Mugishutei [beer] 154
NAHA, OKINAWA
Karakara to Chibugwa [awamori] 125
Kozakura [awamori] 127
Salon de Awamori [awamori] 128
Urizun [awamori] 130
Yamanekoya [awamori] 133
Izakaya sign, Shinjuku, Tōkyō. Right: Bar in the Golden Gai drinking district, Shinjuku, Tōkyō.
CONTENTS
The Main Types of Drinking Establishments
Chapter 1 The Art of Japanese Sake
Chapter 2 Japan’s Incredible Shōchū Culture
Chapter 3 The Joys of Okinawan Awamori
Chapter 4 The Glories of Japanese Beer
Chapter 5 Award-winning Japanese Whiskies
Chapter 6 Japan’s Excellent Wine Bars
Chapter 7 Other Great Bars in Japan
Chapter 8 Buying Japanese Wines, Beers and Spirits
Appendix: Speaking “Bar Japanese”
Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd
Copyright © 2011 by Chris Bunting
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-4629-0627-7 (ebook)
Distributed by
North America, Latin America & Europe Tuttle Publishing
364 Innovation Drive
North Clarendon, VT 05759-9436 U.S.A.
Tel: 1 (802) 773-8930; Fax: 1 (802) 773-6993
Japan
Tuttle Publishing
Yaekari Building, 3rd Floor
5-4-12 Osaki, Shinagawa-ku
Tokyo 141 0032
Tel: (81) 3 5437-0171; Fax: (81) 3 5437-0755
Asia Pacific
Berkeley Books Pte. Ltd.
61 Tai Seng Avenue #02-12
Singapore 534167
Tel: (65) 6280-1330; Fax: (65) 6280-6290
14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in Singapore
TUTTLE PUBLISHING ® is a registered trademark of Tuttle Publishing, a division of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
Salarymen enjoy a cheap drink after work in Shinjuku, Tōkyō. Social drinking has been an important part of Japanese business life for centuries.
Japan: A Drinker’s Paradise
The idea first struck me while walking through Tōkyō’s Shinjuku district. I had just left a whisky bar stacked with more than 500 bottles of single-malt whisky and I was heading to another which specialized in Japanese whiskies, of which it offered more than 250 varieties. En route I had noticed a makkori bar, which I was later to discover offered a world-beating selection of the Korean rice wine makkori. Within a kilometer of where I stood, there were at least three superb sake pubs, another bar laden down with more Scotch whisky than you could sample in a lifetime, a Bourbon bar with a stock of 400 premium American whiskies, and a hotel which boasted the best range of American wines in Asia. And this wasn’t even particularly unusual for Japan. For drinkers in Roppongi, Shibuya, Ginza, Akasaka, Ōsaka and Kyōto, such drinking opportunities were commonplace. Many of Japan’s provincial cities were not far behind. Japan, it occurred to me, was the best place to drink alcohol in the world.
Unlike most grand theories cooked up in the rosy glow of a good evening out, this idea did not immediately crumble in the sober light of morning. In fact, it has grown into a conviction. Visitors who know their way around the bars perched in Japan’s high-rise drinking districts, each stacked with hundreds of bottles of their chosen drink, can access a range of whiskies, beers, wines and spirits that I believe is unrivaled anywhere else in the world. Of course, there are better places to enjoy particular types of alcohol. If you want a wine holiday, for example, you would do better traveling to France or South Africa than the back streets of Shinjuku. If you like whisky, take a trip to Scotland or Kentucky. For beer, try England, Belgium or Germany. But if you want to try them all or just want to explore a little beyond your usual tipple, I believe there is no better place than Japan.
The claim that Japan has a uniquely rich alcohol culture is not original. Long before my epiphany in Shinjuku, Taylor Smisson, the doyen of Tōkyō whisky drinkers, had already convinced me that Japanese whisky bars were the best in the world. He called Tōkyō “the Scotch single-malt drinker’s heaven on earth” and also introduced me to many of the non-whisky bars featured in this guide.
“Tōkyō is probably the best place to drink Scottish single malts, not to mention Japanese single malts, as well as many other alcoholic beverages,” Smisson says. “But most visitors from overseas are not aware of this and come and go without taking full advantage.”
Nicholas Coldicott, who writes about alcohol for The Japan Times, says, “Tōkyō has a more diverse drinking scene than