The Turnaround by Prairie Stuart-Wolff

Posted on May 7, 2014 within News

Reintroducing sake to Japan

Daisuke Komatsu’s father insisted that he not succeed the family business. With sake sales falling nationwide, he saw no future in their microbrewery. “He urged me to study, go to a good college, and get a job elsewhere. He thought that was a better plan for me,” says Komatsu.

But soon upon landing employment at a securities firm, Komatsu realized that the life of a salary man was a poor fit. With a strong mind to do what’s right by his own measure, he failed to excel as biddable employee. He envisioned a different path, one in which he held the reins. As he entertained ideas from owning his own bookstore or flower shop to opening a bakery, he remembered a little microbrewery called Komatsu in the countryside of Saga prefecture that was going out of business. “If you want to be a small business owner,” he told himself, “there’s one waiting for you back home.”

Sake’s foreign boom is the result of a domestic bust. Read the full story and learn about one microbrewery’s insistence on maintaining local distribution.

By Prairie Stuart-Wolff

This is the second in a continuing series of featured articles authored by Prairie Stuart-Wolff from her online publication Cultivated Days.