Soap is key to Japanese whisky surge

A JAPANESE TV soap opera based on the life of Scottish woman who helped found the nation’s first distillery has led to a surge in whisky sales.

Japan’s distilleries are struggling to cope with demand from fans of the daily drama Massan, watched by more than a fifth of the population.

It is loosely based on the life of Rita Cowan, from Kirkintilloch, Dunbarton-shire, who helped her Japanese husband Masataka Taketsuru to set up a distillery in Hokkaido before the Second World War.

The company they founded, Nikka, has reported a 50 per cent increase in sales in the past three months alone. A spokesman said this was down to the show’s success, adding: ‘The sales show a steady increase that we have never experienced.’

Nikka is having to take steps to avoid running short of its more popular products.