Kampai! Nagano Sake-Tasting Event Held in Tokyo

By Futoshi Mori / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Writer

13:11 JST, May 11, 2023

At the Yomoyama Nagano sake-tasting event, visitors could meet and talk with toji master brewers and other sake brewers while sipping sake from around Nagano Prefecture. The event was held Wednesday at the Asakusa View Hotel in Asakusa, Tokyo, with about 720 people in attendance.

The Nagano Sake Brewery Association hosted the event for the first time in four years, hoping that not only sake dealers but also the consuming public — both sake lovers and those who would like to know more about the drink — would learn about and become fans of Nagano sake. They plan to hold further events in Nagoya, Fukuoka and Nagano later this year, hoping to draw foreign sake lovers as well.

Visitors who purchased ¥3,000 advance tickets enjoyed tasting a variety of sake as they toured displays set up by the 55 participating breweries and chatted with the brewers.

With a variety of microclimates across its north-south expanse, Nagano Prefecture is home to about 80 sake breweries, the second most in Japan after Niigata Prefecture. Each produces a sake with its own unique characteristics.

Naotaka Miyasaka, chairman of the Nagano Sake Brewery Association and owner of the major brewery Masumi, concluded the event saying: “We are happy to have so many visitors. Encouraged by this, we will continue to make beautiful sake from the mountains.” All the participants then joined in a final toast.

Future events are scheduled to be held on July 27 at the ANA Crowne Plaza Hotel Grand Court Nagoya in Nagoya, Aug. 21 at the Oriental Hotel Fukuoka Hakata Station in Fukuoka, and Sept. 20 at the Hotel Metropolitan Nagano in Nagano.

For more information, visit the official website at https://www.nagano-sake.or.jp/yomoyama/ .