About This Site

what a great idea! Let’s go out and see these places， which are right here in our own backyard!

Time Period
Starting on February 1， 2008 and continuing over the course of a year (tentative schedule)

Sponsor
The Shikoku Sake Breweries Tour Planning Committee

With Support from
The Sake Brewing Associations of each prefecture in Shikoku
SPC Co.， Ltd.
JR Shikoku

Rules and Etiquette
Sake breweries have been local symbols of their areas since long ago. This tour is a chance to travel around to 88 refined sake， shochu， and local sake breweries in Shikoku (very similar to the 88 Temple Circuit on the island， which visits 88 sacred Buddhist Temples). It is also a chance to deepen our knowledge of and affection for the local sake of each area in Shikoku， while also rediscovering the local culture of those same places.

We will introduce and present the detailed information about each sake brewery and the general picture of the management operations of each here on this website.
>>Stamp books， in which you can record your journey with a special stamp from each brewery， can be obtained at the sake brewing associations of each prefecture.
>>For those who live far away from the sake brewing associations， the stamp book is also available for download on the upper right hand side of this webpage.
When you visit each brewery you can find in a corner of their respective administrative offices a sketchy looking 1.8 liter bottle of sake， a stamp， and an offertory box. So as not to bother the very busy workers at the breweries， the touring procedure is all “self-serve.” Press the stamp into your stamp book， put a donation into the box (the amount is left to the discretion of your generosity)， and take a pour of the offertory sake from the large bottle into your cup – you must bring your own cup with you， and no large beer mug-sized cups please! (The contents of the bottle are， however， a secret). For those who drive to the breweries， please be sure to pour the sake into a sealable， airtight container that you can take with you and drink after you get home – no drinking and driving please. A special container for the tour can be purchased at each prefecture’s sake brewing association for 10 yen – please do not bring large water bottles or thermoses to take home the sake samples.

Depending on the brewery， you may also be able to receive a commemorative sake label or bottle cap. Also， on some occasions， you might be able to catch the president of the brewery on the premises， and if he’s in good spirits， something wonderful may happen to you! Then again....maybe not!

Participating Breweries

You can begin from whichever brewery you like. The breweries are listed here in the same order as the famous 88 Temple Circuit， starting from Tokushima and going around the island clockwise.
Tokushima(traditional name: Awa)----21 breweries (#1 --- #21)
Kochi(traditional name: Tosa)-------23 breweries (#22 --- #44)
Ehime(traditional name: Iyo)--------33 breweries (#45 --- #77)
Kagawa(traditional name: Sanuki)----11 breweries (#78 --- #88)
So whether you start in your own prefecture， your own neighborhood， or from the most distant ends of the earth， it’s all OK!
Not all of the breweries will let you try a sample of their sake. After taking painstaking efforts to find 88 locations for the tour， the Planning Committee decided to include shrines and facilities related to sake brewing and even breweries no longer in operation (in addition， of course， to regular breweries).

Also， in the “Word of the Day” section of the page for each brewery， we have recorded the area’s hotspots according to the people at that brewery. If you have the time， please go and explore them， too! If the hotspot happens to be a place that is utterly boring， then the breweries’ management makes no claims to responsibility in the matter!

Prize
As a reward to those who take the time to participate seriously in this tour， we have imposed upon the sake brewing associations to make sure that you get official recognition for your efforts.

Recognition will be given in the following manner to participants who complete:
one prefecture ------“Sake King”
two prefectures -----“Sake Saint”
three prefectures ---“Sake Wizard”
four prefectures ----“Sake God”
You will then get a certificate of recognition， signed by the sake brewing association from each of the prefectures that you completed. Participants who achieve “Sake God” status will be given special VIP treatment from the sake brewing association...but what this entails is a surprise， so I won’t write about it here!

Other Recognition Awards
Those who complete the course in its entirety by train or on foot (without dying， of course)
Those who ask the age of the female workers at each of the breweries (Courageous!)
Those who invite a new brewery to participate in the tour (T Brewing)
Take your own goals with you as you attempt to complete the tour， and keep in mind the key point that it’s not about “whether this tour is useful for your life” so much as “whether it is interesting.” If you challenge yourself in this way， then the Organizing Committee will confer on you a special distinction， like “Sake Royalty，” that exhibits the scope of your accomplishments!

