The latest article, “Sake Rewards the Adventurous Drinker” by Eric Asimov in Wednesday’s New York Times gives advice for people worried about being overwhelmed by getting started with sake,
“For overcoming that obstacle, I can think of no better solution than a visit to Sakaya, 324 East Ninth Street. This area of the East Village has many Japanese businesses, which give Mr. Smith a local customer base and opportunities to find interesting pairings. “

Last Saturday, the Japan Times introduced our friends from Washington to readers in Tokyo in “Seattle pair put sake on local map” For anyone who read the popular manga, CLAUDE 蔵人 by Oze Akira about an American guy from Seattle in Shimane, Johnnie’s picture should look familiar. Yes, he was in volume 10!

Finally, Melinda Joe talked about trends in sake scene in Japan in her “Events spur on a new generation of sake drinkers” last Friday in the Japan Times.
“At 5:30 p.m. on a recent Saturday evening, the line of people at the entrance to the Smile Nihonshu sake event was six deep. Inside the bar, groups of young people in their 20s and 30s clinked glasses and nodded along to a bouncy rendition of Bob Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier” under a green-lit disco ball.” Yes, our favorite event, SMILE Nihonshu was featured in the story. And she mentions our Tokyo Sake Meetup, too!

SAKAYA NYC
Saké Nomi
Smile Nihonshu (in Japanese)
Tokyo Sake Meetup

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Kozaemon Yuzu

“I just got a couple of bottles of Yuzu-shu from Kozaemon. I’ll bring one in next time,” I told the chef as I was leaving Igarashi in February. Since I’d found out he hadn’t tried my favorite citrusy yuzu-shu yet, I promised to bring him one next time. Igarashi-chef is a big Kozaemon fan. To give you some idea of the extent of his fandom, the table water he serves his patrons is Kozaemon shikomi mizu, brewing water shipped all the way from the kura in Mizunami, Gifu.

For the past five months, that last bottle of Kozaemon nihonshu blended with the pungent yuzu citrus juice from Kochi was laying on the top shelf of our fridge. As the weather got closer and closer to being perfect for this very light, summery drink, the bottle stared back at me and I thought, “It is time”. Every time I opened the fridge was a daily reminder to myself of my promise and that summer was coming.

This week, when Kazuko said she wants to go for good, authentic Japanese food, Igarashi was my first choice. Luckily, they had a table open that night. It took me a long time to live up to my promise, but, finally, I packed the bottle with ice gel to protect it for the two-station trek on the Yamanote!

Chef Igarashi and Yuzu-shu

At the end of the meal, Chef Igarashi came out to the table to offer us to try some as well. How could we say no to this fresh, light, and refreshing drink-perfect for a hot summer night!

About Kozaemon on Tokyofoodcast
About Igarashi

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Ayu Gohan at Igarashi

Despite the ruthless heat and humidity, there are may things I really look forward to in the summer – all of them food related. Some are as simple as juicy peaches, boiled corn in season, or the inviting sensation of a whiff of the burning smell of sweet sauce from unagi grilled on the charcoal when passing by a restaurant.

Last night, I had my first ayu gohan of the season at Igarashi. This simple dish, lightly grilled fresh water fish cooked with rice in a clay pot, is so distinctively summery to me and I especially appreciate the bitter taste of the sweetfish with rice.

I love how Igarashi-san masterfully balances the bitterness with other subtle flavors. That’s one reason I called them yesterday as the place for a dinner reunion with my best friend who just returned from New York. But, there was another reason I had to visit them….

Igarashi

Address: Hagiwara Bldg. 2F, 4-9-15 Ebisu, Shibuya, Tokyo
東京都渋谷区恵比寿4-9-15 ＨＡＧＩＷＡＲＡ　ＢＬＤＧ．５　２Ｆ
Phone: 03-3447-9893
Map and information in English: bento.com
Please take a look at the July summer course menu at Igarashi. And, to match the summer theme, we started with Kozaemon Tokubetsu Junmai Origarami.

