I have returned to New York for the first time in a month. I went back to Japan on May 22nd, but as I mentioned before, I had a packed schedule there. Moreover, I traveled to Monaco for the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year (WEOY) 2023, which I participated in last year as well. Then, I went on to Paris. I hosted DASSAI sake events in both countries.
Europe, as expected, has a rich history comprising of various closely-knitted elements. Being an extremely wealthy country, Monaco is as you would expect very luxurious. In comparison, Paris is less extravagant but it is beautiful nonetheless. And the food is delicious. Even though the people in Europe are also living in the West, they are quite different from America.
Anyway, after returning to Japan for just one week, I reentered America and arrived in New York. In the afternoon of that same day, I took a stroll in sunny weather of New York’s early summer. There was a two-day sake tasting event at the Japan Society, so I needed to stay in Manhattan for three nights from that day.
As I was aimlessly walking around to kill time during the day, I came across a park or open space around 29th Street along the East River. I went in, and there was an open-air café with several tables on a deck by the river. I peeked into the café and they did not have Dassai but they serve Prosecco for $10 a glass. I ordered that and enjoyed drinking it while being gently caressed by the refreshing breeze of early summer. The view was magnificent, and I realized that America was not so bad after all. It may be somewhat haphazard, but in that moment, I thought, “America is nice.”
Well, that’s how my second American life began with a smooth start. But it is not all smooth sailing.
☆There’s something about Little Rock, Arkansas
Alongside Yamada Nishiki rice grown in Japan; starting this time we are attempting to brew sake with Yamada Nishiki cultivated in America. The production area for this rice is Arkansas, and the capital of Arkansas is Little Rock. Many of you may remember that former President Clinton used his position as the governor of Arkansas as a stepping stone to run for president. I went on a business trip to Arkansas for three days and two nights in the beginning of July.
The rice plants are growing well. Unlike last year’s drill method for direct seeding, this time the seeds were sown by plane. Chris, the farm owner, takes great care of this rice field; he even named it after his wife, Judy. It is a calculated and carefully executed endeavor on Chris’ part. Indeed, the rice fields are meticulously planted up to the edges with even spacing. The cultivation of Yamada Nishiki rice, which will account for 30~40% of the farm’s total revenue, is something he cannot afford to take lightly. In fact, we received some excellent samples from him last year. Over the past few years, he focused on using organic fertilizers to the point where it can be called organic farming. By further minimizing the amount of fertilizer used, the effects of cultivation approach are evident. Based on this farming experience, we can expect a similar level of quality as last year, if not better.
With the farm inspection successfully completed, my plan was to return to Newark Airport, NY via Texas from Little Rock’s airport. However … even when the scheduled boarding time of 7:30 a.m. arrived, there was no boarding announcement. After waiting in vain for several hours, I was informed that the flight has been cancelled.
In fact, on the evening of my arrival in Little Rock, the town was hit by a severe thunderstorm. The storm was powerful enough to cause some fatalities caused by fallen trees. Being in the hotel, I did not feel threatened but the storm left Little Rock with a widespread power outage in its wake. The power outage ensued throughout the next day when I was supposed to visit the farm. This also led to the failure of aircraft rotation being carried out as planned.
So, the next day, I took an early morning flight at 5:30 a.m. and managed to return home utterly exhausted. However, the landing airport was not Newark, where I departed from but LaGuardia. These two airports are over two hours apart by car, depending on the traffic in Manhattan. But I had an important meeting the next day that I absolutely could not miss, so I was relieved to have made it back on time (Phew!).
Come to think of it, the first time I visited Arkansas three years ago, it was also during a hurricane. The departure was three hours late, and on the return, just like this time, there was an aircraft rotation issue which caused a one-day delay. At that time, I had accepted the task of giving a speech at a corporate global conference in Tokyo, so I was quite nervous. I had to transfer between two domestic flights in America, but I did not realize that there could be time differences within the country. When the departure time of the next flight arrived, the plane I was on showed no sign of starting its descent … In my broken English, I asked the flight attendant, “What’s going on?” while showing her my connecting ticket. But, she replied, “I don’t know.” I felt hopeless, thinking, “There is no way I’ll make it on time.”
In other word, both times I encountered trouble. “There’s something about Little Rock, Arkansas.”
☆The Sake of Peace: Japanese Sake and Dassai
I was asked to give a special speech at the reception of the Sake Export Association organized by the Japan Society mentioned earlier, since we are building a brewery in New York. Rather than resorting to the typical promotional speeches which goes like, “Our brewery utilizes the traditional techniques of Master Brewer X and uses rice from Region Y,” or the common claim of “Our sake pairs well with dishes XYZ”. I felt that it was not my role to deliver such messages. Instead, I decided to talk about how we perceive Japanese sake.
I approached the topic from the perspective of “sake of peace”. Japanese sake is deeply influenced by Japan’s agrarian culture. When the Meiji Restoration took place, Japan already had a population of 34 million subjects. This population was sustained not through invasion nor colonization of other lands but through ingenuous cultivation methods that increased yields per unit of land, thereby maintaining a population exceeding the global norm of that era.
As a result, Japan has maintained a “peaceful society without wars” for more than 300 years before the Meiji Restoration, despite being a feudal society.
The act of devising cultivation method implies “putting in effort”. This notion has been ingrained in the crafting philosophy of DASSAI and led to the brewery having a production team of 200 members, an unprecedented number in the sake making industry. Moreover, they are the highest-paid group in Japan’s alcoholic beverage and food industry. This demonstrates how much emphasis is placed on the concept of “effort” that the production staff embodies.
While the concept of “effort” or “taking time” may be viewed as wasteful or trivial in prevailing values of recent years in the West, it becomes an important mindset when humans are trying to use and share the limited resources of the earth in a peaceful manner. That was the central point I emphasized in my speech.
Lastly, I announced the construction of our brewery in Hyde Park, NY where we have begun making DASSAI Blue.
“We will create a sake that aims to reach the world from New York’s Hyde Park. This is the greatest contribution we can make as sake producers in America. Please watch over us as we take on this challenge,” I concluded.
Finally, when considering the ongoing conflicts in places like Ukraine, it is important for humans to coexist, not by “taking away” but through “ingenuity and effort”. Now, I believe that the concept of “effort” is crucial in saving our planet.