For the time being， once you have conquered each prefecture， please send your stamp book to have your accomplishment recorded. If you have any other questions or concerns， please address them to the respective sake brewing associations. Please see the tour overview for contact information for the tour locations.

Map
The maps provided in your stamp books were all drawn by hand by people affiliated with the respective breweries， so at least 20 percent of the maps are very， very rough. Rookies to the tour will most likely get lost somewhere along the way! So think of these maps as attractive little guidelines， and please double check the maps on this website that more appropriately resemble real maps. Basically， these breweries have all been landmarks in their areas for a very long time， so if you happen to get lost， be sure to ask a person from the area about it – that is the surest way to go. However， please be aware that in some of these areas， there is very little other than monkeys running around， and no one to ask in sight!

Transportation

The breweries are in all sorts of various locations. If you give up on the tour halfway through， no one will say anything about it. However， if you engage in drunk driving， you will certainly summon the wrath of the gods! Please， please be careful. The good news is， though， that most of the breweries in Shikoku are located close to train stations for the purpose of distribution. With the support of JR Shikoku， we have been able to summarize the timetables for the stations located nearest each of the brewery locations.
Please refer to the station guide link.

The Planning Committee， which runs the tour
S-tou Tetsu， President of Hisa-
Born in Takamatsu， Kagawa， 1960
He is the reckless guy who has caused quite a stir with everyone because he came up with this tour on a whim and planned it with no money for a budget， so he has done everything from interviews to written materials for the tour by himself.

Assistant Station Manager M of JR Takamatsu Station
Born in Higashimiyoshi， Tokushima， 1959
A wayward compliment that he could have been a TV celebrity caught him off guard， and so he has been forced to participate in the planning for the tour.
However， he hasn’t yet caught on that he probably won’t get a promotion at JR Shikoku if he gets famous with the stage name “Assistant Station Manager”!

Representative K of a-kiss.net， Inc.
Born in Takamatsu， Kagawa， 1968
The unfortunate person who has to provide his company’s technology and internet server to the project because of his careless reply to the persuasion he incurred over drinks one night: “Of course， it’s for society! It’s for the people!”
Everyone， please be careful about what promises you make when you are drinking!

Chief Editor N of SPC
Born in Matsuyama， Ehime
Even though everyone already knows it， when asked “How old?” Chief Editor N replied in a fit， “Age unspecified!”
This is the poor person who got tangled up in this project because of a certain weakness for the words “I’ve got some interesting material，” as well as a predilection for heavy drinking. One of the higher-ups at the company said angrily， “Nonaka is caught up again in something that won’t turn a profit for us!” Oops， I said N’s full name!

Director Kiku-C of a Health Clinic in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo
Born in Takamatsu， Kagawa
Is everyone taking vows with the “Not Saying My Age” Cult or something?
We had the following conversation –
Kiku-C: “The website is a mess， with poorly written sentences， errors， and omissions! I can spot them easily because I always got full marks in my writing classes in elementary school!”
Me: “Well in that case， you’re my editor!”
And with those simple words， Director Kiku-C was caught!
After lots of hard work and a tear-filled half year of correcting my terrible writing， the editing was finished – thank you for your efforts!
There is an old proverb that says， "Be careful of what you say”
However， “No one could possibly underestimate my language skills!” Mine is a life fully without learning.

Planning Members from each prefecture
They helped to soothe， persuade and look for openings with the folks of the sake breweries in each prefecture. Please be sure to say thank you if you happen to see them on your rounds of the breweries. If you do， you might get something out of it because they are all very generous people!

Tokushima: Morihiko Nakamura
Lives in Miyoshi， Tokushima
Born in 1957

Kochi: Akihiko Takemura
Lives in Sagawa-cho， Kochi
Born in 1965

Ehime: Toshiro Ino
Lives in Matsuyama， Ehime
Born in 1964

Kagawa: Yuichiro Kawahito
Lives in Kanonji， Kagawa
Born in 1969

Please feel free to create a link to this site from your own webpage!

The Shikoku 88 Sake Breweries Simple Circuit Tour (Undergoing Planning)
10.7.2008

一言