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Kopirinko 300ml from Kusumi Shuzo

Et-chan and I spent a very hot Tokyo Sunday afternoon at the movies checking out Inception. We went prepared with some take-out karaage and te-maki from Midori Sushi in Meguro. I stopped at Seijo Ishii in Shinagawa and quickly grabbed a chilled bottle to smuggle into the theater. Good thing I did, the lines there were horrendous as people turned out on a holiday weekend for this and the latest from Studio Ghibli, Karigurashi no Arrietty.

I picked up this bottle almost without looking. We were in a hurry, but I learned something new. My main discovery with this sake wasn’t the Natsuko no Sake connection or how to read the highly stylized ピ of コピリンコ / Kopirinko. The main thing I picked up was the source of the photo above. I shop at Seijo Ishii all the time when I want something a little bit special. I didn’t have the bootle to photograph and needed something. The web revealed Seijo Ishii’s Top Buyer Blog and the source of the bottle picture above. Each buyer posts news about new products of things they are interested in on the blog (Sorry, Japanese only). The 酒 / sake buyer is sake in the broader sense, covering wine also, but the 66 posts there as of this posting cover plenty of nihonshu kura visits.

We enjoyed the film and the take out sushi with it. I have to remember that we’re pretty lucky to be able to pick up a decent bottle anytime we like, even on the run.

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Kamonasu Takiawase at Shinme, Kyoto

The first thing I review with expats moving to Tokyo is how to find places. With a Roppongi address as an example and a big map, I usually point out that we do not have a street and number system in Tokyo. Three sets of numbers at the end of a Tokyo address zeroes in from a big area, then to a specific block, and finally ends at a specific unit on that block. Then, just to make things interesting, I add that there’s no set direction for how the numbering goes up and down. It’s confusing, but at least that’s how I am so used to associating numbers and places.

Early this July, I had a chance to explore Kyoto at night on my own, so I decided to stop at a few sake places I had been told to check out. I had the bar names, so as usual, I looked them up on the web.

One of them, Shinme, gave me Kyoto, Kamikgyo-ku, Senbon-nakacachi-uri-agaru as the address. Not knowing how exactly the address system works in Kyoto, but having a map, I showed the cab driver where it was and he got me right at the intersection where I spotted the big sign for 神馬.

Takahashi, Kyoto

After a very pleasant conversation with the lady behind the counter and some excellent sake-centric Kyoto dishes at Shinme, I decided to try one more place. Takahashi, I was told, had good soba and sake, but this one was a bit harder to find any information about online. When I looked it up, I got two completely different maps for the single address I was able to find. This read: Kyoto, Nakagyo-ku, Shijo-takakura-sagaru, east-side, second floor. “Am I really going to find this place with this?” Having had a few drinks and being a bit tipsy I caught another taxi. “Do you know the name of the building?”, the driver asked. “No, this is all I have.” So he took me to the spot and said, “From the address you gave me, it’s around here somewhere, but I don’t know where.” I got out of the car, looked around, and there it was! There was a very modest wooden sign for Takahashi in front of me. I thought to myself, “Taxi’s in Tokyo often get lost even with exact addresses and GPS navigation systems. Kyoto drivers must really know the streets.”

I am still not 100% sure how people find places without specific numbers in Kyoto. I guess people know the cross streets and directions and use this unofficial system rather than the official address system.

“The system works by naming the intersection of two streets and then indicating if the address is north (上ルagaru), south (下ルsagaru), east (東入ルhigashi-iru) or west (西入ルnishi-iru) of the intersection. What this means is that a building can have more than one address depending on which intersection is chosen.”
-quoted from Japanese Addressing System/Wikipedia

If you are in Kyoto, find these places for sake and food!

Shinme
Senbon-nakacachi-uri-agaru
Closed on Sundays
Tel: 075-461-3635

Old style izakaya with very elegant Kyoto food.

Takahashi
Kyoto, Nakagyo-ku, Shijyo-takakura-sagaru East side 2nd floor
I do not have their phone number

It’s very modern and hip sake bar with good soba and tsumami.

Kyoto Sake Dining

Front page header photo CC from Mmonhsi.

