Reuters are carrying an article by Kara Newman based on “Drinking Japan” (which was carried by CNBC, The Chicago Tribune, Ottawa Sun and other outlets).
Reuters features ‘Drinking Japan’
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Review by Yukari Sakamoto
Yukari Sakamoto is a chef, baker, sommelier and shochu expert who knows more about the Japanese food and drink scene than I could ever hope to (her husband is a buyer at Tsukiji Market, for goodness sake!) Her book “Food Sake Tokyo” has just been published and I have bought myself a copy, partly, I must admit, because she has just published a really nice review of my book.
This indispensable guide will become the bible for anyone passionate about Japanese beverages. Regardless if your preference is for shochu or nihonshu, Chris has covered it all. Clearly written by a reporter, no detail is overlooked, and the information is easy to understand. The descriptions of each bar transports you there and he even includes specific drinks to try once you get there…. This book will become a reference book for drinks in Japan. I have already dog-eared many pages for my next night in Tokyo.
Getting positive feedback from people who really know what they are talking about is a massive boost.
Top marks from Good Spirits News
Good Spirits News described “Drinking Japan” as “invaluable tool for anyone visiting the country” and gave it an “A” grade.
‘Tokyo Through the Drinking Glass” likes it too!
Many people who follow Japanese food and drink will know Melinda Joe. We’ve never met, but I always turn to her top notch journalism on the subject. Besides work for Bento.com, The Japan Times and various other outlets, she also keeps a blog at Tokyo Through the Drinking Glass, where she has just posted a very nice review of “Drinking Japan“.
… fun bits of trivia are sprinkled throughout Chris Bunting’s new book “Drinking Japan: A Guide to Japan’s Best Drinks and Drinking Establishments”. The book gives delightful, in-depth overviews of six of the most beloved drinks in Japan: sake, shochu, awamori, beer, whisky, and wine. As the name suggests, dozens of recommended bars and pubs are listed in each category.
L.A. Times
The Los Angeles Times’s food blog recommended “Drinking Japan”:
There are many things to love about Japan, but its exceptional bars and drinking culture are among the things at the top of my list. Anyone with the same yen (heh) for Tokyo-and-beyond bars should check out “Drinking Japan: A Guide to Japan’s Best Drinks and Drinking Establishments.” Written by Chris Bunting after a year and a half of research (i.e., drinking his way across Japan) and published by Tuttle in April, the book combines a guide to Japanese spirits with reviews of the bars devoted to them. Bunting (like many others) calls Japan “the best place to drink alcohol in the world,” populated with tiny bars that are specialist temples for a particular drink of choice — single-malt Scotch, bourbon, rum, beer, sake, Calvados, Korean rice wine, you name it.
On Tokyo Photojournalist
Not strictly an unbiased media comment this one because it is from Tony McNicol, the man whose photographs did so much to make “Drinking Japan” a visually striking book, but I am really chuffed by his positive comments because his own work is so good:
Chris is the author of Nonjatta, the definitive Japanese whisky blog, a great writer and – going on the evidence of this book – a world class barfly. This comprehensive guide to everything alcoholic in Japan is going to be a classic I’m sure. Proud to be part of it. Kampai!
Drinking Japan in The Nation, Thailand
Drinking Japan got a positive mention in Thailand’s The Nation: “A great tool for drinkers in search of new experiences.”
Review on Japan Eats
Japan Eats has just posted a really nice review of “Drinking Japan” by Garrett DeOrio:
“Drinking Japan reads like a travel book – not a touring handbook, mind you, but a travel book, replete with anecdotes and impressions, which not only gives the reader a better idea of what they might be getting into, but also allows Bunting to establish a voice. And that voice is one that will make most readers feel like having a beer, or a whisky, or a glass of wine, or shochu, or awamori, or sake, or even makkori, with the man.”
The review is here.
Osakaya has closed
Unfortunately, the Osakaya shop in Shinjuku on page 243 was closed on January 16, 2011. Please accept my apologies if you have wasted your time going there. The book was already at the printers on January 16. I will try to keep people updated on any new openings for Osakaya, which does appear to still have its website online.
Portion of royalties going to Japanese Earthquake Relief
Tuttle and I have agreed that 50 per cent of my royalty payments from “Drinking Japan” will go to the Japanese Red Cross to help Japanese Earthquake Relief. Unfortunately, this will not include the small advance on royalties that I have already received from Tuttle, because all of that (and much more) has already been spent on getting myself around the country for the book. But, hopefully, we will be able to raise a little money.
The earthquake hit just as we were about to publish the book, and I must admit to wondering why on earth I was seeking to promote a book about something as trivial as drinking culture in the middle of such tragedy. I concluded that giving some of the proceeds from the book to earthquake relief was the right thing to do in the situation.
I also thought quite carefully about the rights and wrongs of publicising the payment. Why not just give the money quietly to the Red Cross myself? Was I seeking to take advantage of a tragedy? This is my reasoning for telling people about it: by publicising the payment I hope to slightly increase the sales of the book and therefore increase my ability to give money to quake relief.
Obviously, if you are looking to give money to that cause it would be MUCH more efficient to donate money directly:
to the Japanese Red Cross Society,
via Paypal to various involved charities
But if you are interested in the book and might have considered buying it it in any case, then maybe this makes purchasing it a bit less odd at this time.
Update on Isshin in Sendai
The Great East Japan Earthquake hit just as my book was about to be published, and I became very worried about the fate of the lovely people at Isshin in Sendai, a superb sake bar featured in the sake chapter. Sendai was hit by the full force of the earthquake and parts of the city were devastated by the subsequent tsunami.
