Whisky Festival in Tokyo

Japan's big whisky festivals are upon us once again. The first is the Whisky Festival 2009 at the Aoyama Diamond Hall in Tokyo on January 24.

This is only the second Whisky Festival but it has already established itself as second only to Whisky Live Tokyo, which will be held on February 22, in terms of size.

Among 28 companies attending will be Suntory, Asahi (Nikka distillers), Kirin (Karuizawa and Fuji-Gotemba distilleries), Venture whisky (the people behind Chichibu Distillery and Ichiro's Malt), Whisk-e, Veuve Cliquot Japan, Diageo Moet Hennessy , Acorn, Kokubu, Sanyo Bussan, Japan Import System, Scotch Malt Sales, Three Rivers, Nihon Shurui Hanbai / Diageo Japan, Pernod Ricard, Bonili Japan, Maxiam Japan and Meijiya. Some of these exhibitors do not attend Whisky Live, so both events should be in any truly devoted whisky buff's diary. There will of course be lots of opportunities to sample whiskies from all over the world.

The seminar list provided for me by Takeshi Mogi looks very interesting. I think I am right in saying that all of these seminars will be in Japanese. They cost 2000 yen each and there are 25 seats in every seminar.

１２：３０～１３：３０ Mamoru Tsuchiya: About Taketsuru Note (Sold Out)
１４：００～１５：００ Seiichi Koshimizu: Suntory's Attractiveness
１５：３０～１６：３０ Ichiro Akuto: Ichiro's Malt
Ticket at JPY 3000
１１：１５～１２：１５ Yasuhiro Koinuma and Motohiro Tanishima: Recent News about Cognac (Sold Out)
１２：４５～１３：４５ Koji Nomura: Recent News about Burbon
１４：１５～１５：１５ Mamoru Tsuchiya: Life of Robert Burns
１５：４５～１６：４５ Talk with SWRC's tasters (Sold Out)

Ticket information in Japanese is available here. Admission costs 3,000 yen in advance (there are still tickets available) or 3,500 yen on the day. Map and route guidance in Japanese is here but this Google map may be a bit easier to use. The event will be held in Sapphire Room (BF1) of Aoyama Diamond Hall from 11:00 AM to 18:00 PM on the 24th, which is of course the day before Burns night, so there will be some Haggis ceremonials. Takeshi will be playing his pipes.

Address of the event in English:
Aoyama Diamond Hall
3-6-8 Kita Aoyama
Minato ku
Tokyo
107-0061　
TEL: 03（5467）2111
FAX: 03（5467）2259
Google Map

Address in Japanese:
青山ダイヤモンドホール
〒107-0061東京都港区北青山3-6-8