Contents:
I. Japan\u2019s workplace drinking party communication is unnecessary, says majority of workers in survey (12\/2\/24)
II. Japan sake-brewing joins UNESCO intangible heritage list (12\/5\/24)
III. Why would a Japanese bartender open a nonalcoholic bar?(12\/6\/24)
IV. Hundreds of izakaya going bust as prices rise and customers change (12\/9\/24)
V. What do nondrinkers really feel about year-end parties? (12\/16\/24)
VI. Once taboo, more Japanese women are brewing sake (12\/17\/24)
VII. Not paying any dating expenses at all’ listed as domestic violence by Japanese gov’t agency (12\/17\/24)
VIII. Traveling for sake’s sake: The emergence of brewery tourism in Japan (1\/3\/25) <\/b><\/p>\n
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\nThe term “nominication” comes from combining nomi, meaning \u201cdrinking\u201d in Japanese, and the English \u201ccommunication.\u201d For generations, nominication, the idea that frank, free-form conversations will flow between coworkers with some alcoholic beverage lubricant has been a pillar of Japanese business culture, and the ostensible rationale for countless invites for the workplace team, and sometimes the whole company, to go out drinking together after punching out of the office.
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However, to some people those invites feel more like orders, since nominication being such an engrained part of workplace atmosphere can make it hard to opt out of drinking sessions without looking like you\u2019re uninterested in fostering communication with your colleagues. Many would also argue that while organic, insightful conversations about a wide range of topics is presented as the nominication ideal, in actuality you\u2019re just as likely to spend the whole drinking party listening to coworkers and bosses gripe and gossip about petty grudges or problems in their personal lives, puff themselves up as they brag about some insignificant accomplishment, and tell jokes that aren\u2019t nearly as funny, fresh, or appropriate as they think they are.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/div>\nIn other words, there\u2019s a divide between those who see the potential positives of coworkers drinking together and those who\u2019d rather keep their professional relationships strictly sober, and that second group is getting bigger, the results of a new survey suggest.
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Nippon Life Insurance Company recently released the results of a workplace atmosphere survey which collected responses from 11,377 people with a roughly even split between men and women. When asked if they thought nominication was necessary, the majority, 56.4 percent, said no, it\u2019s not.\n<\/p>\n
Surprisingly, this attitude wasn\u2019t found only among younger workers. When responses were sorted by age, a majority of all age groups said nominication isn\u2019t necessary, with less than five percent in variation between demographics.\n<\/p>\n
Nominication is not necessary.\n<\/p>\n
\u25cf Respondents in their 20s: 55.7 percent\n<\/p>\n
\u25cf Respondents in their 30s: 57 percent\n<\/p>\n
\u25cf Respondents in their 40s: 55.4 percent\n<\/p>\n
\u25cf Respondents in their 50s: 56.2 percent\n<\/p>\n
\u25cf Respondents in their 60s: 56.2 percent\n<\/p>\n
\u25cf Respondents in their 70s: 59.8 percent\n<\/p>\n
On the other hand, there was a large difference in answers between men and women, with a slim majority of men actually being in favor of nominication, while women as a group were especially opposed to the idea.\n<\/p>\n
Is nominication necessary?\n<\/p>\n
\u25cf Men\n<\/p>\n
Yes: 52.1 percent\n<\/p>\n
No: 47.9 percent\n<\/p>\n
\u25cf Women\n<\/p>\n
Yes: 34.3 percent\n<\/p>\n
No: 65.5 percent\n<\/p>\n
As for why respondents are averse to nominication, the top answer, from 48,3 percent of the anti-nominication group (and 51.6 percent of women), was Ki wo tsukau. This is a Japanese phrase that describes having to put on social niceties, make small talk, and otherwise keep up a tactful atmosphere, but in a situation where that doesn\u2019t come naturally or easily. This was followed by \u201cDrinking with coworkers just feels like I\u2019m working overtime\u201d (33.7 percent of respondents) and \u201cI don\u2019t like alcohol\u201d (28.8 percent of respondents).\n<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/div>\nNippon Life Insurance Company conducts this survey annually, and the 56.4 percent-response that nominication is unnecessary is up from 55.2 percent last year and 54.4 percent the year before that. The researchers think that the trend might be being spurred at least in part by employees becoming used to aspects of working styles that were introduced during the coronavirus pandemic, such as working from home and refraining from holding drinking parties.