Last week, I got a letter from Sumiko Yanagisawa, who runs the bar with her husband Koki. They are going through a terrible time right now, but all the staff are OK. Here is a translation of some of the letter:
“Both our bar and the houses of our staff are located in the middle of Sendai city, safe from tsunami damage. Although the earthquake shook our place greatly, the bar itself was not damaged except for a few broken bottles and cracked glasses. We had a battery operated television and during the power cut I watched the TV news. There it was: a horrendous scene of familiar land being swallowed by a massive wave. (I just kept asking questions). How about Nihon Shuzo? What about the fishermen? What about the farmers? I was so worried for their safety.
I have never experienced such terror.
The situation itself is very unstable — the fear of radiation from the nuclear power plant, magnitude 5 level aftershocks etc. — but Isshin is OK.
I have heard Nihon Shuzo took quite a bit of damage but somehow have managed to send out their sake. … Koki (Sumiko’s husband) is currently in an affected area with his car full of things to deliver to people.”
If you ever do find yourself in Sendai, you really have to try to get to Isshin. It is a wonderful place. (B1F Jozenji Hills, 3-3-1 Kokubuncho, Aoba-ku, Sendai; Tel: 022-261-9888). Map.
Nakano Bozu Bar event
Nakano Bozu Bar, featured on page 233 of the guide, is helping to organize an event in support of Japan earthquake relief on Saturday, April 9, 2011.
The “Dai Houyou” (Great Commemoration) will be held at Live&Pub Moon Step (not the Bozu Bar) at Nakano, Nakano-ku, Chuo 5-39-16 (Tel: 03-3380-7739). Tickets cost 3,500 yen and 4,000 on the door. Musicians performing at the event include Chihana, Bud Ricks, Boogie The Mahamotors, and Goro Nakagawa.
Drinking Japan video
Preview in Metropolis magazine
Metropolis ran a nice preview of the book in its March 25 issue.
“From sampling traditional awamori on islands south of Okinawa to roaming the legendary Susukino drinking district in Sapporo, Drinking Japan is filled with a staggering amount of information that includes indexes, maps and language tips. No matter where you find yourself in Japan, there’s a good chance that Bunting has sampled libations nearby, and has a few recommendations on the local poison or watering holes, and more probably–both …
… The main sections of the book are divided not into geographic area, but into the main alcohols traditionally found in Japan: sake (the rice wine), shochu, awamori, beer, whisky and wine. Half of the chapters are taken up with Bunting’s incredibly complete histories and details of the surprising breadth of Japanese alcohol’s range.“
Images from my research for Drinking Japan
I admit to being a bit biased but, in my opinion, “Drinking Japan” is a visually stunning guide.
Unfortunately, I can’t take any credit for this. Almost all of the really beautiful images were taken by seriously talented photographers like Tony MicNicol, Stefano Bassetti, Nathan A. Keirn and others and I only have permission to use their photographs in the book itself.
I did, however, take thousands of snaps on my travels across Japan while researching the book. I have a computer full of images of bars, breweries, wineries, distilleries etc.. I will pick out some of the more presentable/interesting photos and post them in this flickr photoset as I try to bring some order to that archive. Below is a slideshow of a smaller set:
Metropolis Magazine
I was interviewed by James Hadfield for his excellent article about Japanese whisky in the February 4, 2011 edition of Metropolis.
Maps
These links will take you directly to Google maps for each bar and shop in the book (in order of appearance).
I am afraid that on some smartphones (eg. iphones) the links seem to lead to maps without a place marker, making them essentially useless. I have tried all sorts of ways around this and failed. If anybody with more technical knowledge than myself could help me out, I could put up links that could be accessed from smartphones by people hunting for these bars.
Sake Bars
Shochu Bars
Awamori Bars
Beer Pubs
Whisky Bars
Wine Bars
Other Bars
Shops
Media Coverage
“Drinking Japan” has been long in the making.
Over the years, the book and myself received various mentions in articles about Japanese alcohol. The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Japan Times, The Malt Whisky Yearbook, and loads of online outlets have carried articles featuring me, my nonjatta.com website and/or the book project. Now, finally, all my furious plugging has some sort of concrete product to focus on.
I will post any new articles that crop up here (or the nice ones at least!)
Updates on Bars
I took pains to make sure all of the information in “Drinking Japan” is up to date, but few things are in such a constant state of flux as the Japanese drinking scene.
By the end of my research, I discovered that some of the bars in this book that I had visited at the start of my travels had already closed or changed radically! I was able to remove those from my recommendations, but it is just a fact of Japanese drinking life that some of the establishments in the guide will close or move.
First, I would like to apologize if a bar has moved or closed, or if your experience doesn’t measure up to mine.
Second, please contact me at christopherbunting at gmail.com. I will try to post updates here when I have confirmed important changes. On a slightly happier note, if you find an excellent bar not included here, please send details.
Drinking Japan References
It was not possible to offer proper referencing for the sources used in writing “Drinking Japan” in the book itself. A pocket guide just does not have that space. I tried to credit all the English-language sources in the text at the points in the text where I was using their material or leads, because that is what I would expect of people using my material or this reference list. I also tried to include as many references as possible to the main Japanese sources, but had to leave detailed referencing to this site.
