Connecting the World to the Charm of Sake to Enhance Human Wealth and Happiness

The Miss Sake contest is for the purpose of producing ambassadors with aesthetic sense and intelligence who will promote the charm of traditional Japanese sake and Japanese culture, both in Japan and abroad. We asked Ms. Risa Isobe, the winner of the 2022 Miss Sake Japan Grand Prix, why she entered Miss Sake, how she lives and works, and what she plans to do from now on to spread the appeal of sake to the world.

Risa Isobe, 2022 Miss SAKE, is a native of Kanagawa Prefecture. She graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo, and when she was studying in France, she worked as a Japanese-French interpreter at food exhibitions in Europe. She sensed the potential for the appeal of Japanese food and sake to be more widely appreciated around the world, and set her sights on working to help Japanese food and sake spread overseas. At present, she works at a consulting firm based in Paris, where she is involved in cross-border business and PR for Tokyo, Kyoto, and other Japanese cities aimed at attracting tourists from France. At the same time, she also carries out domestic and international PR activities for sake in her role as this year’s Miss SAKE Japan representative, which is to be “an ambassador that brings sake and other Japanese culture to the rest of the world.”

Mei Iida, Senior Investment Evangelist, WealthPark Lab, joined WealthPark Lab, where she carries out investment research and information dissemination, in September 2022 because she empathized with its mission to “open new investment doors for all.”

The Wonder and World-Class Appeal of Sake

Iida: You entered the Miss Sake contest because you sympathize with the mission of becoming an ambassador to promote the appeal of sake in Japan and overseas. What about sake awareness activities appealed to you in the first place?

Isobe: Studying abroad in France twice, once in high school and once in college, were the formative experiences that got me interested in sake awareness activities. Living overseas as an international student made me more and more aware of Japan as a country and myself as a Japanese person; I felt a desire to enhance Japan’s presence in the world, and I had a strong sense that Japanese food culture would be my weapon for achieving this. During my study abroad, I was involved in activities that promoted good qualities of Japan, as well as food product exhibitions as a Japanese-French interpreter, and having Japanese food culture recognized by people overseas was a personal pleasure.

This is the background I bring to the consulting company based in Paris and Los Angeles where I am currently working to help Japanese companies expand overseas. I entered Miss Sake to become a sake ambassador because I wanted to convey to the rest of the world one of the things that Japan is most proud of: its rich culinary culture.

Iida: I see. You focused on sake from the perspective of Japan’s place in the world. Why were you attracted to sake in particular among the other aspects of Japanese food culture?

Isobe: The beauty of sake is that it is easy to pair with food. I also took a lecture on wine as part of the Nadeshiko Program (a training program offered to Miss Sake contestants), and I felt that with wine, depending on the ingredients, you can get negative results with some combinations. I think this difficulty is what makes wine pairing so interesting and profound. Sake, on the other hand, embraces and complements various dishes. At a pairing event for French cuisine and sake in France, I saw a French couple in their 60s who tasted sake for the first time and were very impressed; it again made me realize how profound sake’s appeal is.

Iida: I’m usually more of a wine drinker, but I can relate to the point you just made about the depth of sake’s appeal. At home, I often drink hot sake, and rather than connecting the dots of the important factors like in wine pairing, I get the impression that sake is more like a side aspect, or a background that sets off the food. You can enjoy sake in a wide range of ways, for example by changing the temperature or adding water, and I feel that sake partners with food and harmonizes with the body easily.

Benefits gained through Miss Sake activities

Iida: As 2022 Miss Sake Japan, you’ve been busy with a wide range of activities, from going to sake-related events in Japan and abroad to appearing on radio and streaming YouTube videos. What have you gained and how have you felt in the course of these activities?

Isobe: Realizing how much fun and delicious sake is was one big thing. Through the Nadeshiko Program, I was able to rediscover the charm of sake, and introducing and spreading the word about sake as an ambassador also got me thinking about it.

I once streamed a YouTube video of a sake party I held with my friends, and a lot of the people who joined the party had never had a chance to drink sake before. However, when I introduced different types of sake from my native Shiga Prefecture and served them along with the food, I got comments from many of them saying how delicious they were. Experiences like this helped me recognize the importance of the role of an ambassador in conveying the great taste and joy of sake.

As 2022 Miss Sake Japan, I also had the opportunity to meet people actively working in the European sake market, meet ambassadors, and have a one-on-one talk with a master wine sommelier. It is no exaggeration to say that these many encounters, which I would not have enjoyed without entering Miss Sake, have been a huge blessing in my life.

Making choices and living life as my heart dictates

Iida: Now that you are living in both Paris and Tokyo, I imagine the range of people you encounter will expand even more. Could you tell us how and why you came to such a unique way of working and living, including your dual role as a company employee and the 2022 Miss Sake Japan?

