Westwards

Touring Japanese Whisky distilleries – a visit to Suntory and Nikka

In the Kansai Airport waiting area, a passenger is happily cradling his Nikka 12 year bottle. He was lucky to be able to purchase a bottle after all. Since Japanese whiskies have taken on a fabulous reputation in recent years, aged Japanese whiskies, especially single malts, are hard to come by – even in the shops of the distilleries. On our last trip to Japan we visited two Japanese Whisky distilleries.

Suntory Yamazaki Distillery

On entering the premises of the Suntory Yamazaki Distillery near Osaka on a pleasant summer afternoon, we pass the bar where a number of visitors are already contemplating their tasting flights. But since we are booked in for a tour, we continue to the visitor centre. The tour is conducted in Japanese, but foreign visitors are handed a smart phone with an app providing similar information on the various stages of whisky making in several languages. The tour focuses on a very general introduction to the process – there is not much explanation on the peculiarities of Japanese whisky or of the style produced at Yamazaki. Nevertheless, it is worth joining the tour in order to see the stills – 6 spirit stills and 6 wash stills in the main house alone, all visibly different in form and quite big. It is even possible to walk through some of the warehouses with impressive rows of barrels.

Nowadays, the location just 20 minutes from the metropolitan centre of Osaka may seem unusual, but the water in the hills of Yamazaki has been famous since the days of Sen-no-rikyu (the revered founder of traditional Japanese tea ceremony). The hills behind the premises provide an agreeable coolness even in summer. When Torii Shinjiro decided, in 1923, to found a whisky distillery in Japan, he chose Yamazaki both for its good water and climate and for its closeness to the economic and cultural centres of Osaka and Kyoto.

After the tour, we are led into the tasting room and instructed (again in several languages) how to compare two component whiskies and the final product, the Yamazaki Single Malt. We also learn how to mix a perfect Japanese Highball with soda and ice.

Whisky tasting at the bar of the Suntory Yamazaki Distillery

We do appreciate the opportunity to taste the components (in the bar you can also try the 70% New Pot straight from the stills) – but on the other hand the tasting does not include any special or aged whiskies. They are available, however, at the bar: Whisky lovers thus have reason to visit the distillery if just in order to get hold of a glass of rare whisky that’s not even easily available in the shops (and at reasonable prices). After the tasting we have another go at Suntory's World Whisky and an Amarillo.

Nikka Yoichi Distillery

Whisky museum at Nikka Yoichi Distillery

Just 3 weeks later we are on the way to Otaru on Hokkaido when we pass a group of old stone houses with cute pointed red roofs. It looks like a distillery – and it turns out it is the Nikka distillery in Yoichi, another one of the old distilleries in Japan. Just like Yamazaki, Yoichi is not far off in the remote mountainside these days, but right off the main road. That was different when Taketsuru Masataka first came here with his Scottish wife to open his own whisky distillery in 1934. He had studied whisky making in Scotland and then worked for Torii Shinjiro at Yamazaki. But the ambitious Taketsuru favoured the mountains of Hokkaido as the ideal whisky region and thus became the founder of Japan’s second major whisky company, Nikka. The small stone houses are still the original buildings: Kiln Tower, Mash House, Wash House.

Coal-fired whisky stills at the Nikka Yoichi Distillery

The stills in the old Still House are fired with charcoal even today, and the first still from the 1930s looks tiny between the newer ones. There are tours in Japanese through the premises, but you can also do a self-guided tour with the provided leaflet. After walking between the historical buildings we check out the company history at Nikka’s museum and then proceed to the free tasting.

At Nikka this is a canteen-style affair and comprises two standard whiskies and a sweetish apple wine, since Taketsuru started his business producing apple juice and apple wine while he was waiting for his first whiskies to mature. Isa has to stick with apple juice all along, as she is driving and thus gets marked with a big "driver" sticker.

Whisky tasting at the bar of the Nikka Yoichi Distillery

As in Yamazaki, the Nikka shop doesn’t sell any of the more sought-after single malts and aged whiskies, except a small range of limited edition single malts only available in Yoichi. But the bar at least has a good selection of premium and aged whiskies, and even a single cask whisky. Normally, the bartender explains, they have one single cask on offer, but by the end of the year the may have run out …

Is it worth visiting the Yamazaki and the Nikka Yoichi distilleries?

Whisky tasting at the bar of the Nikka Yoichi Distillery

Both whisky distillery tours we tried were geared mainly towards Japanese visitors without specialised knowledge of whisky and offered rather general information on whisky production. Both distilleries also offered English explanations; however, for foreign visitors not particularly interested in whisky this may not necessarily be worthwhile. Whisky buffs will still appreciate the opportunity to see the stills and the scale of these premises. As for the free Whisky tasting, in the Japanese factories it included no rare or aged whiskies. The draw for whisky lovers is in both cases the bar, where whiskies not attainable elsewhere can be tasted at a reasonable price (which is still high compared to other whiskies).

