Enjoy Tohoku's Culture through Drinks! Immersive Experiences and Tours
Would you like to enjoy in-depth experiences of alcohol from various regions of Tohoku? If so, we recommend these experiences and tours that link sake with local culture and customs!
In Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture, you can enjoy food and drink tours while bar-hopping through eight different side streets, where restaurants are crammed into each narrow alley!
At the Asaka Distillery in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, you can tour the distillery that produces a world-class whiskey, and enjoy experiences such as whiskey blending♪
In Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture, you can participate in a hands-on tour to learn about the relationship between Japanese sake and the Shinto religion, while tasting Niigata's local sake in the grounds of a shrine.
Add to your itinerary the experience of not only tasting Tohoku-born sake, but also experiencing the culture, customs and hospitality of those who live in the region to create some unforgettable memories♪
Take a deep-dive with this tour which offers a safer way to enjoy Yokocho bar-hopping!
If you yearn to go bar-hopping in the little side streets known as ""Yokocho"" in Japanese, but are nervous about entering an unfamiliar bar during their trip abroad, you can join the ""Hachinohe Yokocho Bar Hopping Tour"" in Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture!
On this tour, you can enjoy drinking and eating local food while touring the city's eight old-fashioned Yokocho with a guide!
Perhaps one of the biggest attractions of the tour is that in each of the small stores in the narrow alleyways of the Yokocho you can easily interact with the store owners and customers and make friends through lively conversation♪
Enjoy the Yokocho drinking culture that has taken root in the port city of Hachinohe, and maybe even get a bit tipsy!
Take part in an incredibly rare Japanese Whiskey Blending Experience!
The Asaka Distillery in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, won a world-class award in the World Whiskies Awards 2022, an international whisky competition.
Visitors can enjoy a range of special activities here at the oldest craft whiskey distillery in Tohoku♪
Activities include a tour of the distillery and storehouse facilities, grist separation, which is an essential part of the whiskey-making process, and a hand-filling (original whiskey blending) experience to create your own blend from five different types of whisky!
(Photo by Naoki Nishizaka, Studio NAPS, Inc.)
Blend your own one-of-a-kind whiskey to take home as a souvenir!
This shrine and sake tour offerers a taste of Japanese history and culture
Did you know that in the past, for a period of about 1,000 years, sake was brewed mainly at shrines and temples?
This tour held in Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture, has been designed to unpack the relationship and history between shrines and sake, which are actually very closely related♪
Within the precincts of a shrine which shares a long history with the city, listen to an explanation about the relationship between shrines and sake as you enjoy tasting sake made locally in Niigata.
While tasting local sake and learning about its aroma and characteristics, you can also enjoy pairing your sake with a selection of simple snacks♪