Isobe: I feel that it’s truly just because of fate that I’ve been able to live in two places. What’s always been consistent in my mind is to make choices and live as my heart dictates. I chose a financial company as my first place to work after graduation because I thought it would be an industry I could learn about for my first career, in anticipation of eventually being involved in the food sector. But when I actually started working there, I felt that it wasn’t what I was looking for. So, I resolved to “do what I wanted to do,” and switched to a consulting firm that helped Japanese companies expand overseas, a company that I interned at as a university student.

Unfortunately, the timing of my new job coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic; I couldn’t realize my trip to France, and I ended up staying in Japan. The pandemic made it hard to make any progress with restaurant business projects, making for a frustrating situation that lasted about a year and a half. Then, I heard about the Miss Sake contest and entered, and here I am now. I’m not very good at living life with doubts and uneasiness, and this underlying conviction of wanting to live my life in my own way led me to try for Miss Sake. I am grateful to the company for supporting me as I balance my Miss Sake responsibilities and work.

Hopes for the emergence of new types of sake that cater to the lifestyles of the younger generation

Iida: Your efforts and abilities are really what enabled you to realize your own original way of living life with such timing, with fate on your side, and with the understanding of those around you.

By the way, I wrote my master’s thesis on the subject of women drinking alone about seven or eight years ago. I interviewed more than a dozen Japanese women to see if there were a correlation between women’s social and economic independence and drinking alone. This yielded interesting results and insights, but I hear that the younger generation’s drinking rate is so low now that the term “sober-curious” is now in use. I’d like to know what the place of alcohol drinking is for people in their 20s, which is your generation.

Isobe: I’m in or just outside of Generation Z, and I think I’m still on the drinking side. However, I do sense a trend among the younger generation that it’s cool not to drink. A lot of them are health-conscious, and I get the impression that there are more and more fashionable non-alcoholic and low-alcohol products out there. If these types of products came out for sake, that would be very appealing to people who aren’t very strong drinkers, including me.

If people had the option to enjoy the same kind of atmosphere but with a non-alcoholic cocktail, they’d be more likely to pick up a cup when, for example, they have an early morning next day and want to hold off, but at the same time want to be a part of that fun space and time with their friends. I hope we see more sake breweries take on the challenge of developing products for the Generation Z market.

Iida: It’s nice to have non-alcoholic and low-alcohol options. In what situations do you enjoy drinking alcohol with people around your age?

Isobe: For home parties, I bring sake that people who don’t usually drink can drink easily. Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the unveiling of the Japan Awasake Association, and the number of awasake (sparkling sake) types is increasing rapidly now. As more low-alcohol sake and other new types of sake get created this way, I believe the younger generation will be able to enjoy more sake-drinking opportunities.

The desire to promote Japan’s proud food culture to the world

Iida: I understand that you entered the Miss Sake contest from the perspective of promoting Japanese food culture overseas. What do you feel are some of the rewards and challenges you have experienced while actually doing this sake promotion as Miss Sake Japan?

Isobe: Since there are many people out there who are regular sake drinkers and know more than I do, I think my role is to reach out to the those who’ve never had sake before. For example, in France, awareness of sake is still so low that some people confuse Chinese baijiu with Japanese sake. However, there are many cases where people who never had the chance to taste sake before came to like it once they learned about it. Creating such opportunities is also what makes my job as an ambassador worthwhile.

At the same time, one challenge in promoting sake is how to meet people I haven’t yet reached. In October, I went to the Salon du Saké in Paris, and everyone who came was already very interested in sake. I also once went to a famous old equestrian event in the suburbs of France to support a brand of sake made from rice grown in horse-plowed rice paddies. These places don’t have any original connection with sake, so both the sake and the kimonos looked fresh and intriguing to the people in attendance.

It is important to find opportunities for collaboration in these places that have nothing to do with sake or Japan for its worldwide promotion. We are also planning to serve sake at a classical music concert, and I look forward to such music-sake collaborations in the future.

Iida: Introducing sake from a different angle to grab the attention of people who aren’t yet familiar with it can provide the impetus for making the leap from “zero” engagement to “one.” I think that successfully connecting seemingly dissimilar items can set off an unexpected chemical reaction. It must be also very rewarding for you because it’s as if you are the one opening the door to sake.

To enlighten people to the charm of sake

Iida: Finally, could you tell us what you want to do as Miss Sake Japan and for yourself?

Isobe: Since I’ve been granted the wonderful title of Miss Sake Japan, during this year I’d love to be able to discover more and more sake by meeting many people. My goal is to convey the charm of sake to people who still don’t know about it. I’m still in the exploratory phase, but I hope to be involved in sake promotion even after my term ends. For example, if there are difficulties in distribution, then I’d like to identify business opportunities by looking at examples in other countries, such as creating pre-order or subscription schemes. I want to talk with the people I meet, find out what their issues are, and acquire the skills to handle those issues going forward.

Iida: Sounds great. I’ll look forward to your future activities. Thank you very much for sharing your valuable story with us today.