
Japan sake breweries draw foreign visitors with twists on tastings
YUKI NAGANAWA, YUTA ADACHI and TARO UNNO
GIFU, Japan/KYOTO/KOBE, Japan -- Sake breweries in Japan's regional areas are focusing on foreign tourists for growth, pulling in travelers with tours and such gimmicks as a tasting room that takes inspiration from arcades.
Sake brewery tourism has been trending for about a decade. But the COVID-19 pandemic prompted breweries to come up with new ideas after tourism plunged.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Japan Today
8 hours ago
- Japan Today
Japan ready to compile extra budget to cushion U.S. tariff blow, Ishiba says
Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, wearing a formal attire, walks toward the upper house hall to attend an opening ceremony of the parliamentary session in Tokyo on Friday. By Leika Kihara Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Monday the government is ready to compile an extra budget to cushion the economic blow from U.S. tariffs, a move that would add strain to the country's already worsening finances. After suffering a stinging defeat in last month's upper house election, Ishiba's minority coalition is under pressure to heed opposition parties' demand to boost spending and cut Japan's sales tax. "We will compile one if necessary, taking into account discussions with other parties," Ishiba told parliament when asked by an opposition lawmaker whether the government would compile an extra budget that includes tax cuts. If the government were to compile a stimulus package, an extra budget to fund the spending would be submitted to an extraordinary parliament session likely to be convened in September. Japan's trade deal struck with President Donald Trump last month lowers U.S. tariffs for imports of goods including its mainstay automobiles, easing the pain for the export-reliant economy. But there is no clarity on when U.S. tariffs for automobiles and auto parts will be cut to 15% from the current 25%, clouding the outlook for Japan's fragile recovery. Compiling an extra budget has become a regular practice in Japan as politicians call for increasing spending to support the economy, keeping its fiscal policy loose even as other countries rolled back crisis-mode spending after the COVID-19 pandemic. Ishiba has not commented on the possible size of an extra budget, but some analysts expect it could reach around 10 trillion yen, which would require additional debt issuance. The extra budget would come on top of a record 115.5 trillion yen budget for the current fiscal year. Of the total, 24.5% is being spent on financing debt. Such deficit funding costs will likely rise further as the Bank of Japan eyes more interest rate hikes, analysts say. With rising food costs hurting consumption, opposition parties have called for slashing or eliminating Japan's sales tax rate, which is set at 10% except for 8% for food. Ishiba, who is regarded as a fiscal hawk, has been cautious about cutting the sales tax, which funds social welfare costs for a rapidly ageing population. A flurry of big spending packages and ballooning social welfare costs for a rapidly aging population have left Japan with a debt pile 250% the size of its economy - the highest among major economies. © Thomson Reuters 2025.


Yomiuri Shimbun
3 days ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Trump Fires US Labor Official over Data and Gets Earlier Than Expected Chance to Reshape Fed
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Aug 1 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday fired a top Labor Department official on the heels of a market-shocking weak scorecard of the U.S. job market, accusing her without evidence of manipulating the figures and adding to already growing concerns about the quality of economic data published by the federal government. In a second surprise economic policy development, the door for Trump to make an imprint on a Federal Reserve with which he clashes almost daily for not lowering interest rates opened much earlier than anticipated when Fed Governor Adriana Kugler unexpectedly announced her resignation on Friday afternoon. The two developments further rattled a stock market already reeling from his latest barrage of tariff announcements and the weak jobs data. The benchmark S&P 500 Index .SPX sank 1.6% in its largest daily drop in more than two months. Trump accused Erika McEntarfer, appointed by former President Joe Biden, of faking the jobs numbers. There is no evidence to back Trump's claims of data manipulation by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the statistical agency that compiles the closely watched employment report as well as consumer and producer price data. A representative for the BLS did not respond to a request for comment. Friday began with BLS reporting the U.S. economy created only 73,000 jobs in July, but more stunning were net downward revisions showing 258,000 fewer jobs had been created in May and June than previously reported. 'We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified,' Trump said in a post on Truth Social. DATA CONCERNS A Trump administration official who requested anonymity said that while all economic data is noisy, the White House has been dissatisfied with how large the revisions have been in the recent data and issues with lower survey responses. The problem started during COVID and has not been addressed in the years since. 'There are these underlying problems that have been festering here for years now that have not been rectified,' the person said. 