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However, while many of the respondents aren\u2019t fond of going for drinks with coworkers, that doesn\u2019t mean they don\u2019t see any value in face-to-face communication, with 87.2 percent of them (87.1 percent of men and 87.7 percent of women) saying it\u2019s necessary to keep work going smoothly.\n<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most important figures from the survey are the responses to the question \u201cDo you want to work for a company that has nominication?\u201d 70.2 percent said they did not (61.9 percent of men and a whopping 78.6 percent of women), so companies looking to attract talent in Japan will likely benefit from finding ways to promote communication without getting liquored up first.\n<\/p>\n
Source: Nippon Life Insurance Company via Tele Asa News via Yahoo! Japan News via Jin\n<\/p>\n
Insert images: Pakutaso\n<\/p>\n
Source: https:\/\/japantoday.com\/category\/features\/lifestyle\/japan%E2%80%99s-workplace-drinking-party-communication-is-unnecessary-says-majority-of-workers-in-survey<\/a>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n II. Japan sake-brewing joins UNESCO intangible heritage list (12\/5\/24) Sake is perhaps more Japanese than the world-famous sushi. It’s brewed in centuries-old mountaintop warehouses, savored in the country\u2019s pub-like izakayas, poured during weddings and served slightly chilled for special toasts. The smooth rice wine that plays a crucial role in Japan’s culinary traditions was enshrined on Wednesday by UNESCO on its list of the \u201cintangible cultural heritage of humanity.”\n<\/p>\n At a meeting in Luque, Paraguay, members of UNESCO\u2019s committee for safeguarding humanity’s cultural heritage voted to recognize 45 cultural practices and products around the world, including Brazilian white cheese, Caribbean cassava bread and Palestinian olive oil soap.\n<\/p>\n Unlike UNESCO\u2019s World Heritage List, which includes sites considered important to humanity like the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Intangible Cultural Heritage designation names products and practices of different cultures that are deserving of recognition.\n<\/p>\n A Japanese delegation welcomed the announcement in Luque.\n<\/p>\n \u201cSake is considered a divine gift and is essential for social and cultural events in Japan,\u201d Takehiro Kano, the Japanese ambassador to UNESCO, told The Associated Press.\n<\/p>\n The basic ingredients of sake are few: rice, water, yeast and koji, a rice mold, which breaks down the starches into fermentable sugars like malting does in beer production. The whole two-monthlong process of steaming, stirring, fermenting and pressing can be grueling.\n<\/p>\n The rice \u2014 which wields tremendous marketing power as part of Japan’s broader cultural identity \u2014 is key to the alcoholic brew.\n<\/p>\n For a product to be categorized Japanese sake, the rice must be Japanese.\n<\/p>\n The UNESCO recognition, the delegation said, captured more than the craft knowledge of making high-quality sake. It also honored a tradition dating back some 1,000 years \u2014 sake makes a cameo in Japan\u2019s famous 11th century novel, \u201cThe Tale of Genji,\u201d as the drink of choice in the refined Heian court.\n<\/p>\n Now, officials hope to restore sake’s image as Japan’s premier alcoholic drink even as the younger drinkers in the country switch to imported wine or domestic beer and whiskey.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt means a lot to Japan and to the Japanese,\u201d Kano said of the UNESCO designation. “This will help to renew interest in traditional sake elaboration.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Also, Japanese breweries have expressed hope that the listing could give a little lift to the country’s export economy as the popularity of sake booms around the world and in the United States amid heightened interest in Japanese cuisine.\n<\/p>\n Sake exports, mostly to the U.S. and China, now rake in over $265 million a year, according to the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association, a trade group.\n<\/p>\n Japan’s delegation appeared ready to celebrate on Wednesday \u2014 in classic Japanese style.\n<\/p>\n After the announcement, Kano raised a cypress box full of sake to toast the alcoholic brew and cultural rite.\n<\/p>\n Source: https:\/\/japantoday.com\/category\/national\/japan-sake-brewing-added-to-unesco-intangible-heritage<\/a>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n III. Why would a Japanese bartender open a nonalcoholic bar?