"ProWine Tokyo" held in Tokyo for the second time

"ProWine Tokyo" was held for the first time in Tokyo in collaboration with "ProWein," the world's largest trade fair specializing in wine and alcoholic beverages, which will be held in Dusseldorf, Germany in 2024. By connecting exhibitors from around the world with industry professionals, the event aims to revitalize the domestic industry and promote domestic beverages overseas.

The second event will be held at Tokyo Big Sight from April 2th (Tue) to 2025th (Thu), 4. A wide variety of alcoholic beverages, including wine, beer, whiskey, gin, rum, vodka, and tequila, were gathered from all over the world, and business negotiations were held between domestic and international traders.

The Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association exhibited for the first time at ProWine Shanghai 2023 in 2023, where it held a seminar titled "Japanese distilled spirits with a variety of flavors: authentic shochu and awamori," attracting a great deal of attention.

This was the second time the event was held in Tokyo, and this time, the exhibition booth was strengthened in response to the registration of "traditional sake brewing" as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO, and the appeal of sake was strongly conveyed to alcohol professionals from Japan and abroad.

During the seminar on alcoholic beverages from around the world, there was also a speech by Dassai President Sakurai.

During the event, forums and seminars were held that reflected global industry trends, providing a variety of new information and topics that could lead to problem-solving.

While many of the seminars were centered around wine, a lecture entitled "Exploring the Appeal of Dassai" was given by Sakurai Kazuhiro, President and CEO of Asahi Shuzo Co., Ltd.

▲ President Sakurai performing

"Our brewery is located in a small village in Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, where only about 20 people live. It is a small brewery deep in the mountains, surrounded by mountains on all sides. While the town's population is rapidly declining, we are thankful that the sake we produce is growing," President Sakurai began his lecture.

Last year, the total value of Japanese sake exports was 435 billion yen, of which 56 billion yen was from Dassai sales. Of Asahi Shuzo's sales, just over 3% was made up of sales overseas, which is the highest share of the total overseas sales value of Japanese sake, at about 13%.

Furthermore, while the Japanese sake market continues to decline, Asahi Shuzo's performance continues to grow, the exact opposite of that. President Sakurai attributes the reason for this to "Yamada Nishiki" and "Junmai Daiginjo".

"We use only Yamada Nishiki rice, which has large grains and is easy to polish, and we only make Junmai Daiginjo, a type of sake polished to less than 50%. By concentrating on one type of rice, it is easier to raise the quality of our products. This is something that has changed compared to other sake breweries, but I think it is this that has led to our current sales."

Dassai has surpassed the domestic market and is leading the overseas sake market. However, when asked about the current situation, he said, "Sake only accounts for 0.2% of the American alcohol market. In fact, most people don't even know about sake."

To improve this situation, Asahi Shuzo will build a sake brewery in New York in 2023. The brewery will brew sake in the same way as in Japan, and will create a new sake market through a new brand called "DASSAI BLUE."

"If we were simply selling overseas, it would be cheaper to export sake made in Japan. However, we aimed to create our own rivals and carve out a market by competing with them. The name DASSAI BLUE comes from the saying, 'Blue comes from indigo, but is bluer than indigo,' which means 'the disciple is better than the master.'"

The sake brewing in New York will be carried out by three Japanese people who have been transferred from a sake brewery in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and seven Americans. In addition to using rice brought from Japan, they will also use Yamada Nishiki grown in the rice fields of Arkansas.

"For us, our biggest rivals are Western alcoholic beverages like wine and champagne. With wine, the story of the land is important, but with sake, it's the human connection and technique that's important. But it's not easy to get people to understand. In order to convey this, we have various people involved with Dassai come to see the brewery," he said emphatically.

In February 2025, they held their first sake pop-up at Shinjuku Isetan. It recorded the highest sales of any food item at a place that usually sells high-end foreign brands and champagne. They also plan to launch "Dassai MOON - Space Brewing", a sake brewed on the moon, in the fall of 2.

From a local underdog to the world's "Dassai"

Dassai's rapid growth has been unmatched, but it wasn't all smooth sailing from the beginning.

"Before Dassai became what it is today, we were completely on the losing side among the sake breweries in Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. At the time, there were five sake breweries in the city, and we were the fourth from the top. Our market was small, and we were on the losing side even within that market," recalls President Sakurai.

To make matters worse, deregulation of liquor sales licenses meant that supermarkets and drug stores could now sell sake. Seeking a way to survive, President Sakurai's father (current chairman) went beyond Yamaguchi Prefecture and looked for ways to expand sales channels to Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Osaka, Tokyo, and even Tohoku and Hokkaido.

