JAPAN-I: The new source of information for Visitors in Japan!

A new Website and Magazine called Japan-I was born in January this year and has been fast becoming the perquisite for newcomers and residents alike in Japan!

The free magazine, both available in English and Chinese (180,000 copies) is available in Tokyo at main airports and stations, and will be on stands in other airports soon, including Mount Fuji Shizuoka Airport!

As for the website, it provides information in English, Korean, Mainland Chinese and Taiwan Chinese.

All articles and information are exclusively written by residents in Japan, offering veracity, authenticity and invaluable service for all!

If the tabloid is not available in your region, contact the editors at ad-info@japan-i.jp!

Shizuoka Shochu Tasting 6/2: Kogane-Danshaku by Sugii Brewery

The Japan Blog List

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

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Sugii Brewery in Fujieda City has come up with yet another creation of theirs! But once again, it is a “limited edition”. You do have to keep all your senses alert to discover these bottles.
Unlike Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu Island, Shizuoka-made shochu are not only exotic and extravagant, but rare and slightly more expensive. The labels certainly become collectors’ items!

Sugii Brewery: Kogane-Danshaku Shochu

Ingredients:
Kogane (Satsuma potato variety) and Danshaku (normal potato variety), both grown in Shizuoka Prefecture
Yeast: Shizuoka NEW-5 (Shizuoka Sake Yeast)
Fermented rice
Contents: 500 ml

Clarity: Very clear
Colour: Transparent
Aroma: Clean, strong, nutty
Taste: Sweetish, clean attack.
Deep roasted nuts.
Shortish tail with a dry finish.
Memory of coffee beans.

Overall: Unusual, clean, elegant shochu with lots of character and facets.
Combination of Satsuma yams and potatoes out of the ordinary! The use of Shizuoka Sake Yeast gives it a very regional flavour!
Best appreciated straight with plenty of ice!

Must-see tasting websites:
-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
Chewy
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

Yakushima Shochu

The Japan Blog List

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

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Wherever I go in Japan, I make a point to eat and drink local.
As there is no sake brewery, but only a shochu brewery, my choice was easy!
Mitake Brewery is the only authentic Shochu Brewery in Yakushima Island.
Others are only Breweries from Kagoshima Prefecture having sub-breweries to take advantage of the great water and tourists!

MItake/”the Three Peaks”
Alcohol: 25%
Aroma: Clean, discreet, elegant
Taste: Soft attack, clean. Shortish tail.
Dry. Dry roasted nuts, coffee beans.
Stands well to food with a sweetish undertone.
Comments: Pleasant refined shochu.
Like all shochu brewed by Mitake Brewery, best drunk with ice only.

Aiko/”Love Child”
Alcohol: 25%
Aroma: Very dry, clean, strong.
Taste: Soft attack. Clean taste. Nicely warming up back of the palate.
Dry. Shortish tail. Memories of coffee beans and nuts.
Comments: Great with sashimi.
Turns sweetish and deeper with food with memories of brown sugar.

Yakushima
Alcohol: 35%. Genshu/no pure water added. Unaltered.
Aroma: Fine and discreet.
Taste: Clean, deep taste. Fruity: brown sugar. Almost sweet.
Keeps well with food. Turns drier with food. Shortish tail.
Comments: A fine, elegant shochu, which can be enjoyed for its sake or with food. A very high-level shochu!

Must-see tasting websites:
-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
Chewy
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

A new shochu is born: Bekko Tonbo by Senju Brewery/Distillery

The Japan Blog List

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sake, shochu and sushi

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(Courtesy of Shizuoka Shinbun)

Senju Brewery/Distillery announced on December 11th the creation of a new Shochu to contribute to the preservation of an endangered dragonfly species!

Bekko Tonbo, or Bekko Dragonfly, is an endangered insect endemic to the region around Iwata City. 10 yen for each bottle sold will go to help its survival!

