Sake for Supporting Disaster Areas Unveiled at Tokyo Event

September 19, 2018

Tokyo- "Kizunamai," a sake product made from rice from all 47 prefectures in Japan with the aim of aiding disaster-hit areas and revitalizing local economies, was unveiled at an event in Tokyo on Wednesday.

The sake was made as one of projects sponsored by 212 shinkin banks nationwide, including Tokyo-based Johnan Shinkin Bank, for supporting postdisaster reconstruction efforts.

Akebono Shuzo, a brewer in the town of Aizubange in the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima, produced a total of 13,000 500-milliliter bottles of Kizunamai. Fukushima is one of the areas hit hardest by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

At an opening ceremony of the two-day event, postdisaster reconstruction minister Masayoshi Yoshino said: "Rebuilding livelihoods is significant for disaster-affected areas. The Reconstruction Agency will continue offering various forms of support."

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike also attended the ceremony.

At the event, being held at the Tokyo International Forum in Chiyoda Ward of the Japanese capital, the sake is sold for 2,200 yen per bottle.

Of the revenue, 100 yen from each bottle will be donated to areas stricken by disasters such as the March 2011 quake and tsunami, heavy rains that caused deadly landslides in western Japan in July this year and a powerful earthquake in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido earlier this month. Jiji Press