Helping Japan, with sake and support
My wife and I were in Tokyo on September 11, 2001, preparing to come home the next day. Needless to say, our return was delayed. During that extra time in Japan, so many locals expressed their sympathy and condolences to us for what had happened in the US.
The tragedy in Japan over the past week is horrifying and I find it extremely dispiriting. But it would be good to do something for them, no matter how small. Giving to a charity, such as the Red Cross, Unicef, or Doctors without Borders is a generous idea.
Blake Gray had another: try a sake in the next week. According to an account on Twitter, over three dozen sake brewers have been damaged or devastated by the recent disasters. And Japanese consumers may not be wanting to splurge on premium sake right now. So the theory is that having an artisanal sake here, could keep demand flowing for the traditional industry. Several restaurants in SF are donating parts of the proceeds from special events. If you’re looking to try one at home, here’s an article Blake wrote about daiginjo a few years ago or try to head to a specialty shop, such as Sakaya on the East Village (some wine shops now have small, refrigerated sake sections). If you have other suggestions sake or how to help Japan, hit the comments.
On March 18th, 2011 at 1:12 pm ,Felix wrote:
Don’t forget the whisky. Japan is the second biggest producer of single malt whisky in the world and some of the distilleries in Sendai and Tochigi have been damaged by the quake.
http://nonjatta.blogspot.com/2011/03/earthquake-update.html
On March 18th, 2011 at 1:25 pm ,Susannah Gold wrote:
Tyler,
Thanks for writing this. I had the same thoughts and have been writing about Sake on my blog since the accident but I certainly don’t have the reach or the impact that you do. Raise a glass of Sake this week and check out Satsko on Eldridge Street.
Thanks,
Avvinare.
On March 18th, 2011 at 4:15 pm ,Carmen wrote:
Tyler, thanks for taking a step towards helping Japan. I am adding a link to another blog running an auction to raise money for Japan.
http://jojoebi.blogspot.com/2011/03/japan-quake-auction-appeal.html
On March 18th, 2011 at 5:30 pm ,Blake Gray wrote:
Thank you, Tyler. Haven’t decided what bottle I’ll open myself on #drinksaketonight, but I’ll tweet about it when I do.
On March 19th, 2011 at 12:03 pm ,TexaCali Ali wrote:
Great idea Blake – & thanks for posting this Tyler. The family owned Japanese breweries heavily depend on the US Market and need our support more than ever now…please continue to spread the awareness. Cheers – Ali
On March 25th, 2011 at 10:06 am ,Drink sake night — but I don’t know sake! | Dr Vino's wine blog wrote:
[…] since I have other plans, I hopped on it last evening. I figured it was the least I could do after suggesting you try a sake last week to help out the brewers hit by the earthquake and […]