Ever since I, as a little boy, heard the worldwide hit Sukiyaki (sung by Kyu Sakamoto) I´ve been imagined about going to Japan. And, when you´re a member of the board of KWA, your dreams could come true!
So, on April 13th we left Copenhagen Airport for Tokyo and started our trip around this fantastic country. We start at the legendary distillery Chichibu in the Saitama Prefecture. And what a start it was! Together with Jason from the US we had a couple of really nice hours when our host Soma guided us around the distillery and served us with a variety of the legendary Ichiro´s Malt Whiskies. Then we moved on, by train of course, to Kobuchizawa and the gorgeous place Pension Field where owner Kosuke took really good care of us. We spent our days there with onsen bathing, morning jogging, eating a delicious breakfast and finally visiting Hakushu Distillery to which our host Kosuke so gently took us by car. Our next goal was Lake Yamanakako, located 14 miles northeast of Mount Fuji (or Fuji-san in Japanese) the highest peak in the volcanic chain in central Japan and the country’s highest and most beautiful mountain. Almost perfectly round, the very symbol and emblem of Japan, the often snow-capped. Mount Fuji can, on a clear day, be seen from as far away as Tokyo. Here we spent two days and amongst others visited Chureito Pagoda (a long bicycle trip to that place!) On the 17th we went by bus to Kirin Fuji Gotemba Distillery where we tasted some wonderful whiskies and then moved on to Kyoto and Yamazaki where we ofcourse visited Yamazaki Distillery. On the 20th of April we entered the Shinkansen train heading north, where we spent some days in Sapporo and Yoichi, there of course we also visiting Yoichi Distillery, before we returned south towards Sendai where we had booked a tour and a tasting at Miyagikyo Distillery. This came to be one of the greatest experiences during our trip; so, thank you Kazuyuki and Ross for some wonderful hours at your distillery.
Finally, we spent four days in the wonderful city of Tokyo where we among other things visited Robot Restaurant, had a walk in the Emperors Park, went up in the Tokyo Skytree and tasted a lot of delicious dishes from the ”japanese cuisine”.
So, our love to all wonderful people we met during our stay in Nippon.
Sayonara and hope to see you again some time!!
Read more about the rest of our journeys here.