Japan’s sake exports surge as brewers innovate with fresh flavors to win over new international fans.

As soon as Imada Sake Master brewer Miho Imada requested a Hong Kong sommelier for matching recommendations after presenting a sake that was influenced by regional seafood. The unexpected response was braised pork trotters.

Sake has been experiencing a global boom that is attracting new palates and drink pairings. The amount of Japan's national drink exported in 2024 was 90% more than ten years previously, despite the country's long-term drop in domestic consumption.

Regional brewers like Imada Shuzo, as the brewery is known, are benefiting from this international windfall, which was made possible by the accession of the traditional knowledge and techniques employed.

Imada Shuzo makes its Fukucho brand of sake in the tranquil harbor town of Akitsu, which faces the Seto Inland Sea. The company currently exports its goods to more than 20 nations, including South Korea, Singapore, Canada, and France.

The brewery has become quite famous for its seafood beer. The magnificent Seto Inland Sea, bordering Akitsu, serves as an important area for the collection of oysters. The brewery sends lighter sake to almost every country it exports to, which was created to go well with the shellfish.

Imada began brewing after returning to Akitsu, some 30 years ago, where she was an employee in a theater production of Noh, a traditional Japanese performance art, in Tokyo. She aims to make sake like those great brewers from Hiroshima, whose work she has so admirably respected.