The shochu is a kome/rice shochu made from rice and white lees used to brew top-class sake. A 720ml bottle being priced 1t893 yen, it is very cheap for such an exravagant shochu.
The brewery has concocted it as light, sweetish elegant brew best drunk with mineral water and ice!

Hamamatsu-Tenjingura Distillery: New Label for Douman Shochu!

The Japan Blog List

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

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Hamamatsu-Tenjingura have come up with a new label for their kome/rice shochu “Doman”, the name of a rare crab found exclusively in Hamana Lake!

Thanks to Foodbuzz for the freebies!

Dear Foodbuzz staff, thanks you so much for all the freebies!
I actually got a few more than anyone else as I received four different packs of business cards for four different blogs!

The eco bag is quickly “changing colour” as most supermarkets have recently started charging for plastic bags in Japan!

As for the apron and the spatula, I might have to give them to the Missus as I am allowed in the kitchen only on week-ends when I’m on cooking duty!

Thanks again!
Cheers and all that,
Robert-Gilles

A new Shochu is born!: Hamakomachi by Sugii Brewery

The Japan Blog List

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

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Sugii Brewery in Fujieda City are always ready to answer requests for new shochu, whatever the risks and work involved.

This new shochu was announced on the Shizuoka Shinbun and other newspapers such as the Chunichi Shinbun when an Association for the Promotion of Hamakomachi Yam and its derived products visited the office of the Shizuoka Prefecture Governor to have him taste their latest creations.

As you can see on the above picture, the local farmers in the west of the Prefecture are growing the Hamakomachi Yam not only for shochu, but also for cakes and ice creams! It is especially rich in beta carotin vitamins, another reason for indulging!

Sugii Brewery/Distillery: Hamakomachi Honkaku Imo Shochu

Ingredients:
Hamakomachi Satsuma Imo
Rice ferment
Rice
Alcohol: 25 degrees

Clarity: Very clear
Colour: Transparent
Aroma: Strong, almost sweet, very distinct and pleasant.
Taste: Shortish tail. Great attack. Fruity. Distinctive taste..
Reminiscent of persimmons with a hint of sweet nuts.
Pleasant and easy to drink.

Overall: A surprisingly soft and fruity shochu.
Very easy to drink, even straight.
Could easily take the place of a whisky in spite of its lower alcohol contents!
Stays smooth all the way through.
Distilled with a sake concept, enticing you into the next sip.

LAUNCH OF GLOBAL FOODBUZZ BLOGGER COMMUNITY

San Francisco – October 13, 2008: Foodbuzz, Inc., officially inaugurates its food blogger community with more than 1,000 blog partners, a global food blogging event and an online platform that captures the real-people, real-time power of food publishing in every corner of the world. At launch, the Foodbuzz community ranks as one of the top-10 Internet destinations for food and dining (Quantcast), with bloggers based in 45 countries and 863 cities serving up daily food content.
“Food bloggers are at the forefront of reality publishing and the dramatic growth of new media has redefined how food enthusiasts access tasty content,” said Doug Collister, Executive Vice President of Foodbuzz, Inc. “Food bloggers are the new breed of local food experts and at any minute of the day, Foodbuzz is there to help capture the immediacy of their hands-on experiences, be it a memorable restaurant meal, a trip to the farmers market, or a special home-cooked meal.”
Foodbuzz is the only online community with content created exclusively by food bloggers and rated by foodies. The site offers more than 20,000 pieces of new food and dining content weekly, including recipes, photos, blog posts, videos and restaurant reviews. Members decide the “tastiness” of each piece of content by voting and “buzz” the most popular posts to the top of the daily menu of submissions. Foodbuzz currently logs over 13 million monthly page views and over three million monthly unique visitors.
“Our goal is to be the number-one online source of quality food and dining content by promoting the talent, enthusiasm and knowledge of food bloggers around the globe,” said Ben Dehan, founder and CEO of Foodbuzz, Inc.
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The Foodbuzz blogger community is growing at a rate of 40 percent per month driven by strong growth in existing partner blogs and the addition of over 100 new blogs per month. “The Foodbuzz.com Web site is like the stock of a great soup. The Web site provides the base or backbone for bloggers to interact as a community, contribute content, and have that content buzzed by their peers,” said Mr. Dehan.
Global Blogging Event
Demonstrating the talent and scope of the Foodbuzz community, 24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs offered online food enthusiasts an international, virtual street festival of food and diversity. The new feature showcased blog posts from 24 Foodbuzz partner bloggers chronicling events occurring around the globe during a 24 hour period and included:
• Mid-Autumn Festival Banquest (New York, NY)
• The “Found on Foodbuzz” 24-Item Tasting Menu (San Francisco, CA)
• Aussie BBQ Bonanza – Celebrating Diversity (Sydney, Australia)
• The Four Corners of Carolina BBQ Road Trip (Charleston, SC)
• Criminal Tastes – An Illegal Supper (Crested Butte, CO)
• From Matambre to Empanadas: An Argentine Dinner (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
• A Sweet Trompe l’oeil (Seattle, WA)

