Sake Matsuri Part I

I'm in Saijo, a town of the larger city of Higashi-Hiroshima, in Hiroshima Prefecture. Riding the bus from Hiroshima Airport here made me realize how country it is here. However, during the weekend of 9th and the 10th, there were so many people here! Why did they come? To take part of Saijo's 酒まつり (sake matsuri), or Sake Festival. Sake is one of the major products made here, and has been for a while, as far as I can tell. On the first day, I went to the main center of the festival, which is around the train station in Saijo proper.

I met up with a friend of mine at the station, and we walked around the station, going on tours through several sake factories. I dont really remember a lot of what was going on there, mostly because it was all in Japanese and I was lazy to make my brain think. But it was interesting to see the process of sake brewing. I imagine it's the same as beer, because they take the rice and have it ferment with a certain bacteria or fungi. And then they let it sit some more, and take the alcohol as sake. But the most fun part of the tour was that they gave out samples of their sake! The various sake that we had ranged from one that had no burn and a slight fruity taste, to one that was so strong I needed to eat something to get the taste of alcohol out of my mouth. But my favorite was 甘酒, or sweet sake. Still not sure if it has any alcohol in it, but I dont really care. It's made out of the leftovers of sake brewing, and is more viscous than regular sake. That is, it is an opaque white, not the clear liquid that's usually sake. Although I dont really care for sweet things, 甘酒 isnt so sweet. I did enjoy that one a lot.

The other draw of the sake festival is the 酒ひろば, or "sake space". For the one time fee of 1800￥ (or thereabouts), you get to enter the hiroba and have as much sake as you can. That's right, the Japanese have a practice of 飲み放題, which is the fee you pay to drink all you can. As you will come to see, 飲み放題 isnt exactly my friend, and I'd much rather have its food version, 食べ放題. You'll see what I mean.

When you enter the 酒ひろば, they give you your own little ちょこ, which is basically a sake shot glass. I'm not sure how good an idea this is, but whatever. It's kinda cute, I think. Around the hiroba are various stands that have sake from all over Japan. They're grouped by their location, and I think they're supposed to be very expensive brands. But what did I know, right? My Japanese friend and I met up with more of his friends, and we started to drink. Since there was a group of us, we started having a few people get everyone sake by carrying it, but after we cleared a box of senbei, we used that as a tray. And if you think that's slightly crazy, that's nothing; there were people that had real trays, the laquered variety, and were using that to get sake. The Japanese came PREPARED. Not everyone was sitting on tarp and eating cookies like us; some people had chairs and were pulling out the bento to eat.


This is the group of people I was with. There were many more.

Now I can just hear the $64,000 question: Did you get drunk?! Answer: Not really. Sorry for the letdown (LOL), but no, I didnt get drunk. However, at the rate we were going, it was unsurprising that I would end up tipsy. I remember everything that happened, so I can tell you that I started slurring my words, and it was very difficult to walk. Also, I became so happy! I remember smiling so much, and I think I hugged everyone there. According to many people, I turn into a cute, happy little Asian boy. Another thing I found out is that I dont get Asian glow! I know it's not a good thing to be proud of, but that makes me feel better about drinking and my body. My older half brother enjoys beer, and he drinnks often enough. My parents and sister, although not heavy drinkers, have engaged in the practice, with few ill effects (that I know of). So I figured I could handle it. And what do you know, I really could! Granted, I did get more messed up than I was planning, but it's not like two sips in and I turned red and passed out. Not quite sure how many times I got sake, but it was enough.


One of many people I hugged. Note lack of Asian glow.

So Sake Matsuri Part I was a whole lot of fun. I have a better appreciation for sake, and also made a lot of happy (and tipsy) memories. Definitely a good part of the program so far!