By Satoru Fujikata / The Asahi Shimbun
Hoping to offset sluggish domestic demand, sake brewers are pouring their efforts into overseas markets, where a growing appetite for Japanese cuisine is helping to introduce the rice-wine beverage to a new audience.
Making inroads abroad is far from simple, however, and brewers face an uphill battle when it comes to wooing new customers.
The Rihaku Shuzo brewery, founded in 1882, has taken a creative approach to marketing. To make their products more accessible to foreign consumers, the brewery has given English nicknames, such as “Wandering Poet” and “Dreamy Clouds,” to some of its Rihaku brand sake sold abroad …