“24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs” captures the quality and unique local perspective of our food bloggers and shared it with the world,” said Ryan Stern, Director of the Foodbuzz Publisher Community. “It illustrates exactly what the future of food publishing is all about – real food, experienced by real people, shared real-time.”
About Foodbuzz, Inc.
Based in San Francisco, Foodbuzz, Inc., launched its beta Web site, foodbuzz.com, in 2007. In less than a year, Fooduzz.com and its community of over 1,000 exclusive partner food blogs have grown into an extended online property that reaches more than three million users.

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A new Schochu is born!: Imo Otoko

The Japan Blog List

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

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(Shizuoka Shinbun)

Sugii Brewery/Distillery in Fujieda City has just produced a new shochu from tuber called Yamato Imo, a variety of Satsuma Imo grown in Nagaizumi-Cho in the Eastern part of Shizuoka Prefecture.

It will be put on sale from the 10th of October at seven liquor shops in Nagaizumi-Cho
The name is “Imo Otoko”.
The first batch of 690 bottles (720 ml) were distilled from 510 kg of tuber.
Alcohol contents are a standard 25.5 degrees.
Price: 2,200 yen a bottle.

Looking forward to tasting it!

Shizuoka Shochu Tasting 4-8: Fujinishiki Distillery: Chakkiri Bushi

The Japan Blog List

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sake, shochu and sushi

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Fujinishiki Brewery/Distillery has always been willing to explore all facets of Shochu Distilling.
It also has the merit to use entirely local ingredients whenever possible.
I have seen a lot of Shochu “made with Shizuoka Tea” all over Japan, and none is the true product.
Fujinishiki Distillery is the only one in Japan to use real Shizuoka Tea. Full stop.
This particular brand, Chakkiri Bushi commemrates history and Kunoyama Toshogun in Shizuoka City, formerly Sunpu City, the home f the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Chakkiri Bushi

Ingredients:
Raw tea leaves: more than 10%. Tokugawakei Ukari No Honyama Variety exclusively grown in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Rice (JA Shizuoka Kinuhikari) and fermented rice grown and treated in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Water: Source water from well dug at bottom of Mount Fuji.
Alcohol contents: 25 degrees
Contents: 720ml

Clarity: Very clean and clear

Aroma: Sharp tgreen tea and green vegetables.

Body: extremely light.

Taste: Very strong green tea leaves taste.
Turns quickly lighter as it spreads around the palate. Tea leaves taste will come back again later.
Fluctuates to sweetness upon eating.

Overall: A discovery.
Shochu tends too often to look like another as ingredients are not revealed to their full extent.
Considering that people here usually drink “Shizuoka Wari”, that is shochu mixed with cold or hot green tea, they won’t for once need any supplement. Moreover, they will find little reason to ignore it!
Bets drunk on its own or poured over ice. If one wants to dilute it, good pure water is best!