A MODERN HISTORY
JAPANESE WHISKEY
The history of the Japanese whiskey market is somewhat mysterious before the early 1990s. Japan had isolated itself from trading with the western world save for a single Dutch trading outpost on a small island in the Nagasaki harbor. This isolation would continue until one fateful day in 1853 when American Commodore Matthew Perry floated into Tokyo harbor with a group of four war ships, leaving behind textiles from the western markets as an enticement for Japan to join the growing global trade. One of the textiles he left behind? A massive 110 gallon barrel of whiskey for the Japanese to enjoy.
By: Greg Sinadinos
Japanese authorities began trading for whiskey as they relaxed the strict measures they'd had in place for ages. Though, the trade of whiskey required a rather lengthy travel across land and perilous seas before it could be sold to the Japanese making it expensive. It was considered a commodity until 1918, when a Japanese chemist by the name of Masataka Taketsuru moved to Scotland to attend the University of Glasgow.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
NOMADIC
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