In this episode Simone and Julian catch up with their good friends Etsuko Nakamura and Jason Adamson, from Sake Tours Japan.

Etsuko Nakamura - Sake Tours Founder / Tour Leader

Etsuko Nakamura is a Sake Samurai, Advanced Sake Professional certified by The Sake Education Council and a Government Certified Bilingual English Guide [Registration Number: EN02400]. Etsuko owns and operates sake tours under enakamura Inc, Registered Travel Agency No. 3 – 7490 approved by the Government of Tokyo.

Etsuko began Sake Tours in 2008 and believes in giving guests an experience rather than just a tour. She has toured more than 300 sake breweries around Japan and enjoys creating and leading customised tours for special interest groups.

Jason Adamson - Tour Leader /Marketing / Photographer

Jason has been living in Osaka, Japan since 2011. He has a Masters in Gastronomic Tourism from Le Cordon Bleu and is an Advanced Sake Professional having studied under John Gauntner and the Sake Education Council. Jason takes care of all the website, photos and marketing at saketours.com and when not travelling around Japan drinking sake and eating food - he is curating new tours, taking photos, making videos and feeding the internet. He also is part of the team at Sake Industry News.

In the early days of TWTT The Project, Etsuko and Jason were regular Zoom room attendees, as COVID and border closures had put a stop to sake tourism. We don't see them much in the Zoom room anymore, and all for good reason...

Now Japan's borders are open again and sake tourism is growing in popularity and demand, which means these guys are busy planning and running sake-focused tours to some amazing destinations all over Japan.

We chat a little about their own personal sake journeys as well as the birth and evolution of Sake Tours, and sake tourism in general, as well as their future plans for their tours.

We hope you enjoy listening to our chat with Etsuko and Jason as much as we enjoyed having it.

This episode was recorded on 23 Nov 2023

You can follow Sake Tours on Instagram @sake_tours or find her website in our links list below.

A huge thank you to our subscribers at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠

More information about Taste with the Toji - The Project can be found on our website: https://tastewiththetoji.com/

Music by: Kazuyoshi Sato (Koikawa Shuzo)

Useful links:

https://saketours.com/

https://www.chiyomusubi.co.jp/

https://kaiunsake.com/english

https://rihaku.co.jp/

https://sake-world.com/sin/

https://sake-world.com/sake-professional-course/