Issue #9. Dassai Yamada Nishiki Comp, Sake Exports Triple, Omachi Revivalist, Daitengu Shuzō Back, Takenoi Shuzō - Saykoh, JG on Tokubetsu + more.

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Dassai Reveal The Best Yamada Nishiki In Japan

Tokyo- Makers of Dassai, Asahi Shuzō, have announced the winners of its first Yamada Nishiki Project. Asahi Shuzō turned some heads in July last year with the announcement of the project, a competition challenging the rice farmers of Japan to grow their best Yamada Nishiki with Asahi Shuzō offering to buy the top crop at up to 25 times the average market price. The contest was held in the hopes of encouraging more farmers to grow sake rice and to raise the bar for rice quality. Asahi Shuzō plan on making the competition an annual event.

Of the forty-five finalists, Yoshinobu Sakauchi of the Tochigi Yamada Nishiki Cultivation Research Center was announced as the winner at a ceremony on January 23. As first prize, Asahi Shuzō will purchase 3,000kg of Sakauchi's rice for the handsome sum of JPY25,000,000 (USD230,000). Until recently, Sakauchi had grown table rice exclusively and only began growing the more profitable Yamada Nishiki just four y…