Fukushima Pref. Promotes Sake, “Shochu” in New York

New York, Oct. 16 (Jiji Press)–The prefectural government of Fukushima, northeastern Japan, has held an event at a Japanese restaurant in New York to promote sake, “shochu” distilled spirits and other local products. At the event on Wednesday, U.S. restaurant representatives and wholesalers were offered “junmai shu,” a type of sake, and rice-based shochu as well as Fukushima delicacies such as pork cutlets with sauce on rice and squid with carrots. Mina Newman, a chef at a high-end restaurant, said she enjoyed sake produced by Otokoyamashuzoten Ltd., a brewery based in the Fukushima town of Aizumisato. She described the sake as crisp and said it pairs well with salmon sashimi. Fukushima-based sake makers expressed enthusiasm about entering the U.S. market despite the challenges posed by high tariffs on Japanese food imports under President Donald Trump’s administration. The U.S. tariff rate on bottled sake rose to 15 pct due to reciprocal tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. While statistics have not shown a plunge in sake exports to the United States, the levy and the resulting rise in import costs are feared to drive up prices and dampen consumption. “We don’t know how many years the high tariffs will continue, but we hope sales in the United States will expand in the future,” Koichi Suzuki, president of Akebono Shuzo Co., a brewery in the Fukushima town of Aizubange, said. “I hope people will become interested in Fukushima through sake.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]