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Influenced by my mother who worked at an airline company, I have vaguely wished to go abroad or work abroad since I was a child. When I was a sophomore student, my long-term dream to study abroad came true and I flew out of Japan to Switzerland in high spirits and with full of expectation to study at a university there.

At a party held in our student dormitory one night where international students from various countries gathered my view of life was completely changed. When the party became lively, students from various countries started boasting of their own countries. “French wine is the most delicious in the world.” “No, Spanish is.” “What are you talking about? It’s tequila, no doubt about it.”
When I was looking at them with smile, one of my friends asked me, “Senichi, what do you have in Japan? I know Sake, I’ve never drunk it before, though. What taste is it? Tastes good?”
I could not answer at all. I could not talk anything about the country where I was born and grew up. Filled with vexation, I realized that I had never paid attention to the culture and tradition of my own country.

“What makes a real international person?” Being able to speak English? Having a job flying around the world?
No. A real international person is someone who understands his own country and can talk about it better than anyone else.
Since then I started paying attention to Japanese cultures, among which Japanese sake most attracted me.
I wished to do some work related to Japanese sake someday. However, the sake producing industry was on the decline at the time. Then, expecting to see all industries in the world, I entered a securities company. I had good opportunities there to listen to presidents leading various industries. Luckily, I was able to perform well in my work and enjoyed working every day.

One day one of my clients awakened me by saying “What do you really want to do? To sell stock? You seem to have another thing you want to do.” I felt myself completely seen through by him. His words reminded me of my old passion for Japanese sake which I had almost forgotten. I was quick after that. I resigned from the company. Thanks to my old client, I came to buy stock of the brewery which had no successors. It was in March in 2018. M & A might sound no good. Never the less, I wanted to make sake by myself. As I had continued to pursue what I liked till then, I really wanted to do what I like as my work. It was all I thought of at the time. Then, I came over to Sado Island with my two fellows.

In this increasingly globalized world, I want Japanese young people who will shoulder the future of this country to pay more attention to our own culture. As I have come to like Japanese sake culture the best of all, I want young people to drink much more Japanese sake. If you drink sake together with someone else, the distance between you and the person gets shortened then and there. It is because sake has the power to connect people and to create harmony among them.
In our sake producing industry, there is a word “Wajoryoshu” meaning that craftsmen’s harmony makes good sake. I feel a little uneasy with it. Just making good sake is not enough. Sake which can create harmony among those who drink it is what I want to make.
I am 25 years old. I will push my unpolished youth forward. TENRYOHAI, or Japanese sake has the future.
We aim not at “Wajoryoshu” but at “Ryoshujouwa” which means that good sake creates harmony. We wish our sake chosen to stay with you forever.