has long been admired for its soft and relatively sweet style of sake. Saijo town, to the east of Hiroshima city, has been a center for the industry since 1650, and there are old breweries dotted all over the prefecture. During the 20th century, the area gained a particular reputation for its high quality and was an early leader in the development of the ginjō and daiginjō techniques. Hanamori is a very good place to sample this rich tradition, with about 50 types of sake available, about a third of which come from the Hiroshima area. The interior is traditionally Japanese in style, with tatami-floored rooms threaded along a long and narrow floor plan. The food is strong on local marine specialities, such as anago (conger eel, 1,200 yen) and kawahagi sashimi (raw kawahagi fish, 2,400 yen). The sashimi moriawase (a seasonal selection of five types of sashimi, about 950 yen depending on the fish used) is very popular with customers. From the sake menu, I was recommended a “Taketsuru” (竹鶴 junmaishu. Taketsuru brewery is the same 300-year-old family enterprise that the founder of Japanese whisky, Masataka Taketsuru, came from (see page 164). Tatetsuru brewery’s current tōji (master brewer), Tatsuya Ishikawa, was a student at Waseda University in Tōkyō when he got hooked on quality sake and decided to make it his calling. He has significantly changed Taketsuru’s style since his arrival, throwing up any effort to make polite, well-behaved ginjō in favor of a much more raucous approach. He calls the junmai a junmai bakudan (“pure rice bomb”). It hits the drinker hard with strong acidity and body, but is rounded enough to end up quite more-ish. Compare and contrast with more typical Hiroshima offerings like the “Shinrai” junmaishu (神雷, 630 yen) from Miwa Shuzō.
DIRECTIONS: Walk east along Heiwa-dōri from the Peace Park. It is about 600 yards after the bridge. Take a left at the gasoline station on the corner. Hanamori is in the building next to the gasoline stand, immediately to your right, and is signed using the Roman alphabet.
Himonoya ひもの屋 03-3844-8088 e-808.com/himonoya
1F-2F, 1-11-1 Asakusa, Taitō-ku, Tōkyō
東京都台東区浅草 1-11-1 御所第 2 ビル 1 ・ 2 階
Open: 5 pm–5 am (but opening times vary between branches) Booking recommended? No
Credit cards? Most major cards English menu? No Table charge: 280 yen
Himono is dried fish. If you drive along the Japanese coast you can still see drying racks lining the roadside, with hundreds of salted fish drying in the open air (and car fumes). It used to be the most reliable way of storing the fisherman’s catch for sale, but it also happens to be a great way to prepare a drinking snack. The Himonoya chain, combining cheap and cheerful combinations of himono and good-value sake, has expanded quickly since it was set up five years ago. There are now 50 shops across the Kantō area. I was recommended the kimoiri maruboshi ika (whole-dried grilled squid, 480 yen) and the saba ishiru (fish marinated in soy sauce and dried, 630 yen) with a 180 ml tokkuri of “Tōjikan” (杜氏鑑, 600 yen) from the famous Hakutsuru brewery in Nada, Kōbe. Hakutsuru is Japan’s biggest sake maker and makes a lot cheaper sake for the mass market. This is a special honjōzō made on a smaller scale by their master brewer, Masao Nakazawa. The idea was to make a product that would appeal to the man in the street rather than the sake snob, and the result is an extremely mild, medium-dry sake, with a relatively suppressed fragrance. For someone who is finding it hard to like sake, “Tōjikan” might be worth one final shake of the dice. If it comes up sixes, you could move on to the “Jōzen Mizunogotoshi” (上善如水, 600 yen), a slightly drier but super smooth and clear sake from Niigata. I have heard it described as the Jacob’s Creek of sakes. Himonoya is unlikely to be top of the list for experienced sake heads, although there is usually some interesting jizake on the menu, but it is a fun and reasonably priced night out.
DIRECTIONS: Tsukuba Express Asakusa Station, Exit A1 (for Sensōji Temple, Kokusai-dōri). If you come out on a side road, turn left and left again. If you are on a main road, turn left, then take the fourth left (at the drugstore cosmetics shop sign). There is no Roman alphabet on the sign but the dramatic black and white design is easy to spot. From the Asakusa Tōbu/Metro Station, Exit 1, walk up Kaminarimon-dōri away from Azuma-bashi (and the Asahi Breweries HQ with the golden sperm on its top). Turn right at the T-junction at the top and then right again.
Isshin 一心 022-261-9888/022-261-9889 (for the Kagen Kan)
B1F Jōzenji Hills, 3-3-1, Kokubunchō, Aoba-ku, Sendai
仙台市青葉区国分町 3-3-1 定禅寺ヒルズ B1F
Open: 5 pm–12 pm; closed Sunday Booking recommended? Yes Credit cards? Most major cards
English menu? No Table charge: 1,500 yen plus 10 percent service charge
If you find yourself in Sendai, I cannot recommend Isshin highly enough. It is actually two separate establishments, side by side—a general sake bar called simply Isshin and the Isshin Kagen Kan, a sort of sake warmer’s heaven. Founder Kōki Yanagisawa says customers who are new to sake might want to start in the general bar and move next door when they are ready for a slightly more connoisseury atmosphere, but the chirori heating sets, complete with thermometers for precisely measuring what heat you are drinking your sake at, are such fun that some might want to take a plunge straight into the deep end. The two bars operate separately, so you will need to book a table at the Kagen Kan or Isshin, depending on the destination you have chosen (there are different phone numbers). A note on prices: at first sight, the 1,500 yen entrance charge looks expensive, especially given the extra 10 percent charged for service, but the otōshi dish that comes with that is really not so much a snack as a meal in itself. I would advise not ordering too much food beyond the otōshi and getting stuck into the real reason for visiting Isshin: extremely interesting sake, such as the big-boned, ricey “Haginotsuru” (萩の鶴, 750 yen for 180 ml), which Yanagisawasan picked out of the Kagen Kan’s sake list for me. Most of the sakes in both bars tend to hover around 750–800 yen for 180 ml and the more expensive drinks (up to 2,000 yen for 180 ml) can be ordered in small 60 ml glasses. In between sips, take the time to seek out the original prints by the famous sake manga writer Akira Oze, who gave them as gifts after featuring the bar in his stories.
DIRECTIONS: Kōtōdai Kōen Station, Exit Kōen 2. Walk about 150 yards straight up Jozenji-dōri away from the park. It is down the stairs next to the Lawson convenience store.
Juttoku 十徳 03-3342-0339 www.juttoku.com
B1, B2, New Sentoraru Biru, 1-5-12 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku ku, Tōkyō, 160-0023
〒 160-0023 東京都新宿区西新宿 1-5-12 ニューセントラルビル B1, B2
Open: 4 pm–12 pm; Friday–Sunday 4 pm–4 am; no holidays except New Year
Credit cards? No English menu? No Table charge: 350 yen
Kimiko Satō features in her izakaya’s logo: a cartoon figure of a well-padded motherly type holding a generous jug of sake. In person, she carries off the motherly image with aplomb but you get the definite feeling this is the sort of mother who gets