'The markets and companies and the government need accurate data, and like, we just weren't getting that,' the official said. The BLS has already reduced the sample collection for consumer price data as well as the producer price report, citing resource constraints. The government surveys about 121,000 businesses and government agencies, representing approximately 631,000 individual worksites for the employment report. The response rate has declined from 80.3% in October 2020 to about 67.1% in July, BLS data shows. A Reuters poll last month found 89 of 100 top policy experts had at least some worries about the quality of U.S. economic data, with most also concerned that authorities are not addressing the issue urgently enough. In addition to the concerns over job market data, headcount reductions at BLS have resulted in it scaling back the scope of data collection for the Consumer Price Index, one of the most important gauges of U.S. inflation, watched by investors and policymakers worldwide. Trump's move fed into concerns that politics may influence data collection and publication. 'Politicizing economic statistics is a self-defeating act,' said Michael Madowitz, principal economist at the Roosevelt Institute's Roosevelt Forward. 'Credibility is far easier to lose than rebuild, and the credibility of America's economic data is the foundation on which we've built the strongest economy in the world. Blinding the public about the state of the economy has a long track record, and it never ends well.' FED CHANGE SOONER THAN EXPECTED Meanwhile, Kugler's surprise decision to leave the Fed at the end of next week presents Trump an earlier-than-expected opportunity to install a potential successor to Fed Chair Jerome Powell on the central bank's Board of Governors. Trump has threatened to fire Powell repeatedly because the Fed chief has overseen a policymaking body that has not cut interest rates as Trump has demanded. Powell's term expires next May, although he could remain on the Fed board until January 31, 2028, if he chooses. Trump will now get to select a Fed governor to replace Kugler and finish out her term, which expires on January 31, 2026. A governor filling an unexpired term may then be reappointed to a full 14-year term. Some speculation has centered on the idea Trump might pick a potential future chair to fill that slot as a holding place. Leading candidates for the next Fed chair include Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh and Fed Governor Chris Waller, a Trump appointee who this week dissented with the central bank's decision to keep rates on hold, saying he preferred to start lowering them now. Trump, as he was leaving the White House to spend the weekend at his Bedminster, New Jersey, estate, said he was happy to have the open slot to fill. 'I would not read any political motivation into what [Kugler is] doing, although the consequence of what she's doing is she's calling Trump's bluff,' said Derek Tang, an analyst at LH Meyer, a research firm. 'She's putting the ball in his court and saying, look, you're putting so much pressure on the Fed, and you want some control over nominees, well, here's a slot.'


Yomiuri Shimbun
4 days ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Hopes Rise for More Nuclear Power in Japan after Hokkaido Reactor Passes Safety Screening
The No. 3 reactor at the Tomari nuclear power plant in Hokkaido could be restarted as early as 2027 if local governments approve, according to Hokkaido Electric Power Co. (HEPCO). The company's reactor passed a safety screening on Wednesday. The restart would significantly expand the power supply and help meet the rapidly growing demand for electricity in Hokkaido, particularly from data centers and semiconductor factories. The question is whether this will lead to the rebooting of other nuclear power plants across the country. 'We need to make the most of decarbonized power sources so that we can achieve economic growth and decarbonize at the same time,' said Yutaka Fujii, chairman of the Hokkaido Economic Federation, on Wednesday. He had high praise for the Nuclear Regulation Authority's approval of the reactor's safety at the Tomari plant. 'This is also extremely important for ensuring there is a stable power supply,' he said. The Tomari Nos. 1-3 plants accounted for nearly 50% of HEPCO's power supply mix in fiscal 2010 before the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Since the quake, Hokkaido has relied entirely on non-nuclear sources of power, and primarily on thermal power generation. However, the earthquake that hit southern Hokkaido in 2018 damaged thermal plants, leading to a massive power outage across nearly the entire prefecture and highlighting the difficulty of ensuring a stable energy supply. SoftBank Corp. is constructing the country's largest data center in the prefecture's city of Tomakomai, and hopes to get it up and running by fiscal 2026. In April, chipmaker Rapidus Corp. launched a pilot line at its advanced semiconductor plant in Chitose, and it projects a demand of 100,000 kilowatts for mass production, which could start in 2027. Nationwide, power demand by 2050 is expected to reach as much as 1.25 trillion kilowatt-hours, about 1.4 times more than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Even if the restart of nuclear power plants proceeds smoothly, there will still be a shortage of over 23 million kilowatt — equal to the output of 23 nuclear plants. Japan currently has 36 nuclear power plants, including those under construction but excluding the 24 that are set to be decommissioned. Of these, only 14 have resumed operations since the 2011 earthquake. The government, in its 7th Strategic Energy Plan, which was approved in February by the Cabinet, has said it would 'maximize the use of decarbonized power sources such as renewables and nuclear power.' Work to expand nuclear plants, which halted after the earthquake, has also seen a resurgence. Kansai Electric Power Co. announced on July 22 that it would resume topographical and geological surveys in Mihama, Fukui Prefecture, as part of its plan to build a new reactor to replace Unit 1 at its Mihama nuclear power station. Kyushu Electric Power Co. is considering whether to develop innovative, next-generation reactors.