[In Times of Emergency, Sake Rice Cannot Be Eaten] The Resolve of a 161-Year-Old Sake Brewery Challenging Junmai Daiginjo with Food-Grade Rice – Aichi's Watanabe Shuzo Bets on 'Nikomaru' 40% Polishing for Food Security

Aisai City, Aichi Prefecture - Watanabe Shuzo, harvest season, golden rice fields.

Amidst Middle East tensions, soaring prices, and a decline in rice farmers, which are shaking Japan's dinner tables, Watanabe Shuzo Co., Ltd. (Representative Director Eiji Yamada), founded in Keio 1 (1865) in Aisai City, Aichi Prefecture, has for the first time this year challenged to brew Junmai Daiginjo using food-grade rice 'Nikomaru' polished to 40%.

This is not a technical challenge. Nor is it a declaration of ideology.

It is a concrete action to protect the future of our dinner tables.

Watanabe Shuzo is once again expressing its resolve before the new sake brewing season for Reiwa 9 (2027) fiscal year.

We are not polishing sake rice.

There is only one reason why rice farmers continue to grow rice: whether there is 'demand' for it.

If there is no demand, rice fields will disappear. If rice fields disappear, Japan's food supply cannot be protected. That is why Watanabe Shuzo transforms food-grade rice into rice that can be sold at a higher price.

Japan's future changes depending on what you choose.

Rice planting scene of Mr. Yabuya of Tokai Norinsan, a rice farmer in Matsusaka City. 'Nikomaru' received the Special Excellence Award in Reiwa 7 (2025) fiscal year.

Food crisis has already begun.

The world's food supply is becoming increasingly unstable. Escalating tensions in the Middle East are affecting energy prices, logistics costs, and grain prices. For Japan, which relies on imports, this is not a distant problem.

Japan's main import items are as follows:

- Wheat (self-sufficiency rate: approximately 15%)
- Soybeans (self-sufficiency rate: approximately 6%)
- Feed (self-sufficiency rate: approximately 25%)
- Fertilizers (many raw materials depend on overseas)
- Fuel (energy self-sufficiency rate: approximately 10%)

Many of these depend on overseas supply, and changes in international affairs directly impact Japan's dinner tables. (Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 'Food Self-Sufficiency Rate', Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry 'Energy White Paper', etc.)

On the other hand, Japan has one remaining strength: 'rice.' Rice is one of the few staple foods that Japan can continue to produce domestically, and protecting paddy fields is the very foundation of protecting the lives of Japanese people.

However, in reality, that foundation is beginning to crumble due to the aging of farmers, farmers leaving the land, an increase in abandoned cultivated land, and rising material costs.

If this continues, Japan will become a 'country that can produce but does not produce.'

This sense of crisis is the fundamental reason why Watanabe Shuzo is challenging Daiginjo brewing with food-grade rice.

Japan's staple food, 'rice.' Rice shortage in Reiwa era.

Transforming food-grade rice into 'valuable rice.'

For many years, sake brewing has predominantly favored specialized sake rice such as Yamada Nishiki. Watanabe Shuzo also brews 'Yaheiji no Sake Kotobuki' (彌榮の酒 寿) made from 100% Yamada Nishiki.

However, a question arose.

"Is sake rice the only future for sake? Does food-grade rice truly have no potential?"

Food-grade rice 'Nikomaru' is more difficult to polish to a high degree than sake rice, is prone to breakage, and requires extremely delicate water absorption management. Brewing requires advanced techniques. Nevertheless, they dared to challenge polishing it to the Daiginjo standard of 40%.

The reason is simple: not to treat food-grade rice as a 'cheap raw material,' but to redefine it as 'rice that creates high value.' And to create an outlet that generates profit for food-grade rice.

From this philosophy, a new domain was born, calling Junmai Daiginjo brewed with food-grade rice 'Shokumai Daiginjo' (食米大吟醸).

"Rice that tastes good to eat also makes delicious sake to drink. I wanted to prove that potential in the bottle."

The completed 'Yaheiji no Sake Kotobuki Nikomaru Shikomi' spreads a transparent sweetness the moment it is tasted, followed by a sharp finish and a clear, long aftertaste. The soft umami unique to food-grade rice quietly resides within the precision of Daiginjo.

*This initiative does not negate sake brewing rice but is part of creating diverse value for rice.

'Nikomaru' received the Special Excellence Award at the Reiwa 7 (2025) competition. 'Yaheiji no Sake Kotobuki' (彌榮の酒 寿) elevates the status of celebrations.

One sake creates 'relationships.'

Watanabe Shuzo abolished all its brands.

"Only one sake is brewed. We only brew this, so it is chosen for celebrations."

This is not a commercial decision. It is a declaration of resolve. We do not take lightly the weight of a 161-year-old brewery declaring that it will 'only brew this.' Focusing on one means continuing to compete with that one sake. It means eliminating escape routes and committing oneself to confronting rice and Japanese agriculture.

"Honestly, it wasn't an easy choice. If we brewed with sake rice, we could make sake more efficiently and stably. Nevertheless, we chose food-grade rice because we felt a sense of crisis that 'if we don't do it now, it will be too late.'"

This attitude is consistent outside of sake brewing. Bottle caps, which would normally be discarded, are transformed into 'value that is not discarded' and redefined as lucky charms that connect people. Sake chosen for aging is deliberately decided 'not to be sold now.'

This is not a one-off topic. Watanabe Shuzo consistently pursues 'value that does not end with consumption.'

And now, the meaning of specializing in one sake is deepening even further.