I know from experience that vague/non-existent referencing is an obstacle to researchers. This page is an attempt to give a better idea of where the information in the book came from. Hopefully, it also makes clear the extent of my debt to other writers. It is a work in progress and is certainly not up to academic standards. I am having to retrofit it onto the text. So, please bear with me as I work through my text/sources.
Professional researchers will not require this appeal, but I would appreciate anybody using the book or this reference list for their own research to properly acknowledge my work in their articles/books/blog posts etc. It was a lot of work putting “Drinking Japan” together and the financial rewards are unlikely to be very substantial. A lot of the information in the book is not available elsewhere in English (and in some cases in Japanese). I am not putting this reference list up as a free index to the Japanese literature for other people use without giving proper credit.
Page 13 – “‘Hanami’ cherry blossom viewing parties began as an aristocratic pursuit in the Heian period (794-1185)…”: Ju Brown, John Brown, China Japan Korea; Culture and Customs (Booksurge LLC, 2006), p. 75.
Page 14 – “First written record of Japanese drinking is actually found in China. The History of the Kingdom of Wei, written in AD 297, reported…”: William Theodore De Bary, Yoshiko Dykstra, Sources of Japanese tradition: 1600 to 1868 (Columbia University Press, 2006), Volume 1, pp. 6-7.
Page 14 – “… stories of intoxicated emperors…”: Basil Hall Chamberlain, trans., The Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters (Tuttle Publishing, 2005), p. 307.
Page 14 – “an 8-headed gorgon meets his death after getting plastered on eight buckets of sake…”: W.G. Aston, trans., Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the earliest of times to A.D. 697 (Tuttle Publishing, 2005), p. 53.
Page 14 – “… a murderous solder is stabbed as he lifts his cup…”: Basil Hall Chamberlain, trans., The Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters (Tuttle Publishing, 2005), p. 351.
Page 14 – “… a group of enemies are made drunk by the emperor’s men…”: W.G. Aston, trans., Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the earliest of times to A.D. 697 (Tuttle Publishing, 2005), p. 124.
Page 14 – “… far too expensive for most people…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 27 .
Page 14 – “Poor housewives would offer to wash the bags …”: Noka ga Oshieru Doburoku no Tsukurikata (Nobunkyo, 2007), p. 121.
Page 14 – “…the friends of one notoriously penniless drunkard ask…”: Nagayama Hisao, Nihon no Sake Unchiku (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2008), pp. 141-142.
Page 16 – “The Zohyo Monogatari….”: Nagayama Hisao, Nihon no Sake Unchiku (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2008), p. 181.
Page 16 – “One old woman interviewed in Noka…”: Noka ga Oshieru Doburoku no Tsukurikata (Nobunkyo, 2007), p. 36-37.
Page 16 – “The Japanese sake writer Hisao Nagayama recalled…”: Nagayama Hisao, Nihon no Sake Unchiku (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2008), pp. 195-196.
Page 16 – “In 1323, courtiers acting under the auspices of the Emperor Go-Daigo…”: Nagayama Hisao, Nihon no Sake Unchiku (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2008), p. 63.
Page 17 – “One 91-year-old, for instance, recalled a recipe for yamabudo sake…”: Noka ga Oshieru Doburoku no Tsukurikata (Nobunkyo, 2007), 36-37.
Page 17 – “Home distilling also seems to have been common…”: Nagayama Hisao, Nihon no Sake Unchiku (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2008), pp. 259-262.
Page 17 – “Otomo no Tabito…”: Nagayama Hisao, Nihon no Sake Unchiku (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2008), p. 137.
Page 17 – “It is called hanami (flower viewing) but, since the cherry…”: Robert J. Smith and Ella Lury Wiswell…”: The Women of Suye Mura (The University of Chicago Press, 1982), p. 43.
Page 17 – “The people of Suye were always ready for a party…”: Robert J. Smith and Ella Lury Wiswell…”: The Women of Suye Mura (The University of Chicago Press, 1982), p. 73.
Page 18 – “An Encouragement of Learning”: Oze Akira, Sara ni Kiwameru Nihonshu Ajiwai Nyomon (Gentosha, 2003), p. 37.
Page 18 – “Mothers came from all directions, and the school room looked like a nursery…”: Robert J. Smith and Ella Lury Wiswell…”: The Women of Suye Mura (The University of Chicago Press, 1982), p. 78-79.
Page 18 – “Everyone got very drunk. The old grandmother became very playful…”: Robert J. Smith and Ella Lury Wiswell…”: The Women of Suye Mura (The University of Chicago Press, 1982), p. 74.
Page 18 – “Wiswell quotes a school principal’s wife from outside the village…”: Robert J. Smith and Ella Lury Wiswell…”: The Women of Suye Mura (The University of Chicago Press, 1982), p. 73.
Page 18 – “The statesman and scholar Yukichi Fukuzawa…”: Oze Akira, Nihonshu Ajiwai Nyumon (Gentosha, 2003), p. 37.
Page 18 – “ Today, if you look at a map of Japan’s alcohol consumption…”: See the excellent Passageiro website for an excellent (Japanese language) presentation of national statistics,
Page 19 – “Sakamukae”: Nagayama Hisao, Nihon no Sake Unchiku (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2008) pp. 109-110.
Page 30 – “In September 1699, the low-ranked samurai Bunzaemon Asahi …”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 26-27.
Page 30 – “Bunzaemon and his friends were allowed to drink on their night shifts …”Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 26-27.
Page 32 – “In 911, eight hard-drinking courtiers …”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 28.
Page 32 – “The participants were less aristocratic in 1648 …”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 28.
