Juyondai was featured in dancyu magazine
May 9, 2025
Series: “The New World of Japanese Sake Opened by Juyondai” — Work and Impact of the Fifteenth-Generation Brewer Tatsugoro Takagi
Juyondai, brewed in Murayama City, Yamagata, is renowned for its rich flavor. Its toji (brew-master), Mr. Tatsugoro Takagi (56), is praised not only for first-class brewing skills but also for customer-focused product ideas and pricing. Where did he gain such sharp marketing sense? After finishing university he worked for two years in the liquor section of an upscale supermarket in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and says he “learned with all his heart.” We asked Mr. Takagi and Mr. and Mrs. Fujimoto, owners of the Shinjuku eatery “GORI” who backed the young Akitsuna Takagi (Tatsugoro’s childhood name) during that “sake-training period,” to look back on those days.
“The ‘Tokyo parents’ who let a ‘poor first-year worker’ taste many fine sakes without holding back”
On a quiet lane in Shinjuku 1-chome, a softly lit sign with a gorilla marks “GORI,” a small restaurant run by Mr. Noboru Fujimoto—nicknamed “Gori-san”—and his wife Reiko. The place looks like a modern café, yet the fridge holds about 70 kinds of sake. Brands change daily, but Juyondai is never absent; sometimes six different labels are in stock. It is the shop’s signature sake, and most guests come for it. Regulars drop by alone to celebrate good news, some bring friends who must taste it, and others travel from the countryside because they cannot get it at home—all leave after enjoying at least one glass of Juyondai.
“The ‘Tokyo parents’ who let a ‘poor first-year worker’ taste many fine sakes without holding back”
“Long-time Juyondai fans smile, saying, ‘Yes, it’s still on another level,’ while newcomers fall in love after one sip. No other sake is like this. It is scarce on the market, but we can keep it in stock thanks to Akitsuna. I’m grateful for that bond,” says Mr. Fujimoto. Yet he only learned nearly two years after they met that Akitsuna was the heir to a brewery.
Mr. Fujimoto opened GORI in 1983 after working at a jazz club in Roppongi and a high-end club in Shinjuku. The first shop, eight minutes’ walk from today’s site in Tomihisa-chō, was a café-bar that mainly served bourbon. One day a regular asked to try “Denshu,” a sake that was hard to find then. Fujimoto chooses drinks by customer requests more than his own taste, so he looked for Denshu and bought it at Suzuden, a famous sake shop in Yotsuya. That search sparked his interest in Japanese sake.
At that time a luxury supermarket near the shop, “Queen’s Chef” (an Isetan group store, open 1985–2003), had a wide sake selection and skilled staff, so Fujimoto began visiting often. The new employee assigned to that liquor section in 1992, just after finishing the brewing program at Tokyo University of Agriculture, was Mr. Takagi.
Fujimoto recalls: “He seemed pure-hearted and honest. He didn’t talk a lot, but he tried hard at everything. He had a freshness and quiet grace city kids don’t have. I thought, ‘He must come from a good family.’ I wanted to chat, so I said, ‘My place is near—drop by sometime.’ I knew he was from Yamagata, but I never imagined his family owned a brewery.”
Soon Takagi began visiting GORI with his boss, but within a year that boss moved to Isetan head office. Takagi then had to cover not only the sales floor but also the huge buying duties for sake, wine, and spirits. “I couldn’t let the shop’s reputation drop. I had to study more and gain experience,” he recalls.
Takagi wanted to recommend drinks to customers in his own words, so he needed to taste many sakes. Yet only a few bottles were open for sampling, and his new-employee salary could not cover buying more. His frustration grew. Seeing this, Fujimoto poured him small glasses of many different sakes when he came alone to GORI. “Mr. and Mrs. Fujimoto filled my stomach with good food and let me drink great sakes at almost no cost. They gave full support to a poor first-year worker who had come from the countryside,” Takagi says.
As he visited more often, Takagi began to share work worries with Fujimoto, especially about customer service. He never gave details, but there were likely cases of harassment by difficult customers. Trained in high-class clubs, Fujimoto always smiles and listens sincerely, yet he firmly stops any behavior that breaks the good mood. Talks with such a service professional must have been strong support for first-year employee Takagi.
Little by little, GORI became a place where Takagi could rest his body and mind. “I once drank until I passed out. The next morning I woke up, saw a sailor-style school uniform on the wall, and panicked, wondering where I was,” he laughs. He had been allowed to sleep in the Fujimotos’ eldest daughter’s room. The couple say, “We feel like we’re Akitsuna’s parents in Tokyo,” and their daughter calls him “big brother.”
Takagi adds, “The okami-san (Mrs. Fujimoto) even checked the friends I dated.” Mrs. Fujimoto explains, “I worried that Aki-chan is so honest he might be taken advantage of.” Later, after he had taken over the brewery, he brought Wakana, who would become his wife, to the shop. “I said, ‘She is perfect for you—she’ll stand by you,’ and gave my full blessing,” Mrs. Fujimoto recalls. That family-like bond has stayed strong for 32 years—and still continues. (To be continued)
