Podcast

EPISODE INTRO

In episode 93 of the Japan Distilled podcast, your host Stephen Lyman interviews Vincent Nicol, the creator of Zainin Shochu, a new Tokyo Shimzake.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://www.uncannyjapan.com/)

HOSTS

CHRISTOPHER PELLEGRINI Vermont born and bred, long-time Tokyo resident and author of The Shochu Handbook, Christopher learned about delicious fermentations as a beer brewer at Otter Creek (Middlebury, VT). He now spends most of his waking hours convincing strangers that shochu and awamori are unlike anything they’ve ever tried before. 

STEPHEN LYMAN discovered Japan’s indigenous spirits at an izakaya in New York City. He was so enthralled that he now lives in Japan and works in a tiny craft shochu distillery every autumn. His first book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award.

Stephen and Christopher are always happy to learn about a new shochu brand.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode of Japan Distilled, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Instagram. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

Tokyo Shimazake

As we discussed in episode 24 Shimazake (島酒) is literally “island alcohol” with shima (島) meaning “island” and sake (酒) meaning alcohol and as we discussed in our last episode (number 92?!?!) Tokyo Shimazake is the latest geographical indication for Honkaku Shochu in Japan. The remote island chain that is technically part of Tokyo make some of the most unique shimazake in Japan.

The Izu Islands consist of 9 populated islands with fewer than 24,000 residents. There are even more unpopulated islands, which have either been abandoned or are not sustainably habitable. The 9 populated islands are: Oshima, Toshima, Niijima, Shikinejima, Kozushima, Miyakejima, Mikurajima, Hachijojima, and Aogashima.

Hachijojima, the 2nd most southern of the populated islands, is home to the distillery that makes the latest shimazake shochu brand to be released. Perched in the Pacific, this island is windswept and pounded by waves all year long making for a rugged, but beautiful environment.

Zainin Shimazake

Zainin is the brainchild of Vincent Nicol of Unfilter, a Japan-based beverage alcohol incubators or sorts. They both import and promote interesting overseas products and are now developing Japanese products for the domestic and overseas markets. Zainin Shimazake represents the first step in this new direction.

Zainin is a collaboration primarily between Vincent and Okayima-san from Sakashita Distillery in Hachijojima

In order to appeal to fans of Tokyo Shimazake and also those unfamiliar with the style, Vincent and Okayima-san worked very hard to balance two distillates. A 100% barley shochu using white koji and a barley koji sweet potato shochu also using white koji. They ended up finding 50% of each hit the sweet spot.

This is only the first collaboration between the two with a genshu (undiluted) version being released very soon.

Zainin?

Zainin can variously be translated as sinner or criminal. This is an homage to the prison history of the islands. Those who were banished to the islands hoped to return to the mainland, but while in the islands they worked together to integrate and transform the culture.

Both sweet potatoes and shochu are part of those transformation since many of the inmates were from the Satsuma Domain, which today is Kagoshima Prefecture, home of the Satsuma Shochu GI.

The criminals were often political rather than outlaws so their island life ended up being a form of freedom for those constrained by the life of Tokugawa Japan. The combination of bottle design and kanji make for an evocative package for this product with a big story to tell.

Much More to Explore

This episode just scratches the surface of Tokyo Shimazake. Definitely worth exploring if you find yourself in Tokyo!

KANPAI!

EPISODE INTRO

In episode 92 of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini and Stephen Lyman take a journey to the Izu Islands to explore Tokyo Shimazake, the latest WTO GI for Honkaku Shochu.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://www.uncannyjapan.com/)

HOSTS

CHRISTOPHER PELLEGRINI Vermont born and bred, long-time Tokyo resident and author of The Shochu Handbook, Christopher learned about delicious fermentations as a beer brewer at Otter Creek (Middlebury, VT). He now spends most of his waking hours convincing strangers that shochu and awamori are unlike anything they’ve ever tried before. 

STEPHEN LYMAN discovered Japan’s indigenous spirits at an izakaya in New York City. He was so enthralled that he now lives in Japan and works in a tiny craft shochu distillery every autumn. His first book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award.

Stephen and Christopher particularly enjoy spirits with a distinct sense of place.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode of Japan Distilled, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Instagram. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

What is Shimazake?

As we discussed in episode 24 Shimazake (島酒) is literally “island alcohol” with shima (島) meaning “island” and sake (酒) meaning alcohol. In Japan this almost always refers to distilled spirits made on remote islands across the archipelago.

Japan is comprised of 6,842 islands of which 421 are inhabited. The 4 main islands, Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu make up the Japanese “mainland” along with quite a few smaller islands connected by bridges or tunnels. The other inhabited islands would be the ones where shimazake might be made.

