Craft Sake Week is back with its usual brand of cool
The event is the brainchild of Hidetoshi Nakata, a former soccer star who made it his mission to promote Japanese sake here and abroad. Since its launch in 2016, the festival has grown steadily in popularity.
The event has retained its signature format of showcasing 10 different sake producers each day, grouped around a specific theme. For example, April 24's 'New Wave Sake' will spotlight unconventional sake such as Iwate Prefecture-based Asabiraki's Black Style, a beverage made with black kōji (mold); April 25's 'Sake Diversity' will feature sips like Masuizumi Platina, a namazake (unpasteurized sake) from Toyama Prefecture's Masuda; and April 28's 'Sake Loved by Artisans' will flaunt respected labels like Yuki No Bōsha's junmai daiginjō (sake made from rice polished down to at least 50%) from Akita Prefecture's Saiya.
Newcomers to the beverage should find this thematic approach accessible, offering an alternative to the more technical, regional classifications common at other sake events.
Repeat visitors to the event will find much to discover, as each day features a different group of 10 sake producers. |
JAPAN CRAFT SAKE COMPANY
Queues at the booths of the sake producers can be long, though. But there are multilingual servers — their badges indicate the language they speak — walking around the venue with a bottle of sake from a selected brewery and offering pours to anyone interested.
Attendees also have the chance to sample limited-release gems. On opening day, for instance, Ibaraki Prefecture-based Huchu Homare served its Taiheikai sparkling sake, an offering that is normally only released in summer. The bubbles in that refreshing beverage are created by triggering a second fermentation in the bottle with the addition of yeast, a method similar to one used in Champagne production.
Taiheikai is made from Wataribune, a pure rice strain that was revived by Huchu Homare in the early 1990s after the rice had fallen out of favor among farmers due to its finicky cultivation.
'Wataribune tends to produce a softer, slightly fruity sake, which makes it ideal for making our Taiheikai sparkling sake,' says Takaaki Yamauchi, president of Huchu Homare, adding that he would pair it with oily fried dishes, such as karaage (Japanese fried chicken).
Takaaki Yamauchi, president of Huchu Homare, with a bottle of his Taiheikai, a sparkling sake made with second fermentation in the bottle. |
WEIWEN LIN
Conveniently, visitors to the event can pick up karaage from Teba, one of the second set of five restaurants that have booths there from 23 to 28 April. (A total of 15 restaurants were invited to the festival: The first set of five ran from 18 to 22 April; the final quintet will show up on the event's last day.)
All the food vendors, except for tea and seaweed specialist Yamamotoyama Fujie Sabo, are new this year. Also look out for the wild boar sausage hot dog from Kurkkufields, a Chiba-based farm that specializes in charcuterie, cheeses and organic vegetables.
Hot dogs and sake may seem like odd bedfellows but Nakata and his team are out to create a youthful, relaxed atmosphere: DJs and live music performances lend a party vibe, while the event's long wooden tables encourage interaction. The message is clear: Sake can be fun and hip.