Page 32 – “I will introduce just two more, held at the Imperial court in 1474…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 28.
Page 33 – “… probably made by villagers chewing rice to promote fermentation…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 22.
Page 33 – “There is a report from the 8th century of peasants in southern Kyushu…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 22.
Page 33 – “Hateruma Island in Okinawa prefecture was holding a chewed sake festival until…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 154.
Page 33 – “By the 6th century, koji molds…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 21.
Page 33 – “There are also records of priests making and selling sake as a commodity from the next century…”: : Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), p. 80.
Page 33 – “… in the early 900s we know that artistocrats were warming sake…”: Nagayama Hisao, Nihon no Sake Unchiku (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2008) p. 70.
Page 33 – “When the nobleman Michitaka Fujiwara was on his deathbed…”: Nagayama Hisao, Nihon no Sake Unchiku (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2008), p. 208.
Page 34 – “… there is a ghost story from the 9th century…”: : Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), p. 80.
Page 34 – “The Koji riot” – This section is based on the following secondary sources: Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), p. 207; Kozo Yamamura, John Whitney Hall, The Cambridge History of Japan: Medieval Japan (Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. 389-391
Page 34 – “… 340-odd sake makers …”: : Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), p. 83.
Page 34 – “.. we see increasing differentiation…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 22-23.
Page 34 – “.. Shogunate even tried to legislate…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 22-23.
Page 35 – “… the population of the city of Edo grew from…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 25.
Page 35 – “… there were 1.5 times as many men as women…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 25-26.
Page 35 – “At the peak of Edo’s binge…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 25-26; : Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), pp. 93-94.
Page 35 – “There were more than 1,800 doburoku makers in the city…”: Nagayama Hisao, Nihon no Sake Unchiku (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2008), p. 168.
Page 35 – “…Kansai’s sake (kudarizake) overwhelmingly dominated Edo’s market…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 25; Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), pp. 94-95.
Page 35 – “Kansai brewers had been heating their sake to destroy microbes for more than 250 years before Louis Pasteur’s discovery…”: Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), pp.131, 219.
Page 35 – “The story went that a worker at an Osaka sake kura…”: Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), p. 225.
Page 35 – “… Osama Shinoda suggested that sake’s sweetness varied with war and peace…”
Page 35 – “Osamu Shinoda suggested… records do seem to give the theory at least superficial credibility…”: Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), pp. 21-22, 55.
Page 35 – “… cedar wood smells and flavors…”: Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), p. 34.
Page 36 – “… a dramatic shift in the geography of sake…”: Oze Akira, Chishiki Zero Kara no Nihonshu Nyumon (Gentosha, 2001), pp. 152-154; : Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), pp. 59-63.
Page 36 – “… They swept the board at the first national sake tasting competition…”: : Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), pp. 59-60.
Page 36 – “Rakugo performers…”: : Oze Akira, Chishiki Zero Kara no Nihonshu Nyumon (Gentosha, 2001), p. 154.
Page 36 – “But, in 1913, the New Sake Tasting Competition…”: : Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), pp. 59-60.
Page 36 – “A government push to reduce rice use … goldfish sake…”: Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), pp. 64-65.
Page 36 – “Just as zojoshu tended to give wicked hangovers to its consumer, so its production affected the industry…”: Oze Akira, Chishiki Zero Kara no Nihonshu Nyumon (Gentosha, 2001), pp. 154-155.
Page 38 – “Sake rice has larger grains and is much…”: : Oze Akira, Chishiki Zero Kara no Nihonshu Nyumon (Gentosha, 2001) p. 108.
Page 38 – “According to the sake writer John Gauntner …”: John Gauntner, Sake World Sake e-Newsletter Issue #15, November/December, 2000.
Page 38- “The first stage of sake production involves…” – This account of the sake making process is based on the following secondary sources: : Oze Akira, Chishiki Zero Kara no Nihonshu Nyumon (Gentosha, 2001), pp.102-107, 112-129.
Page 38 – “Philip Harper, the first foreigner…”: Philip Harper, The Insider’s Guide to Sake (Kodansha International), p. 49.
Page 38 – “The six main categories” – This section is based on a variety of sources including interviews with people in the industry, and the following secondary sources: Oze Akira, Chishiki Zero Kara no Nihonshu Nyumon (Gentosha, 2001), pp. 58-59, 66-68.
Page 41 – “Yamahai and Kimoto sake”: Oze Akira, Chishiki Zero Kara no Nihonshu Nyumon (Gentosha, 2001): pp. 70-71.
Page 41 – “Muroka … nigorizake … doburoku”: Oze Akira, Chishiki Zero Kara no Nihonshu Nyumon (Gentosha, 2001), pp. 74-75.
Page 42 – “…namazake…Namachozo…namazume” – Oze Akira, Chishiki Zero Kara no Nihonshu Nyumon (Gentosha, 2001), p 63.
Page 43 – “Edo period shop records tell us…”: Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), p. 27.
Page 43 – “The Honcho Shokkan…”: Ueno Nobuhiro, Nihon no Koshu (Jitsugyo no Nihonsha, 2008), pp. 38-39.
Page 43 – “… sometimes met with outright hostility…”: for example, see Ueno Nobuhiro, Nihon no Koshu (Jitsugyo no Nihonsha, 2008), p. 73.
Page 43 – “The growing popularity of wooden barrels…” – Ueno Nobuhiro, Nihon no Koshu (Jitsugyo no Nihonsha, 2008), p. 120.
