Japanese Whisky Fans Get Chance to Collect Seals at Distilleries, Earn Copper Certificate

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:37 JST, March 27, 2026

Ryoko Yomiuri Publication Co. will begin publishing its “Japanese Whisky Passport,” a booklet for collecting seals at 28 whisky distilleries across the country, on April 1.

The passport resembles the goshuincho booklets for collecting commemorative seals at temples and shrines. Ryoko Yomiuri Publication, which publishes travel and tourism books, is calling the seals for the passport “doin,” or “copper seals,” a reference to the fact that whisky stills are made of copper.

The passport will cost ¥2,500 including tax and is meant to encourage tourists to enjoy Japanese whiskies and revitalize regional communities.

The booklet is modeled on tetsuincho, or railway seal books, a rail version of goshuincho that the publisher launched in 2020. Users will purchase the doin seals at any of the 28 distilleries and put them on a page of their booklet. When they have collected all the seals, they can purchase a copper certificate card for ¥10,000. The 28 distilleries include Tenkyo distillery in Fukushima Prefecture, Yabu Distillery in Hyogo Prefecture and Shindo Distillery in Fukuoka Prefecture. The passport can be purchased at participating distilleries, among other places.

“We want to present a new form of whisky tourism,” Kenichi Ito, an executive officer at the publisher, said on Thursday.