The temporary shop at the flagship department store in Tokyo showcases artworks expressing the essence of sake brewing as felt by artists who visited Dassai’s brewery.
The recently concluded Sake Park invited younger brewers to make sake more approachable for attendees in their 20s and 30s.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 10, 2026
Tokyo’s sake calendar is filled to the brim
Large-scale sake festivals are taking over the city next weekend. We find out why and help you decide which one to attend.
Kiyoshi Gonda (left), sixth-generation sakemaker of Gonda Shuzo in Saitama Prefecture, wants to make his sake from as many local ingredients as possible.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 27, 2026
A Saitama sake brewery embraces a little-known rice variety
Gonda Shuzo in Kumagaya is banking on Sake Musashi, a local cultivar, to define the terroir of the region’s sake.
Rosewood Miyakojima's Choma bar is a stylish beachfront venue.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Feb 23, 2026
At Choma, drinks come with a shot of folklore
Rosewood Miyakojima’s new beachfront bar shakes up inventive cocktails inspired by the island’s myths and traditions.
A promotional event for sake held by the National Tax Agency in 2024
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 10, 2026
Japan moves to help sake breweries hit by surge in rice prices
The price of sake rice harvested in 2025 is about 1.5 to 2.3 times higher than the previous year.
At Buryu Winery, owner Keiji Yamaguchi (left) and assistant winemaker Kaede Narita created a cedar-infused red wine by fermenting it in a 1,000 liter "kioke" cedar tub.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 6, 2026
Against the grain: Japanese wine aged in local barrels
A small but growing number of domestic winemakers are using vessels made from native trees such as “mizunara,” moving away from the norm of using European or American oak.
Singapore's Orchid Sake Brewery is one of the small but emerging number of sake breweries in Asia.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 9, 2026
Sakemaking takes root beyond Japan, from India to Singapore
A new breed of young sakemakers in Asia are reinventing sake by brewing with it indigenous rice and tailoring it to local palates and cuisines.
A spice-infused matcha cake conjures up the flavors of Christmas with a Japanese twist.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Dec 16, 2025
Christmas brings the smell of cinnamon, cloves and matcha
Work the flavors of an “o-toso,” a spice-infused sake, into your green tea cake to create a delicious Japanese-inspired alternative to your traditional yuletide dessert.
Tottori Gov. Shinji Hirai (second from left) greets attendees while wearing a happi coat at a tasting event for sake from the prefecture, on Tuesday in Paris.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2025
Tottori governor promotes local goods in Paris
The visit to the French capital was arranged based on Gov. Shinji Hirai’s wish for his prefecture to deepen its relations with Europe.
Industry professionals gathered in Kyoto to discuss sake at the Sake Samurai Summit.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 11, 2025
Industry experts weigh sake’s global future at Kyoto summit
Participants at the Sake Samurai Summit in Kyoto discussed how global enthusiasm and domestic headwinds are reshaping Japan’s sake trade.
Participants sample sake at an event in London on Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 14, 2025
Sake industry steps up promotion in Britain
The Times newspaper has published a feature on sake, and local supermarkets have begun selling the drink.
A conceptual image of Dassai, a Japanese sake, brewed in space
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2025
Sake brewing to be tested on International Space Station
The goal is to produce sake on the moon in the future.
Maaya Takaoka serves sake at a restaurant in Mumbai earlier this month.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2025
Japanese woman strives to promote sake in India
Maaya Takaoka moved to India this year, attracted by the country’s vibrant culture and its large, untapped market.
Bartender and raconteur Shingo Gokan wants his new Tokyo bar, Sangai, to tell the story of Japan's terroir.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Sep 23, 2025
With new Tokyo bar, Shingo Gokan’s bartending journey comes full circle
After a nomadic career, a charismatic bartender now finds home to be a vibrant source of tippling inspiration.
Haruhiko Oyama, a descendant of the Yamatohana Jozo brewery's founder, talks about the family business at the brewer’s original site, which is now used as a restaurant and rental venue.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Sep 8, 2025
Sake brewing in Hiroshima felt the pinch of wartime economic controls
During World War II, the government pushed breweries into mergers or closures to redirect resources toward munitions.
Shinji Mizutani opened Tanikoretani in August 2024, after converting a dilapidated shophouse in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa into a retro-look "izakaya" tavern.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 24, 2025
Behind Tanikoretani’s quiet facade, a lively world of sake-fueled food
A chance encounter with a two-story rental space led Shinji Mizutani to set up a vibrant tavern in Tokyo’s Kiyosumi-Shirakawa neighborhood.
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 22, 2025
Germany’s first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas
Yellowish and high in acidity, German sake won’t please the purists, but open-minded consumers, especially wine drinkers, may find something appealing.
After establishing Lagoon Brewery in 2021, Yosuke Tanaka began making export-only "nihonshu" (Japanese sake) and later, "craft sake," a new genre of sake that isn't bound by the rules of traditional sakemaking.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 25, 2025
Brewed from rice, water and tomatoes: The growth of ‘craft sake’
Hampered yet inspired by the strict regulations for new brewers, a growing breed of sake producers are making the beverage on their own creative terms.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

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