"Of all the places, Tokyo had the best response. Also, a market for people who just wanted to drink a little bit of fine alcohol had already been established in urban areas. Realizing this, we decided to enter the high-quality market," President Sakurai recalls.

He says that it took a lot of trial and error before he established his current style of Junmai Daiginjo, which uses only Yamadanishiki rice. While trying out Namazake, Junmaishu, Honjozo and other styles, he focused on the technique of "polishing rice."

▲ "Dassai Junmai Daiginjo 23% Polished (photo on the left)" "Dassai Polished Beyond (photo on the right)"

"At the time, Junmai Daiginjo sake itself was still quite rare, but I asked the toji and brewers to take on the challenge. However, the brewery was also struggling financially, and making sake using Yamadanishiki rice, which is expensive, meant that even failure was not an option. As a result, the toji became stressed and moved to another brewery."

As a result, Dassai's efforts accelerated after he became the brewery's chief brewer. Although it is a sake brewery that should be supported by the local community, Asahi Shuzo at the time did not even have a foothold in that area. Because of the difficult situation, he aimed to expand sales channels by improving the quality of his sake and entering the Tokyo market.

"Once we established our position in the Tokyo market, the impact spread to other regions, and we expanded in a way that was like a reverse import back to our hometowns. That's how we became known for being strong in our home prefecture of Yamaguchi, as well as in urban areas such as Tokyo."

After expanding into Tokyo, Dassai's next target was overseas. Through repeated, steady sales activities, the brewery has established itself as a strong brewery in major cities around the world, and has become what it is today.

Booth development driven by "traditional sake brewing"

Several Japanese sake breweries will be exhibiting at this exhibition for the first time. Their participation was made possible by the registration of "traditional sake brewing" as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.

Murakami Koichi, head of the overseas business department at the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association, said, "Due to budgetary constraints, it would usually be difficult for us to exhibit at the event held in April and May. However, this time, we were given a supplementary budget following our registration with UNESCO, which allowed us to exhibit at ProWine Tokyo for the first time."

This time, the booth was jointly exhibited by three associations: the Japan Sake Brewers Association, the Tochigi Prefecture Sake Brewers Association, and the Ehime Prefecture Sake Brewers Association.

▲Kenichi Shimazaki of Shimazaki Sake Brewery in Tochigi Prefecture, which sells sake aged in caves

Regarding the aged liquor market, CEO Kenichi Shimazaki commented, "I would like to see awareness of aged liquor increase. As for prices (which are cheaper than wine), it will be difficult to raise them just because we want to if the market does not keep up. I hope that we will be able to sell more in the higher price range."

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The Ehime Sake Brewers Association booth was crowded with many visitors. They offered tastings of sake from breweries across the prefecture.

Tamanohikari Sake Brewery in Fushimi, Kyoto, was a sake brewery that had its own booth. Currently, they are implementing the "Tamanohikari Sake Brewery East Storehouse Regeneration Project" as a support project for cultural property preservation, and are promoting efforts to pass on "traditional sake brewing" to the next generation.

"At an exhibition where wine is the mainstream, the position of sake may still be tough. Hopefully we can make a strong impression," said sales representative Kawaguchi Kimihito, expressing his enthusiasm.

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The changing world of sake and the future of sake

At the venue, new technologies related to alcohol were also introduced, such as the development of the AI ​​wine selection service "AI Sommelier." In addition, in response to the recent rise in attention to the non-alcoholic market, non-alcoholic wines from around the world were actively promoted.

At ProWein, held in Dusseldorf, Germany in March 2025, the keywords were organic, environmentally friendly, recycling, and non-alcoholic. In addition, the trend toward low-alcohol drinks in the spirits world was also discussed as a topic.

Japanese sake is also evolving in line with global trends, such as the rise of low-alcohol unprocessed sake. However, sake brewing is characterized by the lavish grinding of rice and the use of large amounts of water. In a world where environmental awareness is on the rise, it will be necessary to understand these points. There may also be a need to publicize the by-products of sake brewing, such as the use of the bran generated after rice polishing, the use of sake lees to make shochu or as animal feed, and the generation of electricity.

Although sake still accounts for a small proportion of the global market, I realized that its presence is slowly but surely increasing. I would like to continue watching the process of sake taking flight around the world.

Writer: Yuki Arai
Born in Shiga Prefecture, living in Kyoto City / Sake Master, SAKE DIPLOMA, SAKE and Wine Certification Instructor, Wine Expert
Due to his love of alcohol, after graduating from university he got a job at a liquor store in Kyoto. After that he worked in sales for a food manufacturer before becoming a freelance writer. His specialties are traditional cuisine and alcohol. He will continue to work hard to spread the appeal of Japanese sake through his articles.