Craft Sake Week: Roppongi Hills Arena, 6-11-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo; open 3 p.m.-10 p.m., weekdays; 12 p.m.-9 p.m., weekends; visitors must first purchase a starter set of an official Craft Sake Week sake glass and 12 coins or tokens for ¥4,200 at the venue; repeat visitors need only show the official sake glass to purchase the coins. For more information, visit craftsakeweek.com/en
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asahi Shimbun
2 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
VOX POPULI: Snufkin shows the freedom found in solitude and simplicity
'One can never be truly free, if one admires someone else too much.' Such counsel could only come from someone like Snufkin—a philosophical wanderer, poet at heart, who values freedom, independence and solitude above all else. It's the kind of advice he might offer to those who idolize him, gently warning against the dangers of attachment. A beloved figure in the Moomin series, Snufkin follows a ritual all his own: He departs on solitary travels before winter sets in and faithfully returns to Moominvalley with the coming of spring. At "Tove Jansson and the Moomins," an exhibition currently on view in Tokyo celebrating the artistic world of the Finnish creator behind the beloved literary family, Snufkin stands out as a crowd favorite. Every illustration and sketch of the free-spirited wanderer draws a cluster of admirers. With his trademark wide-brimmed pointed hat pulled low and a harmonica in hand, he is often depicted fishing beside his close friend Moomin. His enduring appeal seems rooted in his steadfast devotion to freedom. Author Tove Jansson (1914–2001) once reflected on Snufkin's personality and his inner contradictions. As cited in 'Tove Jansson' by Mayumi Tomihara (1954–2025), a Japanese scholar of French philosophy and Swedish literature, Jansson described the nomadic vagabond as someone who, alongside his longing for freedom, is inevitably drawn to solitude. This disposition, she noted, contains 'a self-centered weakness.' Jansson, a Finnish national, was born into a minority Swedish-speaking family. During World War II, as Finland found itself precariously positioned between two powerful and hostile forces—the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany—she began creating the Moomin characters as a means of escaping the turmoil of those dark and uncertain times. As a longtime reader, I've always been drawn to Snufkin's philosophical yet unpretentious words. In one scene from the Moomin books, he advises his friends to leave behind the gemstones they find in the valley, keeping them instead as memories. 'It's much more fun to keep things in your head than in a suitcase,' the contemplative wanderer says. I've come to believe that Snufkin is a restless traveler because he can only compose poetry and songs when tested by harsh environments. That's why he sets off each year before winter, leaving behind a sorrowful Moomin. He brushes aside sentimentality and embraces solitude with quiet dignity, carrying his ego without apology. There's something profoundly moving in that image. —The Asahi Shimbun, July 23 * * * Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
SoraNews24
3 hours ago
- SoraNews24
Video game spending is less attractive for a lover than gambling, Japanese survey says, but why?
Gambling regularly tops lists of unattractive behaviors in Japan, so how did one of the country's most notable hobbies surpass it? You can't buy love, but that doesn't mean there's no connection between financial matter and matters of the heart. If a relationship is going to progress and two lovers are going to link their lifestyles, one person's attitude regarding money will eventually start to affect the other, and to get a closer look at the situation Japanese staffing service Biz Hits conducted a survey asking respondents asking what sort of spending habits make a romantic partner less attractive. The poll collected responses from 505 participants (363 women and 142 men), with 23.3 percent between the ages of 20 and 29, 41.7 percent in their 30s, 23 percent in the 40s, 11.7 percent 50 or older, and 0.4 percent under 20. When asked if a romantic partner's spending and saving habits influence how they feel about a relationship, 63.7 percent said they have a major effect, and another 31.9 percent say they have a moderate one. Just 3.8 percent said the effect is only minor, and a negligible 0.6 percent said they don't affect the atmosphere of a relationship at all. So what kind of spending makes someone look unattractive? The number-one response, chosen by 13.3 percent of respondents as their biggest turnoff, is 'spending money on video games.' That might be kind of surprising, since while there are still niche genres and specific titles, video games in general have become a pretty mainstream entertainment option in Japan nowadays. Even more startling is that respondents who said spending money on video games makes a romantic partner unattractive outnumbered those who had that complaint about gambling, which was the number-two response, from 9.1 percent of survey participants, followed by a non-specific 'spending beyond their means' (6.7 percent). Gambling has long ranked at the top of survey results in Japan for behavior of any kind that's considered unappealing in a prospective romantic partner, not just within the field of spending habits. So how video game spending end up at the top of this list, and by a considerable margin? Possibly because of changes in recent years within the video gaming and gambling industries in Japan. Starting with gambling, Japan has venues where you can bet on horse, bicycle, motorcycle, and