(12\/6\/24)<\/p>\n <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Decades of recession, less work-related drinking and greater health consciousness have shrunk Japan\u2019s alcohol consumption. Leading global drinks data and analytics provider IWSR (formerly International Wine and Spirits Record) lists Japan in the world\u2019s top 10 no\/low alcohol markets \u2014 forecast to grow another 5% by 2027. Japan\u2019s best bartenders are adapting fast. Shuzo Nagumo is the CEO of Spirits & Sharing, an alcohol-related services company which owns seven Tokyo bars.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe nonalcoholic beverage market is larger than the alcoholic market, and further innovation in nonalcoholic drinks is expected to continue in the future,\u201d Nagumo said.\n<\/p>\n Nagumo\u2019s chief technical officer, Manabu Ito, has around 37 years of bar experience.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first started working during the economic bubble era, Japan was full of hardworking people who stayed late and drank heavily to keep going. Younger people, in particular, drank a lot back then.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Ito said younger people today seem to drink with a clearer purpose. They research bars and drinks online, then choose them based on their personal likes. Also, older people are drinking noticeably less, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n A surprising number of Japanese bartenders only drink small amounts of alcohol or none at all. \u201cJapanese DNA variations make it impossible for certain individuals to process alcohol,\u201d said Nagumo.\n<\/p>\n A bar manager at a luxury hotel venue shared another reason: \u201cI only drink alcohol once a week to preserve my palate.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Hiroaki Takahashi is the bar manager of Japan\u2019s first nonalcoholic bar, Tokyo\u2019s Low-Non-Bar, which opened in 2020.\n<\/p>\n Referring to its founder, Eiji Miyazawa, Takahashi said: \u201cHe stopped drinking around 2018 due to health reasons. Nowadays, he sometimes drinks in small amounts because he loves bars.\n<\/p>\n \u201cAs for myself, I have been a bartender since the age of 20, but I rarely drank outside of studying in bars until I turned 30, as alcohol would negatively affect my health.\u201d<\/p>\n Low-Non-Bar serves zero-, low-alcohol (up to 3%) and alcoholic drinks. Patrons can order alternating levels of alcohol \u2014 Takahashi calls this \u201cliver sustainability.\u201d Takahashi adds premium ingredients like seasonal organic produce, truffle-infused honey, homemade syrups and aromatic waters to subtle-tasting, alcohol-free spirits \u2014 with complex, flavorsome results.\n<\/p>\n Originally, the whole menu was zero-alcohol. After COVID travel bans ended, liquor was added to meet foreigners\u2019 requests. The current clientele is mostly in their 30s: about 40% male, 60% female, 60% teetotallers and 40% drinkers.\n<\/p>\n However, Takahashi thinks Japan remains behind bars overseas \u2014 like a “nonalcoholic isolation state\u201d \u2014 because it bans nonalcoholic spirit imports due to regulations on additives.\n<\/p>\n In 2024, Low-Non-Bar released its own nonalcoholic gin, Ginnie. Without alcohol\u2019s preservative and flavor extracting properties, it has a shorter shelf-life and requires twice the amount of botanicals compared to alcoholic gin.\n<\/p>\n Three alcohol-free Ginnie cordials with extracts like cypress, vanilla and dealcoholized sake are also available.<\/p>\n Bartender Hiroaki Oda also busts the myth that mocktails are just sugary, uninspired concoctions. At Oda\u2019s Bar Ixey in Gion, there\u2019s no menu as he customizes guests\u2019 alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages. \u201cThe reason why I make nonalcoholic cocktails is because I want to be ready to pass on the culture of the bar, which I love, to the next generation.\u201d In the past two years, he\u2019s received many nonalcohol requests from young people, but also people in their 40s.\n<\/p>\n Bar Ixey features \u201cdrinkable perfumes\u201d crafted with botanicals (many from Oda\u2019s private herb garden) and an aroma extractor. The fragrances are 10 to 100 times more concentrated than a typical herbal tea.\n<\/p>\n Without ethanol\u2019s viscosity, creating texture in alcohol-free drinks is challenging.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt is important to compensate for a lack of body by adding concentrated aroma. Whether or not it has a concentrated aroma makes a huge difference,\u201d Oda explained.