Food & Drink | KANPAI CULTURE Apr 7, 2018
Hong Kong and Macau, the sake gateways to China
by Melinda Joe
With tastes for premium Japanese sake on the rise, new opportunities to drink sake abound in Hong Kong and Macau.
Food & Drink | TOKYO FOOD FILE Mar 31, 2018
Know by Moto: Sake finds a chic haven below Shinjuku
by Robbie Swinnerton
So you've rendezvoused beneath the huge video screen at Studio Alta. You've explored Shinjuku, maybe caught a movie or trawled for treats in the gleaming depachika (basement food floor) of the Isetan department store. Now you're ready for sustenance. Somewhere cool, with good food ...
Food & Drink Mar 3, 2018
Dive headfirst into the world of nihonshu with a sake education course
by J.J. O'Donoghue
Sake has come a long way from the days when it was internationally — and crudely — known as "rice wine." In recent years, sake has been the star of two documentaries, as well as a TV series on Amazon. Sommeliers and chefs around ...
Food & Drink | KANPAI CULTURE Feb 10, 2018
At high-end restaurants, sake is the sommelier's new best friend
by Melinda Joe
At restaurants around the world, sake is increasingly becoming the beverage of choice for challenging pairings. Ingredients such as artichoke, asparagus and fermented foods are kryptonite to most wines.
National Jan 10, 2018
by Masahiro Hidaka and Yuko Takeo
In an area of Japan still decimated by nuclear disaster, sake is offering cause for hope. For the past five years the sake brewers of Fukushima — on a two-decade quest to develop premium products — have captured the most gold medals in a key ...
Business Jan 7, 2018
Yamagata brewing venture makes splash abroad with sake aged in wine barrels
A brewing venture in the Tohoku region has made a splash abroad with sake matured in oak wine barrels. Wakaze Inc. in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, exports its Orbia brand sake to markets such as France and Hong Kong. Orbia comes in two varieties, Sol and ...
Food & Drink | TOKYO FOOD FILE Jan 6, 2018
The Hangar: A triumphant pairing of food, sake and techno in Tokyo
by Robbie Swinnerton
How better to start the new year than with lofty aspirations, a leisurely dinner in a hip setting, techno on the sound system — and plenty of great sake?
Food & Drink | KANPAI CULTURE Nov 11, 2017
Whirlwind wine romance led to a brand of her own
by Melinda Joe
Early in her career, winemaker Atsuko Radcliffe aspired to brew sake. Fate, however, had other plans.
Food & Drink Oct 28, 2017
Tomita Shuzo: Storied sake on a Shiga street that time forgot
by Robbie Swinnerton
As well as being one of the oldest sake breweries in Japan, the sake here is also some of the nation's finest.
Business Oct 11, 2017
A three-day trade show featuring Japanese food opened Wednesday in Chiba, aiming to help expand exports of farm and fisheries products at a time when washoku (Japanese cuisine) is gaining popularity overseas among health-conscious consumers. More than 1,000 buyers from 66 countries and regions are ...
Food & Drink | KANPAI CULTURE Oct 7, 2017
'Doburoku': Reviving a rustic sake tradition
by Melinda Joe
Sachio Egawa is a Renaissance man of sorts. A spry 68-year-old with a jokey manner and a full head of black hair, he raises his own cows, grows rice and cultivates giant yamame trout in a pond on his farm in northern Iwate Prefecture. In ...
Music Aug 16, 2017
Phoenix readies for 'unique' Summer Sonic and some sweet sake sessions
by Cam Lindsay
In an age where almost every piece of historical information is available at our fingertips, Thomas Mars and Laurent Brancowitz of the French band Phoenix surprise me with a fact that doesn't seem to exist anywhere on the internet. "One of our first shows was ...