Photo/Illutration Hakodate Jozo is building a sake brewery in Nanae, Hokkaido. (Kazuya Miki)

NANAE, Hokkaido--Two sake breweries will open in southern Hokkaido this year, ending a “nihonshu” dry spell that started when the last brewer closed down here in 1985.

Some of the companies involved may lack sake brewing experience, but they all have one thing in common: a desire for locally brewed sake that can be enjoyed by both residents and visitors.

Liquor retailer Tomihara Shoten and business operators in Nanae town and nearby Hakodate city have been making preparations for at least 10 years to establish breweries in the area.

Much of the delay stemmed from tax authorities’ decision to stop issuing new brewing licenses because of the decline in sake production. The businesses had to take over breweries that decided to suspend or discontinue operations.

Nanae-based Tomihara Shoten found one in Okayama Prefecture and is now running the business. The retailer and other business operators, who had no previous experience in sake brewing, founded a company called Hakodate Jozo.

Hakodate Jozo is now building a two-story steel-framed brewing facility with a total floor space of 720 square meters in Nanae.

It has appointed Hiroki Higashiya, manager of the production department at Kunimare Sake Brewery in Mashike, Hokkaido, as its “toji” master brewer.

Hakodate Jozo will start brewing early this year, using sake rice varieties called Ginpu and Suisei, which are cultivated by contract farmers in Nanae.

Another new company, Hakodate Goryonokura, headed by Terumasa Urushizaki, plans to start brewing sake in Hakodate city in autumn.

Its shareholders include the parent company of the Kamikawa Taisetsu Sake Brewery in Kamikawa, Hokkaido, and business operators who previously attended the National Institute of Technology, Hakodate College.

Having developed yeast isolated and cultured from field mustard, the institute has commissioned a brewery in Hyogo Prefecture to produce sake using Ginpu rice grown in the city.

Its alumni had called for a brewing facility in Hakodate.

Momentum toward that goal accelerated after Urushizaki and other alumni took a tour of the Kamikawa Taisetsu Sake Brewery in October 2019, they said.

Hakodate Goryonokura will build a brewing facility in spring on rented land where Hakodate Kameo Elementary and Junior High School once stood.

The company will take over a sake brewery in Mie Prefecture to gain the license.

It has appointed Kamikawa Taisetsu Sake Brewery’s toji, Shinji Kawabata, as its master brewer.

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