Whisky demand is rocketing in Japan, with producers scrambling to increase production as a period drama about the spirit has the country hooked and after a homegrown single malt scooped the honors in a world taste test.
Sales have soared since national broadcaster NHK began airing a daily dose of Massan, the tale of a Japanese entrepreneur and his Scottish wife who are credited with establishing Japan’s first whisky distillery.
“We’re not keeping up with demand,” said Hasumi Ozawa, a spokeswoman for Suntory Holdings Ltd, one of Japan’s biggest drink makers.
Photo: AFP
Suntory says it is limiting its shipments to cope with the whisky boom, despite having ramped up production at its distilleries two years ago.
The increased capacity has yet to filter through because of the tipple’s famously lengthy manufacturing process, in which newly distilled whisky is left to mellow in wooden barrels for years.
Whisky has traditionally been a minority interest in Japan’s huge drinks market, where it accounts for just 1.16 percent of total sales, although producers say this is growing.
The uptrend began in 2009, Ozawa said, with the revival of highballs, a mix of whisky and soda that became popular among younger drinkers, which is sold in bars as well as in cans in convenience stores.
Then in November last year, Suntory’s Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 was named the world’s best by the prestigious Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2015, giving the industry a fillip both at home and abroad.
That came soon after broadcaster NHK began airing Massan, the latest in a long line of saccharine television dramas that hark back to Japan’s pre-World War II years of rapid industrialization.
In 15-minute episodes that are shown at breakfast and repeated at lunchtime, it tells the story of Masaharu Kameyama — nicknamed Massan — and his struggles to produce Japan’s first whisky.
More than one-in-five Japanese are said to be tuning into the drama, which began in September last year. The filming of the last episode ended this week.
Nikka Whisky Distilling Co Ltd, whose founder is the model for the main character in Massan, said it is trimming the rate at which it ships some of its more popular products to avoid running short.
As well as helping the domestic whisky industry, Massan has also made a star out of previously unknown US actress Charlotte Kate Fox.
Millions of housewives have been smitten by the plight of her character, the blonde-haired blue-eyed Ellie, as she gamely battles to adjust to life in Japan.
Massan is not the first time that drama has given Japanese whisky a reputational leg-up.
Suntory, which last year acquired the US-based maker of Jim Beam bourbon for nearly US$16 billion, was introduced to a global audience by Bill Murray’s character in the 2003 film Lost In Translation.
“For relaxing times, make it Suntory time,” became a cult catchphrase among fans imitating Murray’s washed-up actor who travels to Tokyo to film commercials for the company.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last