Fukushima sake makers work to alter perceptions

In an area of Japan still devastated by a nuclear disaster, sake is giving cause for hope.

For the past five years, the sake brewers of Fukushima, on a two-decade quest to develop premium products, have captured the most gold medals in a key national competition and have won numerous international awards. Drinkers worldwide have noticed the rising quality, with the result that sake exports from Fukushima have more than doubled since 2012.

Now the prefectural government and local brewers are promoting their success. The hope is that Fukushima’s championship sake — made from local rice and water — will serve as a symbol of the safety of local agricultural and fishery products and of the prospects for the prefecture’s broader revival.

“If we can show that Fukushima makes the best sake in the world, surely we can overcome the stigma,” said Hiroyuki Karahashi, the president of Homare Sake Brewery Co., which won first place in the sake category at the 2015 London International Wine Challenge.

Fukushima’s challenge is enormous. The earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown that devastated the region in March 2011 killed 4,000 people in Fukushima alone.

Many of the 50,000 people forced to leave their homes have no plans to return. The local economy has been largely propped up by reconstruction spending in the years since, but that spending is expected to fall in the years to come.

Meanwhile, local companies still struggle with lingering public fears of radiation contamination. Only around 30 percent of businesses in the important fisheries and food processing sectors have seen their sales rise to predisaster levels, according to the nation’s reconstruction agency.

All agricultural products from Fukushima — including every bag of rice — are tested for radiation using internationally accepted standards before shipment. Since 2015, no rice has registered radiation above the safety level, national broadcaster NHK has reported.

Still, 55 countries have some kind of restriction or requirement for additional documentation on imports of Fukushima products, according to Japan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Takahiro Ichimura, a director of trade promotion at the Fukushima Prefectural Government, who’s spearheading efforts on sake promotion, said the importance of ingredients in the sake should help change people’s perception of Fukushima.

The surge in sake exports follows a plunge in consumption in Japan — by half over the past 20 years, as consumers broadened their tastes.

Fukushima is trying to increase sales in the U.S. and Europe, including with promotional tours, Ichimura said. It has allocated $880,000 this fiscal year to promote local sake at events in major cities in Japan and abroad, as well as at trade shows and promotional websites.