EPISODE INTRO
In the 52nd episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, we take you through the foundational years of the improbable and remarkable journey of the first Japanese person to ever make whiskey: Jokichi Takamine. It’s probably not too much to say that Jokichi Takamine is the most important Japanese immigrant to ever live in the United States. His whiskey is just a small part of his story.
CREDITS
Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)
Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://www.uncannyjapan.com/)
HOSTS
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.
MATT ALT is our first guest host! Author of numerous books including his most recent, Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World, is an exploration of Japan’s incredible post-war rise to commercial diplomacy juggernaut. He’s also an accomplished drinks writer and cocktail historian.
If you have any comments or questions about Jokichi Takamine, please reach out to Stephen or Matt via Twitter. We would love to hear from you.
SHOW NOTES
Upheaval
The mid-1800s brought incredibly fast change to Japan as the US opened the country at gunpoint and the shogunate collapsed. Jokcihi Takamine and others like him were born into and grew up in this turbulent time. For many this lead to radicalization and extreme violence. For others, like Jokichi, this lead to opportunities uinmaginable just a few years earlier.
Early Years
Born November 3, 1854 to a samurai physician and the daughter of a sake making family, Jokichi Takamine was the first of 13 children.
He’d quickly be recognized as a prodigy by the Kaga Domain leaders, who supported his educational journey from Nagasaki to Kyoto to Osaka and ultimately to Tokyo University where he would be part of the 1st graduating class of the School of Engineering with a degree in applied chemistry. He would then, like so many others, be sent abroad to study western industrial practices.
Early Career
As with many young men of this era, Jokichi Takamine went to work for the central goverment in Tokyo, assigned to the Department of Agriculture and Commerce where he is tasked with modernizing 3 key Japanese industries: indigo dye production, paper-making, and of course, sake brewing. Before long he would be assigned to join a delegation to the World’s Exposition in New Orleans where he would be welcomed as a visiting dignitary (Americans saw the samurai class as knights and though he’d officially lost his title, this didn’t seem to matter).
While in New Orleans, Jokichi Takamine would meet and fall in love with a young debutante, Caroline “Carrie” Hitch. Lacking the resources to ask for her hand in marriage, he returned to Japan to earn enough to marry her.
Upon his return, was assigned as the interim director of Japan’s patent office. Shortly thereafter he took leave of the post to establish Asia’s first superphosphate mine. Fortunate secured, he returned to New Orleans in 1887 to marry Caroline.
Tokyo
Caroline gamely moved to Tokyo with her new husband, but the culture shock appears to have been too much.
She did manage to bear two children during their brief stay in Tokyo, Jokichi, Jr. and Ebenezer. Just 3 years later, the family would be encouraged to return to America by Caroline’s mother who had a business proposition. But that will have to wait until next time.
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