For Joji Sakurai's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Chief vintner Norio Abe wasn't interested in wine — until an order he couldn't refuse and a few years in the fields convinced him he had much more than a spark of talent.
Terroir has never been this balmy before, but that hasn't stopped the awards from finding this Kyushu winemaker.
Nobuari Soga "started farming to be close to nature's blessings." He soon discovered he could also express himself through the art of winemaking and was hooked.
A senior vintner stakes his future on uprooting the past, while his daughter embraces the past to forge an exciting future.
Toyohiko and Michiko Kanehashi were told their vines would die if they didn't fertilize. On the contrary, going natural sets Funky Chateau wines apart from the pack.
Vintner Daisuke Suzaki says he didn't see the point of hunting for the ideal terrain to start his winery. Instead, he welcomed the challenge of starting one on his home turf.
The first woman to establish a domaine in Japan, vintner Mie Ikeno cut her teeth in France before returning to carve out her own niche (and producing some highly sought-after wines).
Forget its reputation for cloying sweetness. A group of pioneers on a quest for perfection are putting Japanese wines on the global map.
In a cramped studio in Ravenna, Italy, Takako Hirai runs her finger along the cracks in a mosaic artwork depicting dappled light in a park. The spaces between the tiles, she explains, determine the flow and movement of a mosaic, even more than the ...
In the Roman amphitheater of Verona, Italy, the elephants and horses in ancient Egyptian regalia marched onto stage to the thunderous chords of Guiseppe Verdi's opera "Aida." The singers filled the balmy night with their voices, soaring over the trumpets and crashing cymbals of the orchestra — and for one girl watching the spectacle it seemed like "a world of dreams." ...
