Ganbatte Tohoku Sake!

October marked the start of this year’s sake brewing season, and, despite the destruction wrought by the March 11 disasters in northeastern Japan, sake makers in Tohoku are back in business. More than half of the region’s 145 sake producers were affected by the earthquake and tsunami; in a few tragic cases, the breweries were completely razed. But according to sake guru John Gauntner, most are showing encouraging signs of revival.

“Almost everybody has managed to get up and running this season, and they’re back on their feet to a certain extent,” he says.

For some of these breweries, recovery has been nothing short of miraculous. In the hard-hit city of Ishinomaki, on the coast of Miyagi prefecture, the brewing facility of Hitakami Shuzo was inundated, toppling a dozen fermentation tanks and spilling a liquid carpet of sake across the floor. Fortunately, they were able to salvage a fraction of the sake and the brewery has made great efforts to pick up where they left off.

“I wasn’t sure that Hitakami was going to make it, but they’ve done a really good job,” Gauntner remarks.

In the months that have passed since the earthquake, breweries have shown formidable resolve and resourcefulness. Niizawa Shuzo, located in Osaki City, was spared flooding by the tsunami, but the impact of the earthquake rattled all five of the brewery’s buildings and caused irreparable damage to their foundations. This fall, Iwao Niizawa, the brewery’s fifth-generation president, was able to relocate the business to a new facility about an hour away, and production has resumed.

The tragedy has engendered an unprecedented spirit of cooperation among producers. Although nothing remains on the original site of Suisen Shuzo in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture, president Yasuhiko Konno has found a way to keep brewing. After the 67-year-old brewery was swept away in the tsunami, Suisen turned to rival brewer Iwate Meijo Corp for help. Konno and Iwate Meijo head Yorihiko Oikawa agreed that Suisen could borrow the brewery’s facilities in Ichinoseki for a period of three years.

Distributors and retailers have also come together to show support for the affected brewers and communities in Tohoku. Across the nation and internationally, charity events and campaigns have been held to raise money and awareness for the disaster victims. Sake exporting company and retailer Hasegawa-sakaten collaborated with 12 breweries for its fund-raising project, “Kanpa+i,” a play on the words kanpai (cheers) and ai (love). A portion of the profits generated from the sale of sake bearing the Kanpa+i label will be donated to relief and rebuilding efforts.

“The program will run for a year,” says president Koichi Hasegawa. “We are thinking of new ideas to ensure that the events of March 11 are not forgotten.”

Although many have feared that fallout from the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima might pose further problems for Tohoku’s brewers, the threat of radiation contamination has proven to be low. The Japanese government has been testing rice all over the country, and no contamination has been detected in sake rice. “The rice has all come up clean, and some brewers will check it again,” Gauntner adds.

In September, the National Tax Agency announced plans to check all of the water used to make sake (as well as wine and beer) within a 150km radius of the nuclear facility, while random tests would be performed on water from other prefectures. The tax agency will also be screening the finished products for radiation.

So far, radiation concerns have not put a damper on consumption. In fact, sales of Tohoku sake have risen slightly, and some industry professionals speculate that the disaster may have sparked a renewed interest in the national drink among Japanese. No one knows whether the positive trends will continue, but one thing is clear: Tohoku’s sake makers are determined to keep brewing.

** A version of this article originally appeared in the Japan Times earlier this month.

Alright, folks, I've got a plane to catch but I'll be back soon. Onward, ho, Shanghai!

Born This Way

Sake, as the saying goes, has the power of a hundred medicines. But Atsuhide Kato, the 11th generation head of Kato Kichibee Shoten, whose brewery produces Born sake in Fukui prefecture, maintains that his brews can do a lot more than take the edge off a case of the sniffles.

“I always tell people that drinking Born will bring you visions of the future,” Kato-san declares, conveying the brewery’s philosophy first in English before switching to Japanese. “I really believe that. The name of our sake means ‘striking truth’ in Sanskrit, and also ‘birth to the future.’”

Kato speaks from personal experience. When he took the reigns at Kato Kichibee Shoten, he dreamed of turning their line of artisanal sake into a global sensation. The brewery, located in the tiny town of Sabae, has a history that goes back to the 1860s, and making sake for the local community had been its original focus. But, from the start of his tenure as president, Kato sought to expand their audience and worked to cultivate an international image for Born.

“Even in the early days, I pushed to participate in events all over the world. We’ve done events throughout Asia, the US, Europe, South Africa, and Dubai,” he tells me, as I furiously scramble to jot down notes.

Since then, Born has been exported to around 30 countries and has garnered accolades both domestically and abroad. Their award-winning Nihon no Tsubasa Junmai Daiginjo is the official sake served on board the Japanese government aircraft used by the Emperor and the Prime Minister. To celebrate the election of Barack Obama in 2008, former Prime Minister Yukio Hatayama presented the US President with a bottle of Yume wa Masayume Junmai Daiginjo, an elegant brew matured for five years.

The first time I encountered Born sake was long ago, through my good friends Etsuko and Ted of Tokyofoodcast. They had brought a bottle of Born Tokusen Junmai Daiginjo and suggested that we try it warmed. At that time, I was skeptical. I had never had a Daiginjo served warm and, whether or not I admitted it to myself, was still holding onto the notion that all premium sake should be served chilled.

How wrong I'd been. The Born Tokusen Junmai Daiginjo was delicious chilled -- with hints of perky citrus and round melon. But warmed, it really came into its own. Full-flavored yet mellow, with a velvety texture and generous umami depth, the sake reminded me of finding a warm, fuzzy blanket on a chilly evening.

Talking to Kato-san, it comes as no surprise that his brewery would produce sakes so bold and so visceral. While speaking on the phone, we are frequently disconnected as he races through highway tunnels (once, he hangs up when he sees a police vehicle). He is loquacious and charming and tells me things that sometimes surprise me.

Earlier this autumn, Kato Kichibee Shoten completed construction of a sparkling new brewing facility with enough space to store up to 20,000 koku (3,600 KL) of sake at temperatures below freezing.

“We usually age the sake for one to two years at around minus 5 degrees Celsius,” he explains. “Doing this gives Born a deep yet clean and smooth character.”

The new brewery was also designed to withstand a magnitude-8.5 earthquake and is equipped with extra fireproofing features. Although Fukui prefecture was unaffected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, Kato was moved by the plight of brewers and disaster victims in the northeast, and he worried what might happen if a similar calamity struck closer to home.

Taking swift action, Kato ordered several changes to the reconstruction plans, which had been drafted eighteen months before. An extensive third floor was added, along with stairs on the outside of the building, so that the brewery could be used as an evacuation shelter in the case of an emergency.

“We are a brewery that values the community,” Kato concludes. “We also want our brewery to be important for the community. In this way, we will go forward into the future together.”