Tokyo Shimazake

The remote island chain that is technically part of Tokyo make some of the most unique shimazake in Japan. In fact, its so unique to the islands that Tokyo Shimazake is the latest Honkaku Shochu to earn World Trade Organization Geographical Indication status. That’s the same designation awarded to champagne or cognac.

The Izu Islands consist of 9 populated islands with fewer than 24,000 residents. There are event more unpopulated islands, which have either been abandoned or are not sustainably habitable. The 9 populated islands are: Oshima, Toshima, Niijima, Shikinejima, Kozushima, Miyakejima, Mikurajima, Hachijojima, and Aogashima.

Of these, Oshima, or Izu Oshima, is both the largest and most populated with over 8,000 residents on 91 square kilometers of land. The smallest by area is Toshima (just 4.1 square kilometers) with a population of around 300. However, the smallest by population is Aogashima with fewer than 200 souls on less than 9 square kilometers of land.

Of these, just 5 of the islands are producing shochu across 8 distilleries.

To qualify for the Tokyo Shimazake GI, shochu made in the Izu Islands must follow these ground rules beyond the standard rules for Honkaku Shochu.

1. Made within the Izu Islands
2. Made with barley koji
3. Made with a secondary barley fermentation or a secondary sweet potato shochu.
4. Can be 100% barley shochu, barley koji sweet potato shochu, or a blend of the two.

This immediately became the smallest GI by production volume among Japanese spirits. While there are only 7 distilleries making Iki Shochu (a GI for rice koji barley shochu from Nagasaki’s Iki Island), several Iki makers have grown quite large while all of the Tokyo Shimazake producers are quite small by comparison.

In Aogashima they are even growing wild koji from palm fronds laid across the freshly steamed barley. While wild koji is being experimented with in Kyushu and Okinawa, its not something that finds itself into commercial bottlings very often.

History of Tokyo Shimazake

The Izu islands were treated as prison islands during the Edo Period.

Shoemon Tanso, a Satsuma (Kagoshima) merchant, was exiled to Hachijojima in 1853 for illicit trade with the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa). He brought sweet potatoes and knowledge of shochu making to the islands, which quickly became part of their local gustatory traditions.

Recommended Tokyo Shimazake Brands

Shima Nagashi 35% ABV is one of Christopher’s favorite Tokyo Shimazake brands, a blend of both barley and barley-sweet potato shochu.

Jonnalie barrel-aged Barley Shochu (25% ABV) is a favorite among fans of Tokyo Shimazake.

Kuro Shio 25% ABV barley shochu is a Tokyo Shimazake named after the famed sea current that was used to carry vessels from Kyushu to the Izu Islands.

Takeshiba Port (ferry terminal) gift shop has a wonderful selection in Tokyo, but most good liquor stores in Tokyo will carry at least a handful of brands.

Much More to Explore

This episode just scratches the surface of Tokyo Shimazake. Definitely worth exploring if you find yourself in Tokyo!

KANPAI!

INTRO

In episode 91, our hosts explain the history of International Shochu Day (Nov. 1) as well as run through some upcoming events surrounding this annual celebration.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://uncannyjapan.com/)

HOSTS

CHRISTOPHER PELLEGRINI Vermont born and bred, long-time Tokyo resident and author of The Shochu Handbook, Christopher learned about delicious fermentations as a beer brewer at Otter Creek (Middlebury, VT). He now spends most of his waking hours convincing strangers that shochu and awamori are unlike anything they’ve ever tried before. 

STEPHEN LYMAN discovered Japan’s indigenous spirits at an izakaya in New York City. He was so enthralled that he now lives in Japan and works in a tiny craft shochu distillery every autumn. His first book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award.

Stephen Lyman and Christopher Pellegrini make an annual pilgrimage to Kagoshima City for the largest International Shochu Day festival in Japan.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Instagram. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

International Shochu Day

International Shochu Day (November 1st) was established in 1987 in response to International Sake Day (October 1st). In truth, International Shochu Day is International Shochu AND Awamori Day, but Okinawa also has their own festival days for that lovely spirit so we are focused on the shochu side of the equation in this episode.

The reason November 1st was chosen has a number of origin myths, but one is most likely.

Myth #1: Traditional beginning of the sweet potato harvest in southern Kyushu. Given that most distilleries are running at full steam in September, this seems like the least likely real reason November 1st was chosen.

Myth #2: Northern Kyushu makers of rice and barley shochu typically release that year’s products in November. This may hold some credibility given that the barley harvest is in May and rice shochu can be made year round.

However, we believe Myth #3 is most likely.

