Okinawa city seeks special zone status for production of local distilled spirit
The city plans to send the application jointly with the Okinawa Prefectural Government to the central government.
Since the special zone designation system for shōchū production was introduced in 2017, five municipalities have been designated, including the village of Mishima, Kagoshima Prefecture. Nanjo would be the sixth such zone and the first for awamori production.
If designated, small businesses in the city would be able to produce awamori, using locally grown rice, while being exempt from the legal requirement of producing at least 10 kiloliters, or some 14,000 720-milliliter bottles, annually.
Currently, most awamori is made from rice from Thailand. Nanjo, said to be the place where rice production in Okinawa started, hopes to make awamori from locally grown rice.
A Nanjo official expressed hope that a special zone designation would give a boost to the city.
In Nanjo, a plan to launch a new awamori maker is under discussion. "We want to deliver to consumers awamori made in the birthplace of rice production in Okinawa using only locally grown rice," a person involved in the plan said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NHK
7 hours ago
- NHK
Economist tips yen to gain to 130-level against dollar
Currency analyst Yamamoto Masafumi predicts slowing US growth will push the yen to the 130 level against the dollar.
Japan Times
7 hours ago
- Japan Times
Japan eyes 'golden share' as condition for aid to Rapidus
The industry ministry on Friday announced a plan for the government to hold a veto-wielding "golden share" in exchange for financial aid to companies such as Rapidus, which aims to realize domestic production of next-generation semiconductors. Golden shares in the companies will be held by the Information-Technology Promotion Agency, an independent administrative agency under the industry ministry. Parameters of the golden shares will be drawn up by companies and then screened by the ministry. Companies capable of producing semiconductors with a circuit line width of up to 2 nanometers in the country by the late 2020s will be eligible for government aid. In addition to granting the government a golden share and some voting rights, companies that receive government aid will also be required to raise funds from the private sector as much as possible. The government has already decided to provide more than ¥1.7 trillion to Rapidus. It plans to sell Rapidus shares received in exchange for the aid at an appropriate time, based on the company's stock price and management situation. It will also provide debt guarantees, which will be only partial to prevent the company from becoming too dependent on government support. The ministry will begin accepting applications for some ¥100 billion in aid around this summer or autumn.
NHK
7 hours ago
- NHK
S.Korea's Lee tackles economy in first month in office
It's a month since new South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took office, and he's made fixing his country's economic woes his top priority.
