Sake Tours

Ichigo Ichie is loosely translated as “once in a lifetime - never again. ” It captures a moment in time never to be experienced again. The Hokkaido Sake Tour represented many such Ichigo Ichie moments: ice fishing on Lake Abashiri; cruising the coastline of Rausu with hundreds of soaring white-tailed eagles; the first mouthful of the most luscious Uni in the world; standing in 1-degrees Fahrenheit on the frozen Notsuke Bay for a group photo; and the simple vegetable salad full of umami at Cuore. Add bottles and bottles of Hokkaido sake to this mix, and you’ve got heaven on earth. The passionate efforts of Etsuko-san to scope out the finest experiences for her guests will never be forgotten. This tour is the heart and soul of Hokkaido!

I recently joined Sake Tours for their Mie/Wakayama tour. It was a terrific experience! I had wanted to see parts of Japan outside of the major cities, and learn more about Japanese culture and life, and, of course, eat well and learn about SAKE! Sake Tours delivered everything I wanted and more. We had the opportunity to find pearls in oysters and meet with the Ama pearl divers to learn about their future and past. We learned about the art of katagami stencils for pattern printing, and the art of making binchotan charcoal. We saw lots of shrines and had incredible, unforgettable, beautiful meals. We stayed in nice hotels and beautiful ryokans with wonderful hot baths. Our guides were excellent. AND, we enjoyed great sake.

I have been on SAKE Tours' 2019 Niigata and Mie-Wakayama 2020 tours so far and am scheduled to go on their #3 Hokkaido tour soon. I am a repeat SAKE tour member because they are the best anywhere. So far, the tours I've been on have been 5-star A+ tours. A passion for Japan's great sake and to advance its greatness internationally have attracted sake enthusiasts from all over. I've met a very interesting mix of people from many places around the world. I have learned a lot about Japan's culture and tasted great regional cuisines. Our tours have been to picnics, lunches, dinners with the local people from the various regions we've been to and I have learned a lot and experienced things not possible with other types of tours. Mahalo to SAKE Tours for a great job! I'm looking forward to future tour seasons.

Amazing tours. So diverse and you learn so much about Sake and Japan and it’s food and culture. I will be back for more.

Just finished my third trip with Sake Tours and I'm already ready to plan the next one. If you love Japanese culture, local delicious food, and most importantly sake, plus really fun people, then you absolutely MUST come on a sake tour with Etsuko and Jason. Etsuko is a genius at finding the hidden gems, the local places where you meet the farmer, the brewer, the fisherman, the craftsman, and the chef. I fly from the other side of the world for my Sake Tours fix!