“Campa-ah-ay!” – you will certainly hear if you find yourself in the company of celebrating Japanese. “Campai” can be translated as “drink to the bottom” or “drink dry”, and this call is heard at all events before the first sip of sake, beer, wine, champagne and almost any other alcoholic beverage.
Today, October 1, on the calendar – Japanese Wine Day (Nihon-shu-no Hi). For foreigners, a huge number of whom know about this drink no longer by hearsay, the name of the day can be simply and clearly translated as Sake Day.
Immediately, I would like to make a reservation that Sake Day is neither a national holiday, nor a national day off in Japan. For all their love for various types of sake, most Japanese, in general, do not know and will not remember such a day if they inadvertently come up with a speech.
Sake Day was established by the Central Japan Winemaking Union in 1978 as a professional holiday. It is no coincidence that the day was chosen: by the beginning of October, a new harvest of rice ripens, and a new year of winemaking begins for winemakers. By tradition, most wine companies and private winemakers start making new wine from October 1, marking the beginning of the new year of winemaking on this day.
The process of making sake is very laborious and time-consuming, despite the fact that many industries are now automated. The main culture on the basis of which sake is prepared is, of course, rice, which is fermented in a certain way with the help of microorganisms (called kodzi) and yeast. Excellent water quality is one of the most important factors in obtaining a quality drink. The percentage of alcohol in the sake produced is usually between 13 and 16.
Almost every region in Japan has its own specialty sake, “made with the technology we only have a secret” based on selected rice and excellent quality water. Naturally, restaurants, pubs and bars will always offer you a significant assortment of sake, which can be drunk either warm or chilled, depending on your preferences and the time of year.
While the professional holiday of Sake Day is not a “red day of the calendar” in Japan, there is no doubt that the Japanese have many reasons to shout “Campai!” and enjoy your favorite drink, usually poured into small cups тёко (30-40 ml) from a small bottle with a capacity of approximately 1 th (180 ml). And on frosty New Year’s days, you will definitely be poured fresh sake into square wooden containers – mass.
At the end of the story about Sake Day, there are a few rules for the “skillful and reasonable” use of sake:
1. Drink lightly and joyfully, with a smile.
2. Drink slowly, stick to your rhythm.
3. Get used to drinking with food, be sure to eat.
4. Know your drinking rate.
5. Have “liver rest days” at least 2 times a week.
6. Do not force anyone to drink.
7. Do not drink alcohol if you have just taken a medicine.
8. Do not drink “in one gulp”, do not force anyone to drink like that.
9. Finish drinking by 12 noon at the latest.
10. Get regular liver checkups.