How This Directory Was Built

A reproducible editorial process

1. Baseline and candidate universe

We preserve the Japan Gin Association's 2023 survey and nationwide gin distillery map as a fixed 107-place / 365-product baseline. We structurally audit 132 NTA rows from 2023 onward and run a second pass across 71 commercial spirits licences from 2021–22 using the NTA new manufacturing-licence lists.

2. Fields extracted

• Site or operator name
• Recorded address and prefecture
• Every product name listed in the map
• Verified operator- or brand-published English name, while retaining the Japanese source name
• Telephone number (master CSV only)
• Official URL recorded in the map

3. Ordering

Prefectures are fixed in geographic order from Hokkaido to Okinawa, then names are ordered within each prefecture. English, Japanese and Thai use the same sequence.

4. Inclusion test and source status

A manufacturing licence identifies a candidate, not a gin producer. We add a site only when primary official evidence links a gin product to its production site. 44 sites pass that test. 1 limited collaboration, 7 brands with unresolved manufacturing sites and 1 product not officially classified as gin are tracked separately and do not inflate the directory.

• Official update verified: official facility and gin-product evidence checked.
• Official site linked: inherited from the 2023 association map.
• Association map only: association map used as evidence.

5. Legal and labelling references

National Tax Agency materials take priority for classification, terminology, labelling and licensing. Industry voluntary standards are checked on the Japan Spirits & Liqueurs Makers Association site. NTA: liquor classification / NTA: manufacturing licence Q&A / JSLMA: voluntary standards

6. Limits

• The association says its survey may not be exhaustive.
• A 2023 map may not capture openings, pauses, moves, renaming or discontinuations through 2026.
• Inclusion does not prove product origin, quality, awards, distribution or stock.
• We do not infer gin production from a spirits manufacturing licence alone.

7. Corrections and updates

When a change is confirmed, the fixed baseline CSV remains intact while the current directory CSV, licence-candidate audit CSV, all three language pages and check date are updated together.