Today was a free day so I woke up later than usual and got ready. Since my friends want me to name drop them, I will. Casey, Chelsea, Nico, Xander, and I went to the Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum. We learned about the process of sake making, and all of the different steps that go into it. The museum also had interesting artifacts such as the Okura family’s possessions like maps, writing, notes, family crests, and more. There were displays of olden tools that were used to make sale before most things have been turned into machines. However, even now, sake breweries rely on the human five senses to know when the next step is ready and to taste test the sake. Speaking of taste testing, we got to try 3 different sakes at the end of the museum tour. I tried a peach, melon, and daiginjo sake. Unfortunately the taste of the alcohol was too strong so I didn’t like the taste too much. I liked the scent of the daiginjo though. I think I’ll stick to my lemon sours and fruity cocktails. But it was nice to find out what sake tastes like and try different kinds.
I forgot to take pictures so the above picture is a Miffy cup I got in Gion where it is Miffy on one side and ghost Miffy peeping through the other.
Academic Independent Excursion:
I decided to choose the scholarly article Traditional Markets and Product Development The Case of Gekkeikan by Kenjirō Ishikawa of Dōshisha University. This article discusses about the traditional markets and product development of the Fushimi District of sake brewery through the lens of specifically Gekkeikan. It also talks about how it adapted to the emergence of a mass market and changing consumer lifestyles and the challenges faced by businesses during the rise of white-collar workers and the rapid changes in society.
The development of new sources of energy and transportation systems impacted the industrialization process in Japan by accelerating the forward progress of industrialization. The use of new sources of energy such as petroleum and electricity, the creation of new materials by the chemical industry, and the formation of new systems of transportation and communications by means of railroads, automobiles, the telegraph, the telephone, and the like, all contributed to the acceleration of industrialization. These developments allowed for the spread of mass production practices and mass marketing systems, particularly in the United States.
The key factors that led to the emergence of a mass market in Japan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries were the development of large cities as a result of great increases in population, the following emergence of city markets and nationwide markets, and the spread of education and increasing incomes. These factors led to a growing population, the beginnings of urbanization, diversity in consumption, and changes in systems of distribution.
Gekkeikan adapted its product development to cater to the changing consumer lifestyles by developing a way to produce preservative-free refined sake. This innovation allowed them to meet the demands of consumers, particularly white-collar workers and the middle class, who had adopted new lifestyles. Gekkeikan did this through bacteria control, temperature control, and by using glass bottles.
The article did mention some things that I also read about in the museum, such as the fine tuning of the use of heat in limiting the growth of bacteria and the global success that Gekkeikan experienced. Reading this article helped me understand that the emergence of a popular sake brewery is more than just technology but also business history and humanities.
romaincrisis
andulkaphoto
dailybridgerton
prguitarman
ellievsbear