This was one of the greatest roads in Japan, you know. The Koshu Kaido. I can still hear the braying of the horses tied up in front of the inns. The farmers use kei trucks to carry their crates of grapes nowadays rather than wooden poles over their shoulders, but otherwise things change slowly around here and that’s the way I like it…
Read MoreThe Koshu Valley borders the world’s largest metropolitan area. What can a community of grape farmers teach us about how Japan, a country of 126 million and the oldest population in the world, has so far kept coronavirus at bay? Is the country’s achievement to be put down to luck and resigned to the annals of mysterious contradictions that so often characterise Japan, or has the whole been held together by the sum of its extra fail-safe parts, enabling success to seem effortless?
Read More“You mean sake?” That is the response most often encountered when asking if someone has tried Japanese wine. The notion that Japan makes wine is something that has stayed a secret from not only the world at large but also much of the population of Japan itself for over 140 years. When it comes to bringing Japanese wine to the world stage, it all starts with Koshu…
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