Featured in the Sankei Shimbun
A luxury sake priced at 38,500 yen has received an astonishing 70,000 orders—struggling domestic market now sets its sights on overseas demand.
Clear, a Tokyo-based company that manages the high-end sake brand “SAKE HUNDRED,” is now in the spotlight. By creating premium, high-priced “luxury sake” aimed also at international enthusiasts, the brand is attracting many new fans. As more Japanese people turn away from sake, the company is making strong efforts to promote the appeal of sake online and revitalize the entire market.
SAKE HUNDRED, which positions itself as a luxury sake brand, sells premium sake priced from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yen per bottle, with great attention to production and presentation. Some 720ml bottles, costing over 30,000 yen each, are sold by lottery, showing their growing popularity. Some of these bottles will even be served to VIPs at international pavilions during the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo. Because the brand stands apart from traditional sake, investors also have high expectations—SAKE HUNDRED has raised a total of 2.44 billion yen in funding.
Ryuji Ikoma, CEO and founder of Clear (established in 2013), defines his brand as “something that fulfills the hearts of customers and enriches their lives.” As healthy eating becomes more popular, Japanese restaurants serving healthy Japanese cuisine are increasing around the world, and more people are enjoying sake with their meals. Ikoma says, “We want our brand to become the go-to choice for fine sake in restaurants around the world.”
Ikoma entered the sake business in 2011, when he was 25 years old. He encountered a sake called “Kouro” from the Kumamoto Prefectural Sake Research Institute and was amazed by its taste. Upon further research, he learned that the first head of the institute was a pioneer who contributed to the modernization of sake brewing in Japan, emphasizing science and data from the Meiji era through the mid-Showa period. In particular, Kouro’s ginjo sake, which uses highly polished rice to reduce off-flavors and highlight aroma, is considered a model for ginjo sake. Inspired by the innovation behind this sake, Ikoma was drawn to pursue change in the sake business himself.
He soon started operating “SAKETIMES,” a web media outlet dedicated to sake breweries and sake-related information. Determined to deliver firsthand information, he traveled across Japan visiting sake breweries in person. “There was a time when I spent half of each month in rural areas,” he recalls. While “curation media”—collecting and organizing internet information—was trending at the time, Ikoma believed there was value in gathering information you couldn’t just find through a search, turning it into an asset for his team.
During an assignment in Hong Kong, Ikoma witnessed sake being sold for about 400,000 yen per bottle and was shocked. “It was a huge realization to learn that there are people around the world willing to pay tens of thousands of yen for delicious sake,” he says, experiencing firsthand the popularity of sake among wealthy foreigners. Meanwhile, domestic shipments of sake in Japan have fallen to less than a quarter of their peak of about 1.77 million kiloliters in 1973. “Let’s create a global brand and search for a sustainable future for sake”—with this in mind, SAKE HUNDRED was born.
SAKE HUNDRED outsources brewing to eight different sake breweries. Ikoma’s experience running web media and building connections with sake brewery owners all over Japan is put to good use. Their signature product, “Byakko” (priced at 38,500 yen), which is being sold by lottery this summer, has become extremely popular, drawing 70,000 entries for just 10,000 bottles in last year’s lottery sale.
Ikoma hopes to use SAKE HUNDRED to help revive the struggling sake market. He is determined to benefit everyone in the supply chain, including sake breweries and sake rice farmers. “There is clear demand overseas. If sake can follow in the footsteps of wine and champagne, there’s a big chance for the market to grow,” he says with hope.