Myth #3: November 1st kicks off bonenkai season when izakaya around Japan are rammed with salarymen (and women) joining “forget the year” parties in which copious amounts of booze are used to wash down copious amounts of food.

So there you have it, folks. November 1st was chosen for cold hard capitalist reasons. It also helps that the 1st Monday in November is a national holiday so 3 day weeks are common around November 1st.

Japan Based Events

Shochu Street 2025 (October 31st & November 1st)

In Japan, the largest and most well established November 1st International Shochu Day festiaval is SHOCHU STREET in the Tenmonkan Arcade in Kagoshima City. More than 80 makes are thousands of visitors attend this multi-day festival complete with live music, food stands, and 3 glasses of shochu for just ¥1000. That’s not 3 sips, that’s proper pours for around $2.20 USD/glass. Dangerous.

Shochu Nonjourno (October 25th)

Neighboring Miyazaki Prefecture, which is the only prefecture that makes more shochu annually by volume that Kagoshima, also holds a well regarded shochu festival. This year, rather than compete head to head with Shochu Street, they have decided to host their 1 day festival the weekend before. Tickets are advance purchase and do sell out.

Fukuoka Shochu Festival (November 1st & 2nd)

Fukuoka, the regional capital of Kyusuhu, is hosting a shochu festival this year for the first time in memory. Prior years have been private events organized by the shochu makers guild.

Tokyo Area Festivals (October 31st, November 3rd)

There are no fewer than 3 shochu festivals happening in Tokyo around International Shochu Day.

Honkaku Shochu & Awamori Fair (October 31st)

Kagoshima Shochu Festival in Tokyo (October 31st)

Shocchu Shochu (November 3rd)

If you live in Japan and know of a festival in your area, please reach out to us so we can update this list.

Overseas Events

Perhaps more important for many of our regular listeners, there are a handful of International Shochu Day events happening abroad. Those we are currently aware of are all in the US, but if you know of any elsewhere in the world, please let us know.

Umami Mart Shochu Talk (October 25th, Oakland, CA)

Kayoko Akabori of Umami Mart will be hosting a shochu talk and tasting. These are always a blast if you happen to be in the Bay Area.

Shochu Rising (November 2nd & 3rd, Los Angeles, CA)

The Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association is hosting 2 days of events in Los Angeles. The 2nd is a public event while the 3rd is for trade and media.

Shochu on the Rocks (November 13, Washington DC)

The DC premiere of The Spirit of Japan with a Q&A with direct Joseph Overbey will be followed by a walk around tasting of approximately 20 shochu hosted by DC Sake Co.

That’s what we are aware of, but we are sure there are more. Just let us know if you catch wind of something!

Kanpai!

INTRO

In episode 90, Stephen and Christopher chat with Maya Aley of Shochu Bar Roku about Kagoshima shochu culture.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://uncannyjapan.com/)

HOSTS

CHRISTOPHER PELLEGRINI Vermont born and bred, long-time Tokyo resident and author of The Shochu Handbook, Christopher learned about delicious fermentations as a beer brewer at Otter Creek (Middlebury, VT). He now spends most of his waking hours convincing strangers that shochu and awamori are unlike anything they’ve ever tried before. 

STEPHEN LYMAN discovered Japan’s indigenous spirits at an izakaya in New York City. He was so enthralled that he now lives in Japan and works in a tiny craft shochu distillery every autumn. His first book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award.

Stephen Lyman and Christopher Pellegrini have a deep appreciation for Kagoshima Shochu Culture.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Instagram. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

Who is Maya Aley?

Maya Aley is an American from Connecticut who moved to Kagoshima over a decade ago to teach English. In her early social interactions with the Japanese teachers at her school, she ended up drinking a lot of sweet potato shochu without understanding what it was. She gradually developed a taste for it and by the time she had decided to leave her role teaching English, but staying in Kagoshima, she decided to enroll in Kagoshima University’s Shochu Meister Course, a continuing education program that results in a shochu certification from the Kagoshima Shochu Makers Association. Maya was the first non-Japanese to complete this course.

Maya then earned her shochu kikizaskeshi (national certification) before landing a job tending bar at Honkaku Shochu Bar Ishizue in the Tenmonkan Neighborhood of Kagoshima City. Today she is the manager of Shochu Bar Roku, which is the sister bar of Ishizue. Their 3rd location Shochu Bistro Gou opened a couple years ago.

Honkaku Shochu Bar Ishizue is the most formal of the three locations, but also the place where you can try more shochu than anywhere else in Kagoshima. They carry 1,500 shochu from Kagoshima, almost all in the 1.8L format.