motorboat racing. However, in terms of the number of gambling facilities, pachinko is by far the most common type, and also the one most people have the easiest geographic access to. Yet while it's still relatively easy to find pachinko parlors, they're having a harder and harder time pulling customers in, and it's especially losing popularity among younger demographics, so it's becoming less likely to be on the deal-breaker radar than it used to be. Meanwhile, video games are no longer limited to their original format in which you paid a set price for a complete game. The hobby now includes a vast array of free-to-play games, including many such mobile game titles. As anyone who's dipped their toes into that model can attest, though, free-to-play games are generally designed in such a way that you have to spend money to access to the actually enjoyable parts of their content, and that content is usually unlocked through randomized gacha/loot box mechanics. In other words, 'spending money on video games' now also encompasses paying money for a non-guaranteed return, with the option to keep paying to try again if the player is unhappy with the initial result…which are all descriptions that fit gambling too. ▼ 'Argghhhhh! I can't believe I got stuck with the SS-Y rank Shampoo Girl! I was sure I was gonna get the SS-Z Pantene-chan this time!' It's true that there are difference between gacha games and gambling, the most important being that with gacha games the player is at least guaranteed to receive something in exchange for their payment, even if it's in-game content that's neither useful nor desirable. However, that might make such spending even harder for a romantic partner to accept. Without specific knowledge of a certain game, it's difficult for non-fans to grasp why a gacha player would be dissatisfied with a particular drop, or why they'd feel like the expense/risk is worth it to chase after a rare one. At least with traditional gambling, it's pretty easy to grasp the desire (money), and so see why a losing bet wouldn't be a satisfying finish to a session, even if you don't agree with the choice to keep at it. Biz Hits didn't numerically break the responses down by gender, but a selection of respondent comments suggests that game spending was seen as unattractive by both men and women, with a woman in her 20s recalling 'I loaned my boyfriend money because he said he was having trouble making ends meet, but then he spent it on in-game purchases,' while a 30-something man said 'I felt like maybe I needed to rethink things a little when I saw my girlfriend spending more than 10,000 yen [US$69] at one time on in-game purchases.' ▼ It's an often-forgotten corollary that what's not good for the goose often isn't all that great for the gander either. Now, as is always the case with surveys like this, it's important to remember that ultimately what matters is whether the two people in the relationship see eye-to-eye and can accept each other's lifestyle choices. It's also worth pointing out that the survey respondents weren't necessarily calling for their romantic partners to rein in spending across the board, with their number-five, six and seven complaints being a partner who's too insistent on splitting all costs 50/50, someone who gives low-priced presents, and someone who's overly focused on saving money and cutting expenses. Still, if you're playing the percentages while looking for love, it might be best to keep your game spending on the moderate side, or maybe to play up your old-school gamer ethos by telling your date that you're only into titles with extra content that can be unlocked through in-game progression and challenges. Source: PR Times Related: Biz Hits Top image: P akutaso Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2, 3) ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! Feel free to follow Casey on Twitter, where yes, he did unlock all the alternate characters and costumes for Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, but be aware that he's already spoken for.
The Mainichi
4 hours ago
- The Mainichi
News in Easy English: Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival ends with big race in Fukuoka
FUKUOKA -- The Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival finished after 15 days of fun in Fukuoka. In this famous summer event, men wear traditional "happi" coats and loincloths. They run through the city streets carrying huge floats. Each float weighs about 1 metric ton. The festival's biggest event, called "Oiyama," happened early in the morning on July 15. Many people watched and cheered as the men ran with the floats, shouting "oisa, oisa." At 4:59 a.m., a big drum sounded at Kushida Shrine. The first team, Higashi Nagare, ran into the shrine with their float and shouted "Yaa!" They circled a flag and sang a celebration song. After that, six more teams and a special decorative float entered the shrine, each five minutes apart. Then, each team took their turn running about 5 kilometers to the finish. Ryuji Umezu, 60, who helped lead the first team, said, "There was pressure, but we approached the event as we do every year," and "I want to ... work hard to make next year's Yamakasa even better." A 65-year-old Buddhist priest from Mie Prefecture saw the festival for the first time. He said, "I've never seen such a powerful festival. I could feel the spirit of it." (Japanese original by Jangrae Kim, Kyushu News Department) Vocabulary festival: a special event with music, food, and fun, often every year float: a big, decorated platform carried or pulled in a festival happi coat: a short, traditional Japanese coat climax: the most exciting part