<\/p>\n During the COVID lockdown, Oda closed his bar and experimented with distillations. \u201cThen the Japanese government banned the serving of alcohol after 8 p.m., so we did a nonalcohol bar. This was one of those grand social experiments that rarely happen, because without it, customers would never have had three nonalcoholic cocktails all in a row.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Oda distilled about 140 different plants, and chose the best results to create Miatina, a 0%- alcohol spirit. Today, there are three Miatina varieties, with essences like cedar, mushroom and lavender.\n<\/p>\n Oda\u2019s second venue, Ixey Non-Alcoholic Spirits Kyoto Distillery & Salon, opened in 2022 in Gojo.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe next challenge is a hands-on distilling class. We plan to start at the beginning of the year. With alcohol, it is not possible for customers to take home their own alcohol made at the distillery, but with nonalcoholic drinks it is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Kenichi Tomita graduated from culinary school, entered the drinks world and opened his own bar in 2007. At Bar Nano Gould in Sapporo, he makes cocktails ranging from classics to his own wild inventions, exploring the concept \u201ccocktails are liquid cuisine.\u201d \u201cI teach at a cooking school. We are also developing the menus of restaurants. Cocktail pairing is very interesting and difficult. It’s worth the challenge. We held collaboration events with various restaurants such as sushi, soba, French, Italian, Indian and so on,\u201d Tomita said.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt has become a matter of course not to drink alcohol when eating out,\u201d Tomita observes.\n<\/p>\n \u201cPeople who have been forced to drink alcohol up until now are happy,\u201d he says. \u201cAlcohol harassment is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Zero- and low-(3-5%) alcohol cocktails are adapted from his alcoholic recipes. Tomita\u2019s creations use products from across Japan (especially Hokkaido) including vinegar, cacao, goat milk, soup stock, soybeans and deep ocean water. You can also pick flavors like pumpkin and caramel, or azuki beans and blue cheese from a separate menu.\n<\/p>\n \u201cNonalcoholic gin is very beautiful and delicate. And it’s expensive,\u201d Tomita shared. One brand he uses is Nema, Japan\u2019s first nonalcoholic gin.\n<\/p>\n Tomita\u2019s boundless creativity spills over to a sister venue nearby. Bar Nano Femto is run by bartender Marie Mizuno and follows the same theme, but with different recipes.<\/p>\n Spirits & Sharing\u2019s Nagumo also works closely with food. He said catering for luxury brand parties and food pairings at restaurants are driving mocktail demand. His company hosts mocktail seminars in-house and for external clients. Amongst his Tokyo bars, Folklore sells the most mocktails. It also specializes in nihonshu (Japanese rice wine, or sake) with relatively low, 14-18% alcohol content and shochu (distilled Japanese spirit made from potato, rice or wheat).\n<\/p>\n Ito\u2019s bar, Mixology Heritage, is classic style (with a whisky emphasis). Nonalcoholic choices are limited but its new menu \u2014 for the first time \u2014 features a code explaining each drink\u2019s alcohol level.\n<\/p>\n Ito also thinks bartenders today are exercising more and cutting back on alcohol.\n<\/p>\n And himself? \u201cI used to drink until morning in the past, but now I\u2019ve shifted to having just a little drink after work. On my days off, I enjoy taking my time and savoring drinks when I have the opportunity to relax.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Japan\u2019s drinking habits have changed, but watching these professionals blend cutting-edge mixology with the precision and elegance of their classic training \u2014 you feel assured that the beauty of Japanese bar culture will evolve and survive.\n<\/p>\n More bars with no\/low alcohol cocktails Inflation and teetotaling are taking a toll on izakaya, Japanese pubs where food and drinks are served in an informal, sometimes rowdy, setting. Izakaya are usually small, cozy places where the work is labor-intensive and relatively personal.\n<\/p>\n Limited opportunities exist for automation and economies of scale, so izakaya cannot easily achieve efficiencies needed when prices are rising and budgets are squeezed. It\u2019s tough to mechanize the charms of such establishments.\n<\/p>\n In a separate survey, Teikoku Databank said that bankruptcies in general hit 746 in August, a decade-plus high for that month. The number of bankruptcies so far this year is the highest since 2015.\n<\/p>\n Small companies have been hit especially hard.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThis trend is likely to continue, with labor shortages and rising interest rates,\u201d said Norihiro Yamaguchi, senior Japan economist at Oxford Economics.