Big-hearted drinkers are doing their part to help recovery efforts from the Great East Japan Earthquake, as the shipment of sake made in the quake and tsunami-stricken three prefectures is growing at an intoxicating rate.
Big-hearted drinkers are doing their part to help recovery efforts from the Great East Japan Earthquake, as the shipment of sake made in the quake and tsunami-stricken three prefectures is growing at an intoxicating rate.
Figures from the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association showed that the shipment of rice wine in Miyagi Prefecture grew 39 percent between April and September from the same period a year ago.
Comparable figures for Iwate Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture were 17 percent and 9 percent, respectively.
That means the three prefectures together shipped 8.06 million 1.8-liter bottles in the six months, up from 6.81 million 1.8-liter bottles a year earlier.
"It is astonishing to record such a jump after the prefectures reported a decline of several percent every year," an association official said.
Shipments in the prefectures nose-dived in March after the March 11 quake and tsunami devastated the Tohoku region, where rice wine is one of the representative products.
Most of the makers in the prefectures suffered various degrees of damage along with their supply chains being disrupted.
Although shipment growth in the three prefectures has slowed in recent months, the pace is still faster than in the previous year.
The increase is apparently bolstered by drinkers elsewhere who want to assist the victims, who are struggling to rebuild.
Many makers use locally grown rice to produce sake, which makes it easier for people to drink up for the sake of the disaster-stricken rice farmers.
The shipments rose in part as leading chains of izakaya Japanese-style pubs bought in bulk to do their part for assisting the rebuilding efforts.
Daisyo Group, which runs 900 Shoya outlets across the nation, doubled the number of pubs offering varieties from the Tohoku region to about 600.
Sales volume also doubled at each establishment, according to the chain.
Ninety-three of 114 makers in the prefectures suffered damage either to their buildings, production facilities or their products, according to the association.
At least nine makers had their production facilities completely destroyed.
Most, however, are expected to prepare for bottling a new product next year.
Suisen Shuzo Co., a maker whose building was washed away in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, is preparing to resume production by renting facilities of another maker inland.
Some resumed making sake after relocating elsewhere.
But dark clouds are hanging over sake producers in Fukushima Prefecture, home to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Although officials confirmed the safety of rice used to make rice wine in the prefecture, the increase in sake shipments is smaller compared with the other two prefectures.