Japan


April 16, 2015

Rice Mill Machine at Aoki Brewery

by Kayoko Akabori

During our visit to Aoki Brewery in Niigata, we were told that the three most important factors of brewing sake is the rice, the water and the people. The rice that breweries use for sake-making are not the usual grains you find at the grocery store — they use special rice strains like Yamadanishiki, Koshitanrei, Ohmachi, […]

April 13, 2015

A Visit to Aoki Brewery in Niigata

by Yoko Kumano

Kayoko and I go to Niigata every February. Our friends in Tokyo gasp in horror, “Why would you go somewhere so cold? In the middle of February?” The reason is kind of simple: it’s low season and getting around is cheap and less crowded. And the cold is not actually that bad. The locals are […]

April 2, 2015

Akio Watanabe of Bar EST! (Tokyo)

by Kayoko Akabori

Looking back on our trip to Japan in February, the most memorable cocktail was at Bar EST!. A short distance from the Yushima train station in Tokyo, EST! is a dark, tavernous space filled with men drinking a scotch on the rocks and smoking cigarettes. At the helm is Akio Watanabe, “master” aka owner of Bar […]

March 16, 2015

A Visit to Niigata Beer Co.

by Kayoko Akabori

Our Japan trip last month was a jam-packed, 5-city tour with barware factory tours, sake brewery pit-stops and a visit to a craft brewery! Niigata Beer has been around for 17 years now, brewing beers for the local market, and also making beers for other companies looking to outsource production. They do this quite often […]

March 9, 2015

Tsuchi-yu Onsen Town in Fukushima

by Kayoko Akabori

Japan is a country full of people who work hard and play hard. Many put in 60+ hours into the work week, not including the after hours drinking they are forced to join with their colleagues. But I’m happy to report that they rest hard too. Usually there is a ryokan, aka Japanese-style hotel or inn, […]

March 5, 2015

Togarashi Ginger Highball at Jicca (Tokyo)

by Kayoko Akabori

As you know by now, Tori-chan is a dear friend of ours who opened Jicca, a restaurant and wine bar in the Hatagaya neighborhood in Tokyo nearly two years ago. She is a native of Minami-soma in Fukushima prefecture; a town that was severely affected after the earthquake in 2011. She was in Tokyo at […]

March 2, 2015

An Afternoon in Fukushima City

by Kayoko Akabori

If you try Googling “Fukushima” you’ll get pages and pages of links with words like, “tragedy” “disaster” and “fear” in the title. This is simply fact. On March 11, 2011, Fukushima prefecture was home to an earthquake, then tsunami so devastating that it caused a massive nuclear meltdown on the coast. Thousands of people were forced […]

February 26, 2015

Craft Beer Market in Tokyo

by Kayoko Akabori

People in Japan are cuckoo for beer. It remains the most popular alcoholic beverage in Japan, accounting for two thirds of all alcohol consumed overall (says Wikipedia). When going out with friends or coworkers after work, it is an ongoing tradition for the table to order a round of draft beers for the first kanpai […]

February 23, 2015

Postcard from Japan: Kissaten Life

by Kayoko Akabori

We are really enjoying the kissaten (cafe) lifestyle here in Japan and we have visited several in Tokyo and Fukushima during our travels. Unlike Starbucks or other branded coffee shops, kissaten are a place to unwind, have a smoke, sip a cup of joe and perhaps order a pressed sandwich. They are all unique and […]

November 10, 2014

Meet Masako Ikegami of Bar Shake (Ginza)

by Kayoko Akabori

We met the gracious Masako Ikegami in 2010, before we opened our shop in Oakland, at the Tokyo-SF Bartender Salon we helped host at Prizefighter. A few bartenders from Japan who had won the coveted Suntory Cocktail Award, presented cocktails and exchanged tricks of the trade with the Bay Area’s elite bartending community. It was […]