Page 43 – “More lethal to the tradition, however, were tax laws introduced in the early Meiji period…” – p. 120.
Page 44 – “He once led an army against the Hojo clan in freezing conditions…”: Nagayama Hisao, Nihon no Sake Unchiku (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2008), pp. 211-212.
Page 45 – “a kura owner he knew who asked for his own sake served kan …”: Oze Akira, Sara ni Kiwameru Nihonshu Ajiwai Nyumon (Gentosha, 2003), p. 33.
Page 47 – “… sake and spirit makers all over Japan play music to their fermenting alcohol…”: for a fascinating discussion of this phenomenon see Oze Akira, Chishiki Zero Kara no Nihonshu Nyumon (Gentosha, 2001) p. 130.
Page 64 – “… niuri-zakaya…”: Kanzaki Nobutake, The Alcohol Beverages of Bars and Restaurants in 17th and 19th Century Tokyo in Umesao Tadao, Yoshida Shuji and Schalow, Paul, eds., Japanese Civilization in the Modern World XVIII Alcoholic Beverages (National Museum of Ethnology, 2003), p. 64.
Page 74 – “In 1559, two angry carpenters…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 24; Shirakawa Waku, Honkaku Shochu wo Marugoto Tanoshimu (Shimpuushu, 2007), p. 18.
Page 74 – “We also have a slightly earlier report in Portuguese…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 24; Michael Cooper, They Came to Japan – An Anthology of European Reports on Japan, 1543-1640 (Center for Japanese Studies The University of Michigan, 1995), p. 191.
Page 74 – “There are various theories…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 23-25, 29-39; Ogawa Kihachiro and Nakashima Katsumi, Honkaku Shochu no Kitamichi (Kinyosha, 2007), pp. 13-78.
Page 76 – “… first written record of spirits in Korea …” Ogawa Kihachiro and Nakashima Katsumi, Honkaku Shochu no Kitamichi (Kinyosha, 2007) p. 51.
Page 76 – “The great Japanese alcohol writer Kin’ichiro Sakaguchi…”: : Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), p. 77.
Pages 77 – 79 – This account of the shochu production process is drawn from a number of sources including interviews and correspondence with distillers, as well as the following secondary sources: Inomata Yoshitaka, Imojochu Kiwamekata Jiten (Oizumi Shoten, 2005), pp. 231-235; Shirakawa Waku, Honkaku Shochu wo Marugoto Tanoshimu (Shimpuushu, 2007), pp. 58-80.
Page 78 – “… but the very starchy ‘Kogane Sengan’ or the slightly less sweet ‘Joy White’…” – Inomata Yoshitaka, Imojochu Kiwamekata Jiten (Oizumi Shoten, 2005), p. 102.
Page 78 – “… more than 40 varieties…”: Shirakawa Waku, Honkaku Shochu wo Marugoto Tanoshimu (Shimpuushu, 2007), p. 40.
Page 78 – “… or, occasionally roasted…”: Inomata Yoshitaka, Imojochu Kiwamekata Jiten
(Oizumi Shoten, 2005), p. 166.
Page 79 – “… only stand aging up to five years…”: Inomata Yoshitaka, Imojochu Kiwamekata Jiten (Oizumi Shoten, 2005), p. 236; also see : Sakaguchi Kin’ichiro, Nihon no Sake (Iwanami, 2007), p. 77.
Page 82 – “People had little money, no hope and horrific memories of the war…”: John Dower, Embracing Defeat – Japan in the Aftermath of World War II, pp. 107-108.
Page 82 – “In 1996, Yuichiro Hamada…”: : Nagai Takashi, Biiru Saishu Senso (Nikkei, 2006), pp. 59-66.
Page 83 – “In 1998, 325,109 kl of honkaku were sold…”: Nagai Takashi, Biiru Saishu Senso (Nikkei, 2006), pp. 63-64.
Page 83 – “… supposed health benefits…”: Shirakawa Waku, Honkaku Shochu wo Marugoto Tanoshimu (Shimpuushu, 2007), p. 22.
Page 84 – “The first person known to have planted sweet potatoes in Kyushu was actually an Englishman…”: Michael Cooper, ed., They Came to Japan – An Anthology of European Reports on Japan, 1543-1640 (Center for Japanese Studies The University of Michigan, 1995), p. 191.
Page 84 – “The real breakthrough came in 1705…”: Shirakawa Waku, Honkaku Shochu wo Marugoto Tanoshimu (Shimpuushu, 2007), p. 38.
Page 84 – “… all these ridiculous prices …”: see, for example, Inomata Yoshitaka, Imojochu Kiwamekata Jiten (Oizumi Shoten, 2005), p. 222.
Page 84 – “… their samurai overlords came down very hard on anyone who tried to distill it…”: Shirakawa Waku, Honkaku Shochu wo Marugoto Tanoshimu (Shimpuushu, 2007), pp. 46-48.
Page 84 – “Production accelerated after the peace…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 43.
Page 84 – “… the Japanese government gave it a special designation…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 43.
Page 84 – “… the best known rice shochu is kumajochu..”: Shirakawa Waku, Honkaku Shochu wo Marugoto Tanoshimu (Shimpuushu, 2007), pp. 28-31.
Page 84 – “… in place such as Akune in Kagoshima…”: : Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 84-85.
Page 86 – “… the most famous center of mugijochu is on Iki island…”: Shirakawa Waku, Honkaku Shochu wo Marugoto Tanoshimu (Shimpuushu, 2007), pp. 29, 31-34.