\n<\/p>\n Inflation in Japan has been elevated in recent years, hitting a four-decade-plus high in 2023. It remains above 2%.\n<\/p>\n The government has been working to bring an end to an era of deflation with liberal spending, while the Bank of Japan had kept rates at or near zero for years.\n<\/p>\n Pay has not been keeping up. Real wages declined for more than two years through June as price rises ate away at nominal pay increases. Households have been forced to cut back to make ends meet, and izakaya have suffered.\n<\/p>\n Teikoku Databank said that people have reduced their visits to these restaurants, while the operations are forced to pay more for food, drink and labor. Izakaya have also been hit with declining alcohol consumption and shifts in social behavior following the pandemic, it added.\n<\/p>\n The data company said that about 40% of izakaya were losing money in fiscal 2023, while some have decided to pivot into cafes or burger joints. Watami, an izakaya operator, said in October that it had acquired the Japan operations of Subway, as part of a diversification and growth push.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe key to survive under an inflationary environment is to have a strong pricing power, as costs increase inevitably,\u201d Yamaguchi said, calling it a \u201ctough environment\u201d for small restaurants operating in a highly competitive environment.\n<\/p>\n \u201cFor them, increasing costs, such as high labor costs, energy costs and material costs, hit their profit directly,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n Teikoku Databank noted that pharmacies are also having a tough time. Bankruptcies through the first 11 months of this year totaled 34, and the debts of failed pharmacies is the most in more than a decade. It expects that 37 could be out of business by the end of the year.\n<\/p>\n Aging owners, high competition and the bankruptcies of medical institutions associated with pharmacies were blamed for the high number of bankruptcies.\n<\/p>\n \u201cRestaurants are facing rises in material and labor costs, and bankruptcies are on the rise,\u201d said Koichi Fujishiro, an economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.\n<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, next year is expected to see continued strong nominal wage growth, while inflation may ease, leading to higher real household incomes. This increase in income should benefit expenditures such as on food and daily necessities, which have become targets of cost-cutting amid inflation.”\n<\/p>\n Source: https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/business\/2024\/12\/09\/economy\/izakaya-bankruptcies-teikoku\/<\/a><\/p>\n On December 7, just in time for the year-end party season, the Asahi Shimbun’s weekly “be between” column ran the results of an online survey on drinking alcoholic beverages. In response to the question, “Do you partake of alcoholic beverages?” 70% of the 2,584 respondents gave positive replies. Despite non-drinkers being in the 30% minority, 53% of all survey respondents nonetheless agreed that nominication — a bilingual portmanteau combining nomi (to drink) and communication — was an essential element of Japanese society.\n<\/p>\n Still, as Weekly Playboy (Dec 30) points out, non-drinkers in Japan are known to suffer from discrimination in the form of aruhara (alcohol harassment). And others, concerned over becoming marginalized, admit they join in rather than risk being regarded as a party pooper.\n<\/p>\n Perhaps because drinking tapered off sharply during the COVID pandemic, attitudes toward alcohol have nonetheless been shifting in non-drinkers’ favor. Rather than simply conforming to the dominant drinking culture, more people now abstain from alcohol not only out of concern for their physical constitution, but also as a matter of personal preference. This has also seen the term sobaa kyuriasu (sober curious) — derived from the eponymous title of a book published in 2019 by British journalist Ruby Warrington — become increasingly popularized.\n<\/p>\n To obtain a grasp of non-drinkers’ attitudes, Weekly Playboy posed a series of questions to 1,000 males and females in range of 20 to 69 years of age.\n<\/p>\n Over half the total (53.9%) responded that they lack much of a capacity for alcohol, with 27.7% admitting they cannot hold alcohol at all. Of the latter, a whopping 73% replied that they could not handle even the slightest amount. Only 13.4% of all subjects said they had a relatively strong tolerance for alcoholic beverages.