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🇯🇵 Understanding Shochu: Japan’s Best-Selling Spirit You’ve Never Heard Of
The Japanese have been making shochu for about five hundred years. That sounds ancient, until you remember that sake has been around for at least 2,000 years. By Japanese drinking standards, shochu is practically a startup. Shochu’s origin story is different, too. While sake grew up around gods, emperors and temples, shochu grew up in…
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🇯🇵 What to Drink in Japan: A Sip-by-Sip Guide to Japanese Drinks Culture
If you want to understand a country, don’t just visit its museums. Go stand in the drinks aisle of the nearest grocery store. Watch what everyone else is drinking. Order something you’ve never heard of. I’ve spent more than twenty years studying wine and spirits, and whenever we travel, I am obsessed with what I…
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🇯🇵 A Full Day in Tokyo: A Watch, a Knife, and a Tea Ceremony
Oh, it’s been a DAY. Buckle up! Slept for 10 glorious hours last night. Like some kind of teenager. Feeling much more human today. We only had one full day in Tokyo before boarding our ship, so I wanted to maximize our time. Tokyo is the largest city on earth – 37 million people in…