PROJECT

JO-CHU

Design for distilled spirits that reimagine regional sake through vacuum distillation. The sophisticated bottle design and branding earned multiple international awards.

WHY

Can the sake industry continue to exist in the future?

Since ancient times, sake has had a close relationship with the religious beliefs of Japanese people. Sake is an essential part of Japanese culture, as it is an extremely important existence that is treated as a connection between people and the gods. Despite the fact that sake is now a global presence, the current level of sake consumption in Japan has fallen to less than one-third of peak consumption as a result of the rise in popularity of beverages like wine and beer. The sake industry is facing a difficult situation, as the number of sake breweries across Japan has been decreasing rapidly (according to the “Report on Alcoholic Beverages” by the Liquor Tax Office of the Taxation Department of the National Tax Agency ). Overseas demand for sake has been increasing thanks to the global Japanese food boom. However, given that sake differs from wine in the fact that its quality deteriorates with time, it is extremely difficult to deliver sake, for which quality control is a challenge, to the world in its best condition. Based on these circumstances, correctly sharing the inherent depth of flavor and other appeals of sake with people across the world and creating industry-wide shifts and new ways of enjoying sake have come to play key roles in the mission to preserve the culture of sake.

Changes in alcoholic beverage sale/consumption

Changes in the number of sake manufacturers

HOW

The invention of the third type of Japanese sake, neither Sake nor Shochu.

Naorai, which is an event that is held after the Shinto festival called matsuri and involves drinking and passing around a sake offering to the gods called Omiki, serves as the inspiration behind the name of this startup from Hiroshima that aims to pass down the fulfilling culture of sake to future generations. Having bought into this vision, Tachikawa has served as the CDO (Chief Design Officer) since the founding of Naorai while continuing to move forward hand in hand with the company since the product development phase of Mikado Lemon, the sparkling sake that was the initial product launched by the company.
During this process, Naorai discovered a completely new preparation method involving the low-temperature distillation of sake to prevent quality deterioration, which had been a major issue for sake, without affecting the distinctive umami and flavor of sake, resulting in the invention of the third type of Japanese alcohol that is neither sake nor shochu.

Conventional distilled spirits are manufactured through a process of heating fermented liquor in a still and cooling the steam to return it to a liquid state. However, since low-temperature distillation is carried out without heating, sake can be converted into a distilled spirit while keeping its flavor—or spirit, so to say. We likened the process of low-temperature distillation to the important concept of purification (pronounced jo-ka) that is part of Shinto worship, as we came up with the name of “JO-CHU – Purified Spirit,” which sounds similar to shochu, the distilled sake that is close to Japanese hearts, for this new type of alcohol.

With regard to the design of the bottle, we incorporated “shide”, which are hung from Shimenawa at Shinto shrines and serve as tools of purification and indicators of sacred precincts, as a symbol that represents the true nature of Shinto worship. Also, in order to have the bottle recreate the natural shape produced by the tensile strength of liquids, we traced the shape of a balloon filled with water as a representation of the moment when a drop of purified alcohol falls.

WILL

Challengers who explore new possibilities for the sake of industry.

The presale for Jochu that took place on a crowdfunding site in 2019 comfortably outperformed the target for financial support, and Naorai came to attract attention as a presence that will renew the Japanese culture of sake. Naorai then developed Kohaku Jochu, in which Jochu is flavored using the zest of organic lemons cultivated in the company’s own orchard and matured in oak barrels, as a new product in 2021. During the International Spirits Challenge 2021, which is a global competition for alcohol, Jochu won the Silver Medal, and Kohaku Jochu won the Bronze Medal. Naorai will continue to take on various challenges in order to share the appeal and potential of the Japanese culture of sake to people all over the world through JO-CHU, which is the third type of Japanese alcohol that follows in the footsteps of sake and shochu.
At present, Naorai engages in activities that go beyond the company’s own production of sake, such as by presenting sake breweries across Japan with the new option of producing Jochu and cultivating organic lemons and rice in conjunction with neighboring producers. Together with Naorai, we will continue to take on the challenge of bringing sustainability to the various ecosystems surrounding sake, such as the sake industry, the local community, and the natural environment.

JO-CHU Official Site