Sake On Air Tour is “New”, “Comfortable”, and “Exciting” Let’s explore authentic Japanese Sake Breweries.
Visit working sake breweries in Japan with Sake On Air. Each tour below shows how long it takes, how active it is and what it costs, and you can book your date on the tour’s own page.
This tour is also available as a private tour for 1 to 10 people - please contact us for details.
Founded in 1879, the Kidoizumi sake brewery is perched on the southeastern edge of the peninsula that wraps around Tokyo Bay. It faces the Pacific Ocean on one side and is enveloped by fertile rice fields on the other. The brewery is just an hour from Tokyo Station and easily accessible by express train, but once you exit at Ohara you will feel a million miles away from the noise and hustle of the capital.
This exclusive Sake On Air tour gives you the opportunity to meet the fifth-generation company president and master brewer Hayato Shoji, and his wife, Saori, who will grant you access to the brewery floor and share their stories of inheriting and transforming this traditional business and its time-honored techniques. Your expert guide, a member of the Sake On Air Team, will ensure you get the most out of this rare opportunity to meet the makers and see where they work. Your guide will accompany you to the fields, through the brewery, and into the tasting room to ensure that you catch every detail and nuance.
Kidoizumi is one of a handful of sake breweries that grows its own rice. Shoji is committed to working in harmony with the environment and refuses to use agrochemicals or chemical fertilizers in the brewery’s fields or artificial additives in its sake. Their unique brewing process results in an extremely complex sake with heavy body, high acidity, and fantastic potential for aging.
On this tour, you will taste sake aged for different durations and combine your favorites into a unique blend to take home and savor as a memory of your visit. Join us to dive deep into Kidoizumi’s history and natural environment, and unravel the secrets behind its sake’s unique flavor profile.
Founded in 1879, the Kidoizumi brewery has witnessed some of the most turbulent periods of Japan’s recent history, including the country’s rapid modernization around the turn of the last century.
The Ohara region has long thrived due to its position on the coast, with a rich bounty of fish and seafood, and the family who operate the Kidoizumi brewery were once wholesalers of fish, soy sauce, miso, and other foods. Their move into sake brewing is said to have been almost an accident, inspired by the arrival of a large wooden vat at the port.
Their turn toward respect for and integration with the natural environment came after World War II. Japan’s early twentieth century industrialization focused on greater efficiency and productivity, putting pressure on most industries to scale up, and the third-generation owner of the business saw how most breweries had, by necessity or choice, come to mass-produce sake in a process that required artificial additives to make the result palatable.
He rejected that approach, and instead committed to an environmentally friendly production process with no additives, agrochemicals, or chemical fertilizers. He rejected volume in favor of brewing with proven traditional methods and creating a sake that would stand the test of time and become more valuable as it aged. This commitment and vision of the future was handed down through the family to Hayato Shoji, fifth-generation president and master brewer. He uses rice grown in harmony with nature and ambient yeast, following the traditional brewing practices enshrined in the 2024 UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage designation.
After arriving at Ohara Station (and taking a moment to breathe and appreciate how different the area is from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo) your first stop is the Kidoizumi rice fields. After seeing and hearing how the brewery works hand-in-hand with nature to produce its own raw materials, you will be taken to the brewery by private car and admitted into “Gallery Izumi,” where the main exhibit is bottles of aged sake, lined up to illustrate the brewery’s long history.
You will be served four examples of Kidoizumi’s remarkable sake alongside onigiri (rice balls) made from rice grown by the brewery without agrochemicals or chemical fertilizer. You will also be joined at the table by Saori Shoji, Hayato’s wife, to enjoy her company and insights into the history and philosophy of the brewery, in conversation with your expert guide from Sake On Air.
Kidoizumi’s signature brands include AFS, made through an unusual brewing method that results in high sweetness and acidity, and Afruge, made by maturing AFS in used wine barrels, a technique rarely used by sake producers.
The roles of owner and master brewer were traditionally divided, but as the sake industry contracted after the 1970s, the same person often came to hold final responsibility both for sake brewing and for the company.
After lunch, fifth-generation president and master brewer Hayato Shoji will bring you into the brewing area (normally closed to the public) to explain the brewing process and how he creates sake. As you enter the space, you will notice the distinctive sweet smell that pervades sake breweries even outside the brewing season (October to May), and Mr. Shoji will explain in detail how they use traditional equipment such as a wooden steamer, dedicated koji room, high-acidity starter, and large wooden vats to create Kidoizumi’s unique flavor profile.
The finale of the tour is the opportunity to create your very own blend of aged sake from the bottles that await you inside Kidoizumi’s cellar, each one given its unique character by the passage of time. Choose periods that resonate with you, and combine them to create a blend that has never existed before, nor ever will again.
As the blends of aged sake start to take shape, conversation naturally flows. What’s so special about that year? What did you like about that vintage? As you explore your choices with Hayato and Saori, the experience shifts from being about sake to the path your life took to bring you there.
The layering of different vintages of sake gives rise to something completely new, a glass that you can raise to the years that made you who you are. The perfect finish to your visit to Kidoizumi, an experience you will find nowhere else.
Japanese culture buff, certified Advanced Sake Professional, sake educator, and consultant at the culinary arts school Le Cordon Bleu and Temple University. Making a turnaround from an international banking career in 2013, he embarked on a new life project and has taken hundreds of individual clients through inspiring experiences of Japanese culture across the country, playing his part in staging sake and its cultural heritage for the benefit of a wide audience. Producing and hosting events for corporate clients, as well as the expat community, he has been featured in publications in France, China, the US, and Japan.
Discover the Kidoizumi Sake Brewery: An Exclusive Look into the Fields and Behind the Scenes
When traveling from Tokyo Station, we recommend taking the Limited Express Wakashio No. 3 departing at 9:00 a.m.
Tour starts at 10:15 am
Tour ends at 4:00 pm
Tour ends at Ohara Station
The Limited Express Wakashio No. 16 departs Ohara Station at 4:20 pm, arriving at Tokyo Station 5:34 pm.
Group size
・This intimate, small-group tour is limited to 10 participants. Please contact us if you have a larger group.
・The minimum number of participants is 4, but you can also book a private tour for 1-3 people. Please contact us to do so.
・If fewer than 4 participants have purchased tickets by 7 days before the tour date, the tour will be cancelled and you will receive a full refund. (Does not apply if booked as a private tour.)
Access from Tokyo Station
・The Wakashio Limited Express and other JR Sotobo Line trains depart from the Keiyo Line platforms, which are several levels underground at Tokyo Station.
・Make sure to allow 10-15 minutes to walk to these platforms when transferring from the Shinkansen or other JR lines.
・Inside Tokyo Station, look for signs for the Keiyo Line (JE). There is a moving walkway along the way.
Tickets for the Limited Express Wakashio
・You must buy tickets for the Limited Express Wakashio before boarding.
・All seats on the Limited Express Wakashio are reserved. There are no unreserved sheets.
・You can buy Limited Express Reserved Seat Tickets from ticket vending machines at the station, online from the JR East Train Reservation portal, or at a JR counter. IC cards such as Suica can be used for the basic fare, but not for the Limited Express Reserved Seat Ticket.