Whisky de japón
45 degrees! Wow that is hot! Probably too hot for most people. We have ours on 42 at home. When I got a new washing machine a few years ago the plumber was looking around for the bath so he could attach the 'grey water' hose to it, but my home is western style (even in Osaka) so I have a separate laundry.
We still make sure the bath is used by all the members of the family before draining it though - conserve water :)
Japanese whisky ジャパニーズ・ウイスキー
Suntory Time!
Japan, the land of whisky. For connoisseurs, it goes without saying. For others, it may come as a surprise. But it's true: Japan has a great whisky culture.
Think of Lost in Translation (2003) in which Bill Murray films a commercial for a famousJapanese whisky. It's the result of almost a centuryof history.
Scottish roots
In 1919, Masakata Taketsuru left for Glasgow to study chemistry. Itwas there in Scotland, the home of whisky, that the young Taketsurucompleted apprenticeships in some of the big distilleries and discoveredthe trade secrets of this classic liquor.
At theend of the 19th century, Japan didn't know about American whisky (bourbon,made with over 50% corn). At the time, the Japanese apprehensively tried - with a certain naivety - to produce quality whisky. OnTaketsuru's return, things changed completely. Thechemistry graduate initially worked with Suntory and used his expertiseto help found Yamazaki,Japan's oldest distillery, in 1923. In 1934 he created his own distillery, Yoichi,thus founding the famous Nikka whisky distilling company.
Japanese Whisky: a major player
Today, there are sevendistilleries active in Japan.They all produce renowned single malts(whisky from only one distillery): Yamazaki (Suntory group), Yoichi(Nikka), Chichibu (Ichiro's Malt), Hakushu (Suntory), Miyagikyo (Nikka), Fuji Gotenba (Kirin) and White Oak(Eigashima Shuzo).
Today, theScottish influence on Japanese production can still be seen, with barleyimported from the region and the double distillation method, typically Scottish touches.
In 2010, Japanesewhisky accounted for 5% of the whisky consumed in the world. Nikkahas multiplied its exports by 20 since 2006, and Suntory exported around 4million bottles in 2016.
Japan has becomethe world's third largest whisky producer after Scotland and the United States, ahead of Ireland. Japanese single and blended maltscontinue to win medals in international contests. Yamazaki SherryCask 2013 was voted whisky of the year in 2015!