24-04-2025
Craft Sake Week is back with its usual brand of cool
Returning for its seventh edition, the annual Craft Sake Week is running until April 29 at Roppongi Hills Arena in Tokyo.
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
