Lost in a nation
Dave visits the new rebuilt Hanyu distillery and takes in some Japanese culture.
âWould you like some octopus balls?â âNever knew they had any...but yes, thank you.â As ever, Japan had caught me unaware. Maybe I was just distracted by the explosions which intially I believed might have been part of the Japan Defence Forceâs much-publicised show of strength against perceived North Korea aggression. It turned out to be fireworks which were being detonated in a seemingly random sequence above the town.
This made more sense. This after all was the 3rd of December in Chichibu and as everyone knows on this day for over 300 years the town celebrates. In style. Hence the fireworks...not to mention the octopus ball vendors, and the noodle salesmen, and the fish grillers and the suppliers of chocolate bananas. Children wearing cartoon masks on their fatherâs shoulders, girls with back-combed hair sucking lollipops, saké-filled men trying to work out how to use their mobile phones, âsorry dear, Iâll be a bit late.â Chichibuâs festival commemorates the time when the god who lived on the summit of nearby Mount Fuku descended and met with (to speak euphemistically) the goddess of the Shinto shrine. Who knows, in the future it may also celebrate the founding of the townâs first malt whisky distillery and a return to his roots for Ichiro Akuto whose family was brewing saké here before the first festival took place.
Akuto-sanâs story has already been told in these pages: the scion of a saké brewing family whose father branched into whisky, bui.....
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By Dave Broom
Section : A dram with Dave Broom
Page number : 12
