A rice paddy of Arrow Warm Oita (2015)
Centennial Shochu Project
The Yazaki Centennial “Shochu” Project, a commemoration of Yazaki’s 75th Anniversary
Yazaki employees took on the challenge of growing rice and producing rice shochu in Saiki City, Oita Prefecture.
HOME Centennial Shochu Project REPORT
November 21, 2015
Yazaki Centennial “Shochu” Project session 4: Secondary preparation
An amazingly active mash!
On November 21, eight motivated, cheerful and shochu-loving men and women gathered at Bungomeijyo in Naokawa, Saiki City, Oita Prefecture to proceed with secondary preparation of the rice shochu. They removed clumps of rice that had been steamed in a large drum and separated them, grain by grain. Then they sent the rice to a tank. The rice in the large drum weighed an astonishing one ton! And the tank was truly massive, standing at four meters in height.
The task of mixing the fermenting mash and rice in the tank was very hard work. Yet, despite being amazed by the weight of the “Hinohikari” rice they had grown with such care and the size of the tank, the volunteers completed the work in a cooperative spirit with smiles and mutual words of encouragement.
The next day, the volunteers received a message from Mr. Ikeda, the foreman of Bungomeijyo’s factory, saying that he had never seen such an active fermenting mash. A product of everyone’s hard work, Yazaki’s rice shochu will soon be ready to enjoy!
Commemorative photo of the fourth-session volunteers taken in front of Bungomeijyo
The large rice-steaming drum
Opening the steamer’s lid revealed one ton of rice!
Tasks were split up among the volunteers.
OK, fermenting mash, do your stuff!
Stirring requires a lot of muscle!
Giving back to the community: Picking up trash at Kumo No Ue Park
There was a lot of trash on the Motosaru Coast.
REPORT
June 13, 2015
The Yazaki Centennial “Shochu” Project gets underway!
October 10, 2015
Yazaki Centennial “Shochu” Project session 2: Rice harvesting
October 17, 2015
Yazaki Centennial “Shochu” Project session 3: Rice harvesting
November 21, 2015
Yazaki Centennial “Shochu” Project session 4: Secondary preparation
December 19, 2015
Yazaki Centennial “Shochu” Project session 5: Bottling
March 19, 2016
Yazaki Centennial “Shochu” Project session 6: Bottling