\n<\/p>\n Among the non-drinkers a variety of reasons were given for their aversion to alcohol: 52.5% said it made them feel unpleasant, with some saying they simply disliked the taste of alcoholic beverages. A man in his 40s said he refrained due to residual effects of COVID-19. Several others claimed they were allergic to alcohol.\n<\/p>\n Overall, 45.5% of the non-drinkers said they didn’t like the feeling of being inebriated; 29.5% said booze gave them headaches; 14% said drinking made them doze off; and 5% said drinking was physically painful.\n<\/p>\n Understandably, roughly three out of four of the non-drinkers said they disliked attending social events that included drinking. Another 18% said they were able to tolerate the activity, and 5% felt favorably disposed toward it. Only 3%, however, said they enjoyed such events.\n<\/p>\n Interestingly, when non-drinkers were asked to specify what they disliked most about drinking parties, the largest objection, stated by 50.68%, was that they felt they were obliged to pay more than their fair share in cases of warikan (splitting the tab), since soft drinks are typically priced cheaper than alcohol.\n<\/p>\n Others complained that they felt pressure on them to drink, said by 31.08%; that they had the experience of feeling coerced into drinking (18.92%); and because drinking soft drinks alone made them feel bored (16.22%).\n<\/p>\n The magazine invited four non-drinking survey participants, two males and two females aged between 30 and 49 years, to take part in a roundtable discussion.\n<\/p>\n “If you can’t drink alcohol, people in your circle might not invite you to drinking parties out of a sense of consideration,” one told the magazine. “But I want people to invite me without such a concern. When someone invites me, I’m still happy to go, even if I can’t drink.”\n<\/p>\n Another non-drinker reflected similar tolerance, saying “I also want people to drink as much as they want without worrying about anything. Drinking parties are a place for communication, and deep conversations can emerge from them. I don’t think of it as just being a place merely to drink, so I’d still like to participate as much as possible.”\n<\/p>\n Source: https:\/\/japantoday.com\/category\/features\/kuchikomi\/what-do-nondrinkers-really-feel-about-year-end-parties<\/a>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n VI. Once taboo, more Japanese women are brewing sake (12\/17\/24) Not long after dawn, Japanese sake brewer Mie Takahashi checks the temperature of the mixture fermenting at her family\u2019s 150-year-old sake brewery, Koten, nestled in the foothills of the Japanese Alps. She stands on an uneven narrow wooden platform over a massive tank containing more than 3,000 liters of a bubbling soup of steamed rice, water and a rice mold known as koji, and gives it a good mix with a long paddle.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe morning hours are crucial in sake making,\u201d said Takahashi, 43. Her brewery is in Nagano Prefecture, a region known for its sake making.\n<\/p>\n Takahashi is one of a small group of female toji, or master sake brewers. Only 33 female toji are registered in Japan\u2019s Toji Guild Association out of more than a thousand breweries nationwide.\n<\/p>\n That\u2019s more than several decades ago. Women were largely excluded from sake production until after World War II.\n<\/p>\n Sake making has a history of more than a thousand years, with strong roots in Japan’s traditional Shinto religion.\n<\/p>\n But when the liquor began to be mass produced during the Edo period, from 1603 until 1868, an unspoken rule barred women from breweries.\n<\/p>\n The reasons behind the ban remain obscure. One theory is that women were considered impure because of menstruation and were therefore excluded from sacred spaces, said Yasuyuki Kishi, vice director of the Sakeology Center at Niigata University.\n<\/p>\n \u201cAnother theory is that as sake became mass produced, a lot of heavy labor and dangerous tasks were involved,” he said. “So the job was seen as inappropriate for women.\u201d\n<\/p>\n But the gradual breakdown of gender barriers, coupled with a shrinking workforce caused by Japan’s fast-aging population, has created space for more women to work in sake production.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still mostly a male-dominated industry. But I think now people focus on whether someone has the passion to do it, regardless of gender,\u201d Takahashi said.\n<\/p>\n She believes mechanization in the brewery is also helping to narrow the gender gap. At Koten, a crane lifts hundreds of kilograms of steamed rice in batches and places it onto a cooling conveyor, after which the rice is sucked through a hose and transported to a separate room dedicated to cultivating koji.