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Yongo Nama

Tenmamichi Shimokitazawa has a great selection of sake and “a-te” sake food. But, that’s not the only reason why sake geeks find this izakaya so special. They have access to special bottles you will not find other places, even in Tokyo sake heaven. On our visit last Friday, rather than selecting sake ourselves, I simply asked for Takamura-san for his recommendations and enjoyed all eight or nine selections.

“Please disregard the labels on this bottle. I want you to pay attention to only the part that says yongo.” As Takamura-san brought out the fourth bottle to the table, he started to tell us the story.

“This one is sold by a brewer, but actually this is brewed in collaboration with Taguchi-sensei in Akita.” Each prefecture has a designated research institute for sake to improve overall quality of local production. Mr. Taguchi from Akita Jozo Kenkyujo brewed five tanks last season with a brewer to try different brewing methods. Yongo is tank number four from these batches.

Yongo tank, kimoto muroka junmai ginjo, was brewed with Akita Sake Komachi rice using the old kimoto method, then pressed using a centrifuge. We fully enjoyed this special bottle that started with lots of flavors bursting on the palette, but finished very clean.
Tenmamichi Shimokitazawa
City Hotel Lefa B1
2-20-2 Kitazawa, Setagaya, Tokyo
Phone: 03-5486-0088
Directions: From Shimokitazawa Station South Exit, take a right and walk along the tracks for about one minute. You cannot miss the big sign for Hotel レファ.

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“Yeah, but not today. I got it last year at that tasting at Kuraya.”

You may see the kind of problem we’ve run into. Sometimes you just have to buy a bottle, or two, or three. They tend to pile up. I still had a bottle in the fridge that I had picked up last September. I kept waiting for the right time, and maybe this was it.

Despite taking a very fresh hiyaoroshi and letting it wait, and wait, and wait… I have to say it was still good and still close to what I had in mind from a brief encounter last year. A sake that can make an impression and live up to it later is a pretty good bottle.

So, what did it taste like?

In the end, Et-chan and I agreed that Toroman did not taste like a typical sake from Fukushima. It was very full–not heavy–but full. Etsuko picked up a bit of melon at the start. We both picked up the main vanilla and caramel taste and I wondered if I had hallucinated a little citrus hiding in there somewhere. A good acidity wasn’t at all prominent, but was definitely there to hold up the other end of the balance. And then, it was gone. Not gone, but for such a full-bodied sake, it didn’t linger long.

So, how did it compare to what I remembered from last September? I’d first tasted it on a Saturday evening after a long extra day at the office and recalled it as a powerful, complex sake. I think it has mellowed a bit. I had an image in my mind of something a bit rougher, but the full-flavor was just what I was looking for when I pulled the bottle out of the fridge. All in all, the rough and ready hiyaoroshi had become a full and satisfying bottle with a bit less edge to it. Good all around.

More information

Toroman 十ロ万（とろまん）is part of the Roman/ろまん series from Hanaizumi Shuzo in Minami Aizu, Fukushima

If you are in the Machida area, or even if you aren’t, Kuraya is worth a visit. Wine, nihonshu, or shochu–they carry a deep selection and have something special for everyone.

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Last Saturday, a bunch of sake fans teamed up with football fans and gathered around to watch the heated Japan vs Holland game. Sake was featured, of course. For nihonshu connoisseurs we had all the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Official Sake. Who said watching football only goes with lager? To see how much fun sake is for all occasions, please visit the Tokyo Sake Meetup site. And, here’s the list of sake we tasted that night.

If you are wondering what the 2010 FIFA World Cup official nihonshu is, thirteen brands of Junmai were selected by Hasegawa in 2009 to be recognized.

Where to shop for FIFA World Cup sake for the Japan vs Paraguay game? Drop by Hasegawa shops at Gransta Tokyo Station, Azabu Juban, or Omotesando Hills.

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Check out Damon’s slideshow and review.
Et-chan’s slides are here too.

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Et-chan: Nihonshu Covergirl

If you look very closely at the photo on the cover of the March issue of Dancyu, you’ll see Et-chan. She also appears inside in a photo from a story on Nihonshu no Hi. She’s been busy.

Even better, Dancyu created an in-store display banner for this special nihonshu issue. Apologies for the scan, but here it is.

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