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Drink

Polishing Away 92% of the Rice, Leaving Just 8%

The Focus and Resolve Behind Tatenokawa “Kyokugen” Polish a single grain of rice. Then polish it again. And again, until almost nothing remains. A mere 8% of its original weight is left; the other 92% is meticulously shaved away as rice bran over roughly 40 days. Born from pushing rice to its physical limit, the […]

CRAFT BEER

Yuzu Gose, Sansho Wit, Shiitake Porter

How Japanese Craft Beer Captures Global Attention Through Traditional Ingredients As the global craft beer market enters a mature phase and breweries search for distinct identities, Japanese brewers have arrived at an answer remarkable for its simplicity: the thoughtful integration of local ingredients. Evolving From the IPA: The Rise of Terroir Beer The craft beer […]

Drink

Sake’s Other Side

Separate maturation, ABV, bubbles and RTD formats through BORN Dreams come true, SHICHIKEN Sora no Irodori, Yama no Kasumi and BORN YUZU. Explore what each production choice tells us about the finished product.

Drink

Letting Sound Shape Shochu

A Small Distillery on Amami Oshima Takes on an Experiment Attach speakers to a barrel. Then let the shochu rest for eight hours a day while music resonates through the cellar.This is the unconventional aging process being carried out by Nishihira Distillery on Amami Oshima, an island in Kagoshima Prefecture in southern Japan. The project […]

Drink

A Quiet Evolution in Bangkok

KANPAI THAILAND 2026, a Celebration of Japanese Sake and Spirits Over the past few years, the landscape surrounding Japanese sake in Thailand has been quietly, yet unmistakably, changing. Once tucked away in the corners of high-end Japanese restaurants, artisanal sake bottles are now appearing on the menus of Bangkok’s contemporary bistros and wine bars. A […]

DAIYAME, SEKITOBA

The Lychee Aroma Rising from Imo Shochu

Inside Daiyame’s Path of Innovation To many, imo shochu evokes an earthy, robust character. Yet, a single pour of Daiyame 25% ABV｜crafted by Hamada Syuzou in Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima｜instantly introduces notes of fresh lychee. How does a sweet potato spirit yield such a vibrant, fruit-forward profile? The secret rests upon two deliberate choices: the evolution of […]

Drink

Rethinking the Rule

How Natural Wine is Redefining Bangkok’s Thai Dining Table “Wine is hard to pair with Thai food.” For a long time, this was accepted wisdom in Bangkok. The heat of bird’s eye chilies, the sharp acidity of lime and tamarind, the pervasive aromas of lemongrass, and the layered umami of fish sauce｜Thai cuisine possesses a […]

Bar

The Architecture of Belonging

How Asia’s Bars Are Redefining the ‘Third Place’ At HOTELEX Shanghai in March 2026, the traditional exhibition booth felt like a relic of the past. In its place stood fully realized bar counters and intimate lounge spaces, built directly inside the hall. Rather than distributing catalogs, brands invited guests into curated worlds of light, sound, […]

Drink

Why Japanese Gin Alone Is Staying Afloat While the Global Gin Market Sinks

The Quiet Strategy of “Accessible Luxury” During the pandemic, people fell in love with gin. It became a small escape in an uncertain world. A few years later, though, the mood has changed. By 2025, the global spirits market｜including gin｜had largely lost momentum. The boom faded quietly away. And yet, one category moved against the […]

Drink

Steeping 136 Kilograms of Strawberries｜and Finishing Crystal Clear

AWAYUKI Strawberry Gin, and the Day Umenoyado Sake Brewery Was Called a “Disgrace” Until the bottle is opened, no one realizes it is a strawberry gin. AWAYUKI Strawberry Gin is completely colorless｜clear as water, indistinguishable from an ordinary gin. But the moment the cap is twisted open, the aroma of ripe strawberries rises from the […]

Drink

Beyond the Sushi Counter

Curating Operational Context: A Framework for Integration For teams evaluating sake in non-Japanese menu design, a practical framework can be built around three style archetypes rather than a direct sales narrative: a clean aromatic profile for contrast, a structure-heavy sake for savory anchors, and an acid-forward style for balancing richer preparations. Expanding Beyond Traditional Pairing […]

Drink

The Butterfly on the Mekong

How a Dream from Hiroshima Rewrote the Story of Rum In a definitive moment of transformation, a 52-year-old man chose to step away from the secure embrace of corporate life, embarking on a journey to craft fine spirits from inception in a land entirely unfamiliar to him. His name is Ikuzo Inoue, a native of […]

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