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIn the past, all of this would have been done by hand,\u201d Takahashi said. \u201cWith the help of machines, more tasks are accessible for women.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Sake, or nihonshu, is made by fermenting steamed rice with koji mold, which converts starch into sugar. The ancient brewing technique was recognized under UNESCO\u2019s Intangible Cultural Heritage earlier this month.\n<\/p>\n As a child, Takahashi was not allowed to enter her family-owned brewery. But when she turned 15, she was given a tour of the brewery for the first time and was captivated by the fermentation process.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI saw it bubbling up. It was fascinating to learn that those bubbles were the work of microorganisms that you can\u2019t even see,\u201d said Takahashi, who couldn’t drink alcohol at the time because she was underage. \u201cIt smelled really good. I thought it was amazing that this wonderful fragrant sake could be made from just rice and water. So I thought I\u2019d like to try making it myself.\u201d\n<\/p>\n She pursued a degree in fermentation science at the Tokyo University of Agriculture. After graduation, she decided to return home to become a master brewer. She trained for 10 years under the guidance of her predecessor, and at the age of 34 became a toji at her family brewery.\n<\/p>\n As the brewery enters the winter peak season, Takahashi oversees a team of seasonal workers and production ramps up. It\u2019s labor-intensive work, hauling and turning large amounts of heavy steamed rice, and mixing thousands of liters (hundreds of gallons) of brew. The master brewer must have the knowledge and skill to carefully control optimal koji mold growth, which needs round-the-clock monitoring.\n<\/p>\n Despite the intensity, Takahashi manages to encourage camaraderie in the brewery, catching up with the team as they hand-mix koji rice side by side in a hot humid room.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI was taught that the most important thing is to get along with your team,\u201d Takahashi said. \u201cA common saying is that if the atmosphere in the brewery is tense, the sake will turn out harsh, but if things are going well in the brewery, the sake will turn out smooth.\u201d\n<\/p>\n The inclusion of women plays an important role in the survival of the Japanese sake industry, which has seen a steady decline since its peak in the 1970s.\n<\/p>\n Domestic alcoholic consumption has dropped, while many smaller breweries struggle to find new master brewers. According to the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association, today\u2019s total production volume is about a quarter of what it was 50 years ago.\n<\/p>\n To remain competitive, Koten is among many Japanese breweries trying to find a wider market both domestically and abroad.\n<\/p>\n \u201cOur main product has always been dry sake, which local people continue to drink regularly,” said Takahashi’s older brother, Isao Takahashi, who is in charge of the business side of the family operation. “We\u2019re now exploring making higher value sake as well.\u201d\n<\/p>\n He supports his sister’s experiments \u2013- every year she creates a limited-edition series, Mie Special, that’s meant to branch out from their signature dry product.\n<\/p>\n \u201cMy sister would say she wants to try to make low alcohol content, or she wants to try new yeasts -\u2013 all kinds of new techniques are coming in through her,\u201d he said. \u201cI want my sister to make the sake she wants, and I want to do my best to sell it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
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Tokyo: Peter: The Bar, Tokyo Confidential, The Bar Sazerac
Yokohama: Cocktail Bar Nemanja
Osaka: Bar Nayuta, Kirip Truman, Green Spot, The Bar Elixir-k
Kobe: Mockteria
Nara: Lamp Bar
Nagoya: Bar Stair
Fukuoka: The Roam Bar
Matsuyama: Le Club
Source: https:\/\/japantoday.com\/category\/features\/food\/why-would-japanese-bartender-open-a-nonalcoholic-bar<\/a>\n<\/p>\n
\nIV. Hundreds of izakaya going bust as prices rise and customers change (12\/9\/24)
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\nIn the first 11 months of this year, 203 of these establishments went out of business. That\u2019s more than the 189 that went under in the whole of 2020 when COVID-19 became a pandemic.
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\nV. What do nondrinkers really feel about year-end parties? (12\/16\/24)
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