Japan's Vineyards & Wine Regions

About this book

Most wine books start from the glass. This one starts from the ground.

Japan's Vineyards & Wine Regions covers 200 wine places in one traveller's format — the land and the vines, the history and culture that planted them, how to visit the wine country, and the notes that belong to that place. The pergola streets of Katsunuma, where Japan's wine industry was founded in 1877. The great gravel fan of Kikyogahara, too dry for rice and perfect for Merlot. The Chikuma River Wine Valley's terraces, Yoichi's northern frontier, Ikeda in Tokachi — the town that chose wine — Kashiwara's ancient grape hills above Osaka, and at the extremes, vines buried under Hokkaido snow and plots in Okinawa's subtropical forest.

It is a book about land, landscape and culture, not about drinking: it awards no scores, ranks no bottles, and can be read with pleasure by a reader who never tastes at all. It is equally honest about access: vineyards are working farms and private land, openings change, and every entry closes with the same instruction to confirm current access and availability in official sources before you visit. No health effects are claimed for any wine; the land and its stories carry the argument.

Come and read Japan through the fields its wine grows on.

Written and created in Japan by Japanese author Aki Wakamatsu. Published by Takikawa TOKOTOKO Kids LLC, a Japanese publisher in Hokkaido, Japan. Authentic Japanese content, carefully made in Japan — not mass-produced.