Takuma Inagawa: Making "Sake a Global Beverage"

We started brewing in France in 2019, and the following spring, right when Professor Obi visited Paris, was the timing when we started selling with a "here we go" attitude. However, COVID-19 hit then, and we were forced to change our strategy of selling primarily to restaurants.

It was very difficult after that, but thankfully, when we switched our strategy to online sales, we were able to grow our performance to about double the planned sales by the end of 2020. Following that success, we announced a fundraising round this June, raising 330 million yen from venture capital, and we are just at the stage of starting to invest.

Online, we can expand into other European countries almost without being conscious of borders, so from September, we are finally going to step into our second market, the UK.

Also, in Japan, we have a restaurant attached to the "WAKAZE Sangenjaya Brewery." In response to the pandemic, we renovated it into a small 9-seat shop and reopened it in October as a restaurant offering pairing courses by reservation only.

I founded the company with the dream of making "Sake a Global Beverage," but since I am the type to always set high goals, I feel that we haven't even reached 1% of our achievement yet. Conversely, I want to work hard considering everything from here on as room for growth.

That's right. As you say, it's not something I can do alone, so I believe the market will only truly be formed when various sake-making players emerge as ventures from now on.

Actually, the example of craft beer is quite similar. Jim Koch, who founded Boston Beer in the US, is said to be at the center of the craft beer revolution. With truly wonderful management skills, craft beer now accounts for several trillion yen of the roughly 10 trillion yen US beer market. It succeeded through steady activities like educating consumers, and I think that kind of thing is important for sake as well.

Recently, we've had people with entrepreneurial aspirations from Germany, Italy, and elsewhere visit our brewery to use it as a reference for when they build their own. Many of the people working for us also want to start their own breweries, so I think it would be wonderful if those members eventually set up their own.

For example, Taisuke Sato, who started a brewery in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture (featured in the July 2021 issue of this magazine's "Alumni Crossroads"), used to help out at our Sangenjaya brewery. I would be happy to see more and more people with that kind of entrepreneurial mindset emerge.

I think sushi spread overseas because local people enjoyed making it and it expanded from there. In that sense, we are clearly aiming for the latter. Also, in France, we can't get so-called sake-specific rice like Yamada Nishiki that is available in Japan, so technically it's very difficult to make the exact same thing.

Looking from the bottom to the top of the pyramid, what is exported from Japan is the very top part, but I believe the premium market will only grow once cheap and delicious things spread in the bottom market. How to create this bottom market is what we are challenging ourselves with now.

Also, environmental awareness is currently rising significantly in Europe, especially in France. Therefore, there is enormous value in reducing CO2 emissions, creating things without environmental impact, and practicing local production for local consumption.

What surprised me was that in France, products with the French flag sell well. Since France is a country where ingredients come in from cheaper places like Italy and Spain, local production for local consumption itself is rare and valuable.

So, they put the flag on French products not out of patriotism, but because of high environmental awareness. Local production for local consumption requires less transport, so CO2 emissions and environmental pollution can be suppressed.

Therefore, I believe that the approach of creating freely on-site and having locally produced items be appreciated and gradually permeate will lead the way in the coming era.

One of our members is the son of Hijiri Shuzo in Gunma, a brewery that has lasted for about 150 years. Precisely because he wants to continue his family home, he wants to open up overseas markets and thereby increase exports from Japan, and I am very close with the president, who is his older brother.

Another Japanese brewery we have a relationship with is Masumi in Nagano. They have been Keio graduates for generations, and Katsuhiko Miyasaka is very overseas-oriented and speaks English well, so we communicate regularly. I also appeared on Masumi's official Instagram Live the other day.

Masumi's "Arabashiri" was so fruity it surprised me. To be honest, until then, my image of sake was not much different from that of French people, and I didn't think it was very delicious. That changed completely, and I became captivated by sake as if struck by lightning; from that moment, I thought I wanted to make sake a global beverage and brew it in France.

Compared to traditional breweries, we have free ideas and even make sake-based cocktails. Actually, making cocktails with sake seems to be almost taboo in the sake industry, but French bartenders say that sake is the easiest alcohol to use for cocktails. In an era where low-alcohol drinks are preferred and distilled spirits are becoming harder to use, wine, a fermented beverage, has too strong a taste and too much character for cocktails. But they say sake is a perfect fit.

I believe we can also provide learning from our side, showing that such new marketing that appeals to so-called sake beginners is possible.

