SAKE

Among all the types of alcohol found in Japan, Sake has the longest history.
It is recorded in a document dating from the beginning of the 8th century AD.
After wetland rice cultivation took hold in Japan during the Jomon and Yayoi periods (from 14,000 BC to 300 AD), it is said that the first person to make an alcoholic drink from rice was a princess named Konohana-Sakuya-Hime.
In present-day Saito City, Miyazaki Prefecture, there is a stone monument at Tsuma Shrine, where she was married, commemorating the origins of Sake.
It is said that she raised her 3 children on "Amazake", a sweet, fermented drink made from rice, instead of mother's milk. At that time, she developed a primitive method of making Amazake by sweetening the enzymatic secretion of well-chewed cooked rice grains.
Called "Kuchi-Kami" in Japanese, this method of making sake by chewing rice before fermentation even appeared in the anime, "Your Name".
While it is said that Sake is made by brewing, it actually has its origins in chewing!
Since this method of making Sake is only performed by "Miko" (Shinto shrine maidens), perhaps women were the first people to produce Sake.
During the Edo period, in Bungo-no-Kuni (in the area around present-day Oita Prefecture), "Asajizake" was created from steamed rice, "Koji" rice ferment, and water. When this drink was offered to the shogunate, it gained fame all over the country. Sake is now made from rice grown in places like Saga Prefecture, blessed with abundant, high-quality water that brings out the "umami" of several ancient varieties of rice.

SHOCHU

Even today, the origins of Shochu are wrapped in mystery.
However, it is said that a distilled liquor similar to Shochu appeared around the 11th century in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
From the 14th century, it came to China, arriving in Kagoshima in 1705 via the Ryukyu (Okinawa) Islands.
Left as a record of Shochu in Japan is a document dating from 1546 stating that a Portuguese visiting Satsuma Province (now Kagoshima Prefecture) drank "Bei-Shochu" made from rice.
In Satsuma, the area around Kagoshima, "Imo-Shochu", made from yams or sweet potatoes imported from Europe or Southeast Asia via the Ryukyu Islands, started to flourish.
The reasons behind this range from the high cost of rice at the time to the topography of Shirasu-Daichi, a broad pyroclastic flow plateau covering most of southern Kyushu.
The arid, nutrient-poor soil made it difficult to grow rice.
It was more suitable for sweet potato cultivation, so this plant was raised in earnest.
In addition, Iki Island in Nagasaki Prefecture is said to be the birthplace of "Mugi-Shochu", made from barley.
During the shogunate of the 16th century, the rich and fertile soil of Iki caught the attention of the local domain.
Rather than sweet potatoes or expensive rice, barley was promoted as a tribute.
From this bounty of barley, Iki Shochu production began.

BEER

Originally, beer was well-known as a drink during the Edo period (1603-1868), when the study of all things Dutch flourished.
A beer called "liquid bread" attracted attention because it was high in nutrients.
In Kyushu, during the "Sakoku" period, when Japan effectively closed itself off from the world, beer was brought to Nagasaki, the only port open to trade with Holland.
There, the people who studied Holland and Western knowledge tried to make prototypes of beer.

WINE

Although missionaries brought wine to Japan during the 15th and 16th centuries, authentic winemaking only started after 1870 in Yamanashi Prefecture.
However, in recent years, documents have been found indicating that wine was made in Fukuoka by the Kokura Domain in the 1620s.
Afer that, in Kyushu, authentic wineries were established starting in 1989.
They have gained a reputation for producing distinctive, high-quality Chardonnays from grapes cultivated in Kyushu's unique soil.