Page 86 – “The other major area of mugijochu production is Oita prefecture…”: Shirakawa Waku, Honkaku Shochu wo Marugoto Tanoshimu (Shimpuushu, 2007), pp. 21, 35-36.
Page 86 – “The 1980s and 1990s were the heyday”: Inomata Yoshitaka, Imojochu Kiwamekata Jiten (Oizumi Shoten, 2005), p. 230.
Page 86 – “Buckwheat shochu is entirely new-fangled…”: Shirakawa Waku, Honkaku Shochu wo Marugoto Tanoshimu (Shimpuushu, 2007), pp. 20-21, 43-46.
Page 88 – “On Iki island …”: Shirakawa Waku, Honkaku Shochu wo Marugoto Tanoshimu (Shimpuushu, 2007), p. 34.
Page 88 – “Beware the evils of hard alcohol and tobacco” : Nagayama Hisao, Nihon no Sake Unchiku (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2008), p.154.
Page 89 – “Oyuwari” – Inomata Yoshitaka, Imojochu Kiwamekata Jiten (Oizumi Shoten, 2005), p. 237.
Page 102 – “The three most iconic Kagoshima potato shochus…”, Inomata Yoshitaka, Imojochu Kiwamekata Jiten (Oizumi Shoten, 2005), p. 222.
Page 108 – “The Izu shoto shochu tradition traces its roots back to the 1850s…: Tasaki Shinya, Tasaki Shinya no Imakoso Shimajochu (Jitsugyo no Nihonsha, 2007), pp. 97, 116-119.
Page 110 – “The Chinese imperial envoy…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 75.
Page 110 – “The British captain Frederick William Beechey was also defeated by Okinawan hospitality…”: Frederick William Beechey, Narrative of a voyage to the Pacific and Beering’s Strait H. (Colburn and R. Bentley, 1831), Volume 2, pp. 113, 397.
Page 110 – “It was said that the head of an aristocratic household …”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 52-55.
Page 113 – “The American traveler Bayard Taylor got a rare chance to sip…”: Bayard Taylor, A visit to India, China, and Japan, in the year 1853 (G. P. Putnam & co., 1855), p. 385.
Page 113 – “… the Omoro Soshi, a collection of Okinawa poems…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 68.
Page 113 – “In 1477, we get a priceless snapshot of medieval Okinawan alcohol culture from a group of Korean sailors shipwrecked on …”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 72.
Page 113 – “… The first clear evidence of distilled spirits comes from the Chinese envoy Chin K’an…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 29, 74-76.
Page 113 – “Suzume Sakeya”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 160
Page 113 – “the Portuguese adventurer Tome Pires noticed Okinawan merchants in Malacca scouring the markets for the strongest booze…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 30.
Page 113 – The famous Ryukyuan courtier and reformer Sai On felt that distilled alcohol…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 77.
Page 113 – “… distillation was limited to only three villages…” : Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 85-90.
Page 114 – “… unlikely that distilling was limited only to the Sanka district…”: See Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 61.
Page 114 – “Fumi Miyagi (1891-1990), writing of her childhood…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 155-156.
Page 114 – “the Chinese imperial envoys were served it at court…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 155.
Page 114 – “the formal annexation of Okinawa by Japan and the fall of the Okinawan royal family brought an end to the old restrictions on making awamori”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 96.
Page 114 – “There was an explosion of distilling outside the towns…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 96.
Page 115 – “…a massive air raid devastated Shuri…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 126-129.
Page 115 – “… killed more than 75,000 local civilians…”: John Toland, The Rising Sun – The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1936-1945 (Penguin, 1970), p. 726. This is only one estimate. Some sources put civilian casualties at 100,000 or more.
Page 115 – “After a desperate search, a straw mat with traces of koji on it was found under the rubble…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 131.
Page 115 – “The US military reported brown sugar, palm, corn, wheat, fruit and even chocolate moonshines…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 128-131.
Page 115 – “In March 1946, …”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 128-133.
Page 115 – “… the popular ‘shirasagi’ brand…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 138.
Page 115 – “Awamori production dropped from 5,424,000 liters…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 138.
Page 115 – “…the number of distilleries fell…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 138.
Page 116-119 – “Making awamori”: This account is based on interviews with distillers in Okinawa as well as the following secondary sources Nihon Shurui Kenkyukai, Chishiki Zero Kara no
Awamori Nyumon (Gentosha, 2008), pp. 18-28.
Page 117 – “… one of the three main features of awamori that distinguish it …”: Nihon Shurui Kenkyukai, Chishiki Zero Kara no Awamori Nyumon (Gentosha, 2008), p. 12.
Page 118 – “One old categorization described three different types of kusu…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 54.
Page 118 – “The Omoro Soshi contains references to storage houses…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 68-69.
Page 118 – “A Korean eyewitness in 1461 said …”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 71-72.
Page 119 – “Maturing awamori at home”: Nihon Shurui Kenkyukai, Chishiki Zero Kara no Awamori Nyumon (Gentosha, 2008), p. 32.
Pag2 119 – “… the shitsugi method…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 52-53.
Page 119 – “Awamori aging was certainly well established by 1719…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 83.
Page 119 – “… in 1926, we have a report of awamori…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 53.
Page 120 – “A code of conduct introduced in 2004…” – This account is based on correspondence with retailers and distillers in Okinawa.
Page 120 – “Otori” – : Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 168-169.
Page 120 – “Kami no mono” – : Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 166.
Page 121 – “… may have been introduced by Japanese samurai …”Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 93.
