Kokubu Group Corp., in collaboration with Tablecross Inc. (headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo; Kaoru Joho, Representative Director and CEO), which operates the gourmet platform for inbound foreign visitors “byFood,” conducted a trial tour for inbound foreign visitors featuring a “high-value-added sake brewery experience” on November 27 at Tamura Shuzojo in Fussa, Tokyo.
This initiative was planned with the aim of expanding the number of foreign fans of Japanese sake and growing the overseas market for sake, and was designed to meet inbound visitors’ demand for “experiential travel that allows them to come into contact with the culture and history of the place they are visiting.
By combining Kokubu Group’s nationwide network of sake breweries with Tablecross’s behavioral data on inbound foreign visitors and know-how in designing multilingual experiences, the companies carried out a tour that enabled overseas visitors to gain a deeper understanding of sake culture.
On the day of the event, under the tour concept “Discover Your Sake – A Bespoke Tasting Journey in Tokyo” — “Encounter a cup that satisfies the soul” — participants visited Tamura Shuzojo in Fussa, Tokyo. Following a welcome ceremony by the brewery, they experienced programs including a brewery tour, exploration of sake tailored to each participant’s preferences, and a luxury lunch by the owner of Sushi Udatsu in Nakameguro, Tokyo, paired with rare reserve sake. At the end of the tour, participants were presented with a bottle of sake bearing an original label they had created as a souvenir.
Making use of the knowledge gained from this trial tour, the two companies will combine Kokubu Group’s nationwide brewery network with Tablecross’s expertise in planning and developing tourism content and its information dissemination platform, and will fully roll out high-value-added tour programs. Beginning in mid-December, they started accepting reservation requests for sake brewery experience tours on Tablecross’s platform “byFood.” Through that platform, they will disseminate information overseas and work to expand awareness of the experience content.
The two companies will continue to provide programs through which people can deeply understand and experience sake culture, with the aim of increasing the number of foreign fans of Japanese sake and improving recognition of sake overseas as well as expanding its distribution.
The number of foreign visitors to Japan in 2025 surpassed 35 million by October and has been moving at a record-high pace. Interest is growing, particularly among affluent travelers, in experiential travel that allows them to encounter the culture, history, and nature of the places they visit, and the registration of “traditional sake brewing” as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage has further heightened interest in sake. As a result, brewery experiences are expected to be one of the attractive forms of content for inbound foreign travelers.
“byFood,” the gourmet platform for inbound foreign visitors operated by Tablecross, provides search and reservation services specializing in Japanese food experiences. Through videos focused on culture and stories on its YouTube channel with more than 200,000 subscribers, as well as through social media such as Instagram reaching more than 10 million people per month, it promotes food-experience programs such as food tours and cooking classes for foreign travelers.