Regarding temperature control, in the case of our sake, unlike so-called Ginjo-shu, it is a type that can withstand a bit more aging, so it's not that much of a problem. Since it's difficult for us to educate people on how it should be handled locally, we take the approach of adapting the product itself to how it's handled in France.

For example, recently, a sake with French-grown yuzu that allows you to enjoy the aroma is selling well at NICOLAS. This product lasts for about six months even at room temperature, and it's a mysterious sake that gets more delicious as time passes. We also keep in mind to clear problems by adding such botanical elements.

To be honest, the reality was that there were only stories like that (laughs). I've gotten quite used to it recently. I don't get flustered when something happens. Even if there's a construction mistake by a contractor, I can think, "Oh, this kind of thing happens." French people often say "C'est la vie (That's life)." It means that unpleasant and painful things happen every day, so there's no point in brooding over them, and I learned a lot about why French people have that mentality.

When setting up the brewery, once construction started, there was noise, and the neighbors were extremely worried about the smell and sound. Apparently, a call went to the mayor saying, "Stop the construction next door," and at the timing when our company had invested about 100 million yen, we were told, "We will not allow your project," and that 100 million yen almost vanished into thin air.

I thought my family would be out on the street at this rate, so I went to the city hall every day, begging to see the mayor. After about a month, the mayor finally agreed to meet, and there was a terrifying meeting where I was cornered for 20 minutes in French by the neighbors and the mayor. I managed to get through it with the mental strength forged in the Obi Lab (laughs), and I was able to gain the neighbors' understanding by handing out sake.

It was a state where there was constantly nothing but trouble, but I thought it was important to get used to the unique circumstances of France.

The first year was very difficult; I was told it was sweet and heavy. In the second year, we did a major overhaul of the sake quality, interviewed about 20 French people to determine the direction of the taste, and changed the flavor significantly.

At first, there was quite a bit of graininess, but since it's a wine country, French people are not fond of graininess and fruitiness is very important. So we shifted considerably to bringing out the acidity firmly, suppressing the graininess, and making the taste clean. We aligned the taste while listening to customers regularly on subtle points, and it became accepted.

I believe I am able to work here now precisely because of this study abroad in France, and I am truly grateful to Professor Obi. What I learned in those two years was the importance of the attitude to make a resolution to succeed here and see it through. Certainly, there were many difficult things and unfair treatment of Japanese people, but that experience was also very important for me in starting a company in France.

During my study abroad, I had the feeling that I would never lose. In terms of both studies and life, once I decided to do it there, I had no choice but to have a strong will to open up my own path with my own strength. Because of that, I wanted to challenge myself in France once more, and I gained confidence during those two years. I believe they were two years that changed my life.

I had a desire to give myself an edge by working in a different environment with the French language and to live by my own strength. There aren't many Japanese people who can speak both French and English and understand engineering and business, so I was conscious of wanting to differentiate myself as a Japanese person when working overseas. To put it simply, it was because I was contrary (laughs). I wanted to do something different from others. It was the same with starting a company.

Friendships from my time studying abroad are very helpful now. Having friends on the ground who I spent two years sharing meals with and who have absolutely no financial or business interests in the company I started in France is a great emotional support.

Actually, our headquarters is still in Tsuruoka. I was inspired by the fact that it's an amazing place where many entrepreneurs with pure mindsets, like Kazuhide Sekiyama of Spiber, are gathered. Also, Yamagata Prefecture was a region where sake brewing was very active, and since I didn't have the money to own a brewery at first, I moved to Tsuruoka and worked there just to have them make the sake first.

The wonderful thing about Keio is that the horizontal network is very wide and there are many opportunities. I want them to seize opportunities like studying abroad without letting them go to waste. I hope more people will be able to play an active role internationally and see things from an international perspective, and hopefully do business in overseas markets as startup companies.

I would say just one thing: "Take risks." I think I took a risk when I studied abroad from Keio, and because of that, there was a return and I learned a lot. It was the same when I started the company. In the end, you can't do new things without taking risks. But by doing new things, I gained learning, and my employees also learned and grew. Taking risks is a noble thing, and if you can do it, I believe it will lead to results that create a large social impact.

First, I want to increase the market in France and Europe tenfold within a few years. And by becoming the number one sake manufacturer in Europe, I want to expand globally to the point where there is no one who doesn't know WAKAZE.

At that time, the important thing is to become a global company. We already have diverse members including Italians, Czechs, French, Japanese, and Taiwanese, but I hope to transform into a global company while promoting the use of English and accepting diverse cultures.