Page 123 – “There are all sorts of theories about the name…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 50-52.
Page 123 – “A primitive technique found on only on Okinawa…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 29-39.
PAge 127 – “… was the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972…”: For a good discussion of this transition see Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 141-142.
Page 137 – “Komin Kawamoto”: Beer and Pub, 2005 winter vol. 3 (Puranetto Ji Aasu, 2005), pp. 70-73.
Page 137 – “Bass Pale Ale, still a common sight in Japanese bars, seems to have been the dominant brand…” Kusama Shunro, Yokohama Yoshoku Bunka Hajime (Yusankaku Shuppan, 1999), p. 61.
Page 137 – “… the Nankaitei restaurant…” Kusama Shunro, Yokohama Yoshoku Bunka Hajime (Yusankaku Shuppan, 1999), p. 68.
Page 137 – … used beer bottles refilled with locally produced ersatz ‘beer’..” Kusama Shunro, Yokohama Yoshoku Bunka Hajime (Yusankaku Shuppan, 1999), pp. 70-71.
Page 137 – “In 1871, the Tokyo city authorities…”: Kusama Shunro, Yokohama Yoshoku Bunka Hajime (Yusankaku Shuppan, 1999), p. 70.
Page 137 – “Yokohama Mainichi newspaper commented…”: Kusama Shunro, Yokohama Yoshoku Bunka Hajime (Yusankaku Shuppan, 1999), p. 74.
Page 137 – “Commercial brewing got under way about the same time as the pirate bottling…”: Beer and Pub, 2005 winter vol. 3 (Puranetto Ji Aasu, 2005) pp. 70-73; Kusama Shunro, Yokohama Yoshoku Bunka Hajime (Yusankaku Shuppan, 1999), pp. 92-101, 205-207; The Introduction of European Liquor Production to Japan, in Umesao Tadao, Yoshida Shuji and Schalow, Paul, eds., Japanese Civilization in the Modern World XVIII Alcoholic Beverages (National Museum of Ethnology, 2003), pp. 52-59; Aoi Hiroyuki, Biiru no Kyokasho (Kodansha, 2003), pp. 176-177.
Page 137 – “By the end of the century, there were up to 150 breweries…” Beer and Pub, 2005 winter vol. 3 (Puranetto Ji Aasu, 2005), pp. 70-73.
Page 139-140 – “The corporatization of beer in Japan started in 1901…” Beer and Pub, 2005 winter vol. 3 (Puranetto Ji Aasu, 2005), pp. 70-73; Aoi Hiroyuki, Biiru no Kyokasho (Kodansha, 2003), p. 178.
Page 140 – “Dai Nippon was split into two companies in 1949…”: Aoi Hiroyuki, Biiru no Kyokasho (Kodansha, 2003), p. 180.
Page 140 – “In fact, the big brewers have fought like cats in a bag…”: Nagai Takashi, Biiru Saishu Senso (Nikkei, 2006), pp. 7-51, 72-93, 144-182 .
Page 140 – “… the law that allowed small makers like Baird to start up…”: Beer and Pub, 2005 winter vol. 3 (Puranetto Ji Aasu, 2005) pp. 70-73.
Page 141 – “… invention by a Suntory laboratory scientist…”: Nagai Takashi, Biiru Saishu Senso (Nikkei, 2006), pp. 12-13.
Page 142 – “In 1999, Shusaku Kashiwada, an engineer at Sapporo…”: Nagai Takashi, Biiru Saishu Senso (Nikkei, 2006), pp.12, 144.
Page 142 – “… effect the beer compani’es gambit may have…”: For a description of the ongoing tension between the taxman and the beer companies see Nagai Takashi, Biiru Saishu Senso (Nikkei, 2006).
Page 162 – “Jean-Paul Sartre”: David Drake, Sartre (Haus Publishing, 2005), p. 119.
Page 162 – “De Beauvoir was also impressed…”: Simone de Beauvoir, All Said And Done (Marlowe & Company, 1993), p. 255.
Page 162 – “Ian Fleming advocated the Japanese version in the 1964 James Bond novel…”: Ian Fleming, You Only Live Twice (Penguin Classics, 2004), p. 42.
Page 162 – “… Peggy Guggenheim …”: Mary V. Dearborn, Mistress of Modernism: The Life of Peggy Guggenheim (Houghton Mifflin, 2004), p. 271.
Page 164 – “Commodore Matthew Perry …”: List of presents for the Emperor held by Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center (retrieved from http://www.history.navy.mil/biblio/biblio3/perry_gift.htm)
Page 164 – “… ‘became quite merry, hugging the Commodore most affectionately…’”: New York Times, July 22, 1854, quoting from a New York Observer report.
Page 164 – “… by employing trickery in the chemistry lab…”, Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), p. 68; Asai Shogo, The Introduction of European Liquor Production to Japan, in Umesao Tadao, Yoshida Shuji and Schalow, Paul, eds., Japanese Civilization in the Modern World XVIII Alcoholic Beverages (National Museum of Ethnology, 2003), pp. 52-59.
Page 164 – “‘Holy’ whisky… ‘Lady Brand’…” – photographs in the author’s collection.
Page 164 – “There is a press account in 1923…”: Japan Weekly Chronicle (April 19, 1923), p. c138.
Page 165-166 – “… bizarre encounter in 1918…”: Robert L. Willett, Russian Sideshow: America’s Undeclared War 1918-20 (Brassey’s US, 2004), pp. 168-169
Page 166-167 – “The official history of Japanese whisky begins about two months before the debacle in Hakodate”: This account is based on Olive Checkland, Japanese Whisky, Scotch Blend (Scottish Cultural Press, 1998), pp. 1-40.
