Whisky

The Japanese whisky industry started in the 1920s and the first bottle was produced by Suntory distillery at Yamazaki in Kyoto in 1929. Their main competitor, Nikka, produced their first one in 1934. The Japanese market is still dominated by these two distillers but the giant Suntory has a staggering 70 per cent share of all whisky sales including Scotch imports. The company was founded in 1899 producing what they called port wine, now renamed correctly as sweet wine. Their, as well as Japan’s, first whisky, Suntory Shirofuda (white label), is still on the market today but the best selling blended whisky is by far the Suntory’s Kakubin (square bottle). There are several other distillers such as Sanraku Ocean, Kirin Seagram and Godo Shusei, but their market shares are very small.