Kagoshima Shochu Culture

This episode covers a wide range of experiences that Maya, Christopher, and Stephen have all had that demonstrates the deep cultural importance of shochu to the people of Kagoshima. The Kagoshima shochu culture is deeply rooted with over 100 active distilleries and being the home to the 2 biggest shochu guilds during the 20th century, Kagoshima is without a doubt the most shochu-focused prefecture of Japan’s 47 prefectures, albeit that goes with a strong nod to Miyazaki which outsells Kagoshima by annual volume, but has fewer distilleries. They just happen to have 2 of the biggest: Kirishima and Unkai.

With the recent resurgence of inbound tourism, more and more people are visiting Kagoshima for the natural wonders of Yakushima Island, but also to experience the unique culture of the southern most prefecture in Japan’s home islands. Okinawa is further south and has a culture all its own, but Kagoshima, or what used to be the Satsuma Domain, was so remote from Edo (Tokyo) that the local culture is also quite unique compared to what you’ll find in the Kanto or Kansai regions of Japan.

To Learn More

For more information on the Shochu Meister Course, which now offers remote options for international students, please check out their website.

And if you make it to Kagoshima, please visit Maya Aley at Shochu Bar Roku. She will give you an incredible experience full of hospitality and education.

Kanpai!

INTRO

In episode 89, Stephen chats with his longtime friend and collaborator Joseph Overbey about their upcoming film, The Spirit of Japan.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://uncannyjapan.com/)

HOSTS

CHRISTOPHER PELLEGRINI Vermont born and bred, long-time Tokyo resident and author of The Shochu Handbook, Christopher learned about delicious fermentations as a beer brewer at Otter Creek (Middlebury, VT). He now spends most of his waking hours convincing strangers that shochu and awamori are unlike anything they’ve ever tried before. 

STEPHEN LYMAN discovered Japan’s indigenous spirits at an izakaya in New York City. He was so enthralled that he now lives in Japan and works in a tiny craft shochu distillery every autumn. His first book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award.

Stephen Lyman and Christopher Pellegrini have a deep love for cinema whether it be fiction or documentary. To have a shochu documentary about to appear on screens across the world is beyond a thrill.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Instagram. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

The Beginning.

Way back in 2012, Joseph Overbey was making JW Overbey Whiskey at his microdistillery in Brooklyn when he and his girlfriend snuck into a booze show at Javitz Center in Manhattan. The reason? He wanted to hear Stephen’s shochu seminar at the Japan Pavillion at the show. Afterward he introduced himself to Stephen and their friendship began.

Stephen visited Joseph’s distillery and Joseph joined Stephen’s frequent izakaya parties. One night in 2015 over some shochu, Joseph expressed that he was thinking about getting into filmmaking after decades working in photography. Stephen told Joseph about his upcoming trip to work at Yamatozakura. They decided Joseph should come to Japan and film at the distillery while Stephen was working.

Perhaps they thought a documentary about a crazy American who spends his vacation doing manual labor would be interesting to someone somewhere or may be they just thought it would be fun to make something together. Either way, the result is much more than either of them could have imagined.

The Spirit of Japan

A lot of art projects start with a working title with a better name coming along later. The Spirit of Japan was the name of our documentary project from the very beginning. Joseph came to Yamatozakura in rural Kagoshima in October 2016 and October 2017.

In 2016 he was a fly on the wall, just capturing imagery of the shochu making process, the people making shochu, and the surrounding area on the southwestern coast of Kyushu.

A year later after seeing the footage, he would return with a much clearer idea of what he wanted to shoot and what questions he wanted to ask. The Spirit of Japan was born out of that exploration. Interviews with Tekkan Wakamatsu, the head distiller at Yamatozakura, and his father (the owner-president) would form the backbone of a story that is much more compelling than crazy-foreigner-works-in-japan-for-fun. Stephen barely appears in the finished film and that’s 100% okay with him.

A Very Long Project

This was Joseph’s first documentary film. And it was shot 100% in Japanese. And he doesn’t speak Japanese. And film editors willing to work for pennies on the dollar who are fluent in both English and Japanese are not that common. it took until 2019 for Joseph to meet Tom Bayles, a film editor and professional Japanese-English translator.

They spent their COVID work-from-home downtime editing the documentary over zoom. A rough cut came together pretty quickly, but its since been years of tweaking and workshopping and evolving to reach to the point where the film is ready for the light of day.

Joseph’s hard work has paid off. The film has already been acquired by a PBS affiliate for US broadcast and will premiere as the closing night film at JAPAN CUTS 2025 at the Japan Society in NYC on July 20th.

If you’re interested in attending, please buy tickets here. Joseph, Stephen, and Tekkan will all be there for a Q&A after the show and Yamatozakura shochu will be served at the closing night party after the screening!

Kanpai!