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.
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