Page 167 – “…Miyamoto, general manager of Suntory’s Yamazaki distillery…” – Interview on visit to Yamazaki distillery.
Page 167 – “Tatsuro Yamazaki” – Interview on visit to Sapporo and letters sent by Yamazaki-san to the author.
Page 168 – “… accounts of wine being found in some bottles…”: Nihon Shohisha Renmei, Honmono no sake wo (Sanichi Shobo, 1982), p. 20.
Page 196 – “… history of making wine may stretch back 5,000 years…”: Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), p. 20; Junko Habu, Minkoo Kim, Mio Katayama, Hajime Koniya, Jomon Subsistence Settlement Systems at the Sannai Maruyama Site, Indo Pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin 21, 2001 (Melaka Papers, Volume 5); Junko Habu, Ancient Jomon of Japan (Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 204, 208.
Page 197 – “… the evidence is far from conclusive …”: Peter Forrestal, ed., The Global Encyclopedia of Wine (Wine Appreciation Guild, 2001), p. 494.
Page 197 – “…Ekken Kaibara writes about chinta…”: Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), pp. 84-85.
Page 197 – “… the famous priest Gyoki had a vision of a Buddha holding a vine…”: Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), p. 85.
Page 197 – “Another story features a monk called Kageyu Amemiya…”: Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), pp. 85-86.
Page 197 – “… vitis vinifera …”: Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), p. 87.
Page 197 – “… a famous medic called Tokuhon Nagata…”: Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), pp. 86-87.
Page 197 – “Between 1601 and 1716, the number of vines in Yamanashi prefecture…”: Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), pp. 86-87.
Page 197 – “‘A boy brought a bottle and a cup…”: Kusama Shunro, Yokohama Yoshoku Bunka Hajime (Yusankaku Shuppan, 1999), p. 12.
Page 197 – “‘I was given bread which had a terribly smelly, hair-oil sort of stuff on it…”: Kusama Shunro, Yokohama Yoshoku Bunka Hajime (Yusankaku Shuppan, 1999), p. 13.
Page 197 – “At some time between 1870 and 1874…” – This passage about the development of early Japanese wine is compiled from accounts in…Sekai ga Mitometa Nihon no Wain (Leed co., 2006) pp. 141-143; Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), pp. 53-56, 61-63; The Introduction of European Liquor Production to Japan, in Umesao Tadao, Yoshida Shuji and Schalow, Paul, eds., Japanese Civilization in the Modern World XVIII Alcoholic Beverages (National Museum of Ethnology, 2003), pp. 52-59.
Page 198 – “Public interest was boosted in 1877 by a gift…”: Kusama Shunro, Yokohama Yoshoku Bunka Hajime (Yusankaku Shuppan, 1999), p. 90.
Page 198 – “The new company dispatched two young men…” Sekai ga Mitometa Nihon no Wain (Leed co., 2006) pp. 141-143; Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), pp. 56-61.
Page 198 – “Tsuchiya claimed the market was depressed…” Sekai ga Mitometa Nihon no Wain (Leed co., 2006) pp. 141-143.
Page 198 – “Kotaro Miyazaki, the company’s marketing man, thought it was a problem with their product…” Sekai ga Mitometa Nihon no Wain (Leed co., 2006) pp. 141-143; Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), pp. 63, 66, 68.
Page 198 – “Competition was also growing…”: Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), pp. 62, 79.
Page 198 – “Denbei Kamiya, founder of the famous Kamiya bar…”: Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), pp. 68, 79-80.
Page 198 – “… it sold very well.” Kusama Shunro, Yokohama Yoshoku Bunka Hajime (Yusankaku Shuppan, 1999), p. 91.
Page 199 – “… might have been the death of Japan’s fledgling wine sector were it not for a major cholera epidemic… of the greatly increased demand.” Kusama Shunro, Yokohama Yoshoku Bunka Hajime (Yusankaku Shuppan, 1999), p. 91.
Page 199 – “Kotaro Miyazaki, picking up the pieces from the collapse of Iwaimura…”: Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), pp. 66, 67-68.
Page 199 – “Kamiya Denbei moved in the other direction…” Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), p. 80.
Page 199 – “Miyazaki, maker of the “Prawn brand,” even managed to hitch wine to the super-nationalist spirit of the times…”: Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), p. 151.
Page 200 – “A key development came in 1949, with the launch of the ‘Mercian’ wine brand…”: Yoshiba Katsuo, Budoshu to Wain no Hakubutsukan (Kankando, 1983), pp. 69-70.
Page 200 – “ Hans Brinckmann, author of Showa Japan…”: Hans Brinckmann, Showa Japan – The Post-War Golden Age and Its Troubled Legacy (Tuttle, 2008), pp. 82-88.
Page 216-220 – “In 1945, Yamazaki-san was living with two younger sisters in a boiler…”: The account of Yamazaki-san’s career is based on an interview, correspondence with Yamazaki-san and his book: Yamazaki Tatsuro, Bar Yamazaki (Hokkaido Shimbunsha, 2009).
Page 237 – “Both shochu and awamori have very long medicinal traditions…”: See Hagio Toshiaki, Awamori no Bunkashi (Border Ink, 2004), pp. 78-81, 83; Kusama Shunro, Yokohama Yoshoku Bunka Hajime (Yusankaku Shuppan, 1999), p. 91.