How to get to Suntory Yamazaki Distillery and to Nikka Yoichi Distillery

Yamazaki is a small town between Osaka and Kyoto. Local trains on the JR line stop at Yamazaki station just 5 minutes on foot from the Suntory distillery, while the nearest station on the private Hankyu line is called Oyamazaki (10 minutes walking distance).

Yoichi is a town on Hokkaido, about 20 km from the touristy town of Otaru and about 50 km west of Sapporo. The Nikka distillery is situated almost next to Yoichi train station.

Interested in Whisky? See also our posts on our week of whisky tasting on Islay (Scotland) and to the Glengoyne Whisky Distillery in Scotland.

 

Mozu Tombs near Osaka – Japan's newest UNESCO World Heritage site

Tomb of Nintoku Tenno in the Mozu group of tombs in Osaka

A sudden mound behind the parking area, covered in trees. Beyond an old-fashioned residential neighbourhood and a canal – just a large expanse of green, where dozens of egrets are nisting. We are at Osaka‘s ancient tumulus graves, which were only included on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list in 2019. The tombs date from the 4th to 6th century and belonged to early kings or rulers. Some of them are very large, and many have a very peculiar shape: Artificial hills in the form of a keyhole, surrounded by a moat (or sometimes several moats).

Keyhole-shaped restored tumulus grave near Inuyama, Japan

Just two days after the announcement of the UNESCO decision, we made our way to Sakai, a southern suburb of Osaka. Around here, there once was a fertile plain where the small „Kingdoms of Wa“ appeared, the first state-like structures on the Japanese isles. Not much is known about them, except that their kings and the local elite were buried in tumulus graves that still dot the area.

A smaller tumulus grave near the tomb of Nintoku Tenno

From the station of Mikunigaoka, we have to determine the right direction, but soon we notice the first strange and knobbly hills. In a sea of concrete houses, these hills stick out because there are trees on them. And it certainly won't do in Japan to build a house on a grave that may well house a former emperor, considering that all Japanese emperors before the previous one were also gods!

Tomb of Nintoku Tenno in the Mozu group of tombs in Osaka, Japan

Soon we reach a fenced-off water channel with only trees visible on the other side. This is the moat of King Nintoku’s tomb. At 486 m length, it is the largest tomb in Japan – and as emphasized in the museum, it is at least longer than the Egyptian Cheops Pyramid and the tomb of the Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang in Xian, guarded by the famous terracotta army. Both of these tombs are much higher and more voluminous, though.

Recreated scene of haniwa figurines in the Sakai park near the Mozu tombs.

On the southern side of the tomb we reach a park area providing access to the prayer area – nowadays a Shinto-style courtyard with a Japanese Torii facing the original entrance of the tomb. There’s also a visitor centre renting out bicycles, a history museum with models of the tombs, aerial views, and artefacts found in the tombs.

In Aotsuka near Inuyama, an ancient tomb has been reconstructed in the way it must have once looked

In Mozu alone, 44 tombs are preserved, but apparently there must have been thousands in Japan. The artificial hills were originally not covered in trees, but bare earthen (or grassy) mounds with large numbers of "Haniwa" votive goods placed along the upper part of the hill: ceramic pots or figures, models of houses and shrines. In the tomb chambers below, archaeologists have found more ceramics, jewels and precious stones, as well as armours and weapons. The regular exhibition in the museum was quite interesting, and they also had some short documentary films explaining the history of the tombs.

Was it worth visiting the Mozu-Furuichi Tombs of Osaka?

Actually there is not very much to see at Sakai and you are not allowed to go near the venerable tombs. It is only possibly to have a look on the hilly burial places from beyond the moat – the most impressive view would of course be from high above, but since there are no high towers around, aerial photographs have to do. There are a number of smaller hilly tombs in walking distance.

Tomb of Suinin Tenno in Nara, Japan

It might be a good idea to read up on Japanese early history before you venture out to Sakai. The on-site museum gives a good insight too – but is mostly in Japanese. Unless you collect UNESCO sites or are quite interested in Japanese history a visit might turn out somewhat disappointing.

Haniwa grave goods in the Sakai history museum near the Mozu tombs

How to get to the Mozu Tombs in Osaka

You can reach Sakai in around 15 to minutes either by JR (Japan Railway) or on the private Nankai line from Osaka Namba. If you walk around a bit and also visit the museum this will be a half-day trip.