Dassai Co., Ltd. President and CEO Kazuhiro Sakurai

2025.08.09

We want to spread the appeal of alcohol to the world and space.

President and CEO of Dassai Co., Ltd.　Kazuhiro Sakurai(Kazuhiro Sakurai)

■ Profile
Born in 1976 in Shuto Town, Yamaguchi Prefecture (now Iwakuni City). After graduating from Waseda University, he worked for a Tokyo manufacturer unrelated to sake brewing. He discovered the deliciousness of Dassai at a Tokyo izakaya, and in 2006 returned to his hometown to join Asahi Shuzo. He was then transferred to New York, where he built the foundation for the company's overseas expansion and became a managing director. In 2010, he was in charge of overseas marketing as a director and vice president. In September 2016, he was appointed representative director and president, becoming the fourth generation brewer.

As the son of a sake brewer, Kazuhiro Sakurai, president of Dassai Co., Ltd., is pioneering overseas sales channels to spread the local sake "Dassai" around the world, while preserving tradition and taking on the challenge of making sake using data. We spoke to him about a wide range of topics, from his career history to his current attempts at fermentation experiments in space and his idea of a sake brewery on the moon.

I did a lot of different things during my student days. So it's difficult to say what I focused on, but I was definitely busy. I worked part-time at a secondhand clothing store and a donut shop, and I also belonged to a travel club that went to uninhabited islands and a club that organized events like fashion shows, so time just flew by.

A cup of coffee that made me reconsider inheriting the family business

My parents' home was a sake brewery in Yamaguchi Prefecture, so I naturally thought that "the son of a fishmonger becomes a fishmonger, and the son of a greengrocer becomes a greengrocer," and that "I would eventually take over the family business."
However, after I went to university in Tokyo, that feeling faded somewhat. Perhaps it was partly due to the emotional impact of being physically far away from home, but also because I felt that the sake brewery business was on the decline, so after graduating from university, I decided not to take over the family business and instead worked for a manufacturer. The company's headquarters was in Gunma, but there was talk of opening a head office in the newly opened Roppongi Hills, so I was made a member (as a low-ranking member) of the team heading to Roppongi. It was there, at a Roppongi izakaya, that I discovered my family's sake. My parents would send me sake, and I would drink it at my parents' house when I visited, but I'd never paid for it myself, so I couldn't really imagine how customers felt when they bought my family's sake. However, after trying various sakes at my own expense, I realized that my own sake was the most delicious, and from that moment on, I began to reconsider the appeal of my family's sake brewery. At the time, the company was less than one-twentieth of its current size, so I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried. However, I felt that the family business itself was more meaningful than the size of the business, so I decided to leave the manufacturer and return to my parents' home.

■From zero exports to overseas expansion. A global market built on our own two feet

By the time I joined the company, Dassai had begun to gain recognition in Tokyo to a certain extent, becoming a drink known only to those in the know, but also known by those knowledgeable about alcohol. However, exports to overseas markets had only just begun about a year before I joined the company, so nothing was in place yet, and of course the domestic market was still only half-way there, so we had to keep changing our methods and products to build a market.
Immediately after joining the company, I worked as an assistant on the production floor, learning the ropes while doing the job. I also participated in tasting sales at department stores and liquor stores. During the end-of-year and mid-year gift seasons, I would also offer tasting sales at department stores. After that, I was first put in charge of New York, and gradually moved on to Hong Kong, the UK, and other countries where we were beginning to expand, before finally becoming responsible for the entire overseas market. It was actually my father who decided to expand into New York, and I personally thought, "There's no way foreigners would understand sake," so I wasn't too keen on being put in charge of overseas operations. When I actually went there, no one knew anything about Yamaguchi Prefecture sake, and I couldn't speak English at all, so it didn't go well at all. Fortunately, however, we were able to get our sake stocked in several stores, which allowed me to approach staff and customers. Customers at those stores helped build a market through word of mouth, and our overseas recognition gradually increased.
I wasn't really aware of it at the time, but looking back now, I think that what I was doing overseas was the same as what my father did to spread it from Yamaguchi to Tokyo. Although there are differences in language and business practices between overseas and Japan, I think that the essential parts were the same.
As for the taste, we don't generally change it to suit the local taste. However, we have been accepted because people supported our attitude of "I came here despite not being able to speak English, but I tried my best," and also because delicious food has the power to make people happy, and I believe this is the result of our pursuit of that. I think people understand that we don't change the taste because we don't want to distract from our efforts to pursue even better flavor.

■Quality control achieved through 3000 batches and data utilization

The appeal of Dassai is their seriousness in "making simply delicious sake." They brew about 3000 times a year. With that many brews, even if one fails, they can make up for it with the remaining 2999. This makes it easy for them to try new things.
We believe that tradition is not about preserving the past, but rather a "build-up" that allows us to continue producing high-quality sake. We can say that innovation today is about using data and other available resources, while also balancing this with handcrafted production. We also have a sake brewery where young members are paired up to experience sake brewing from start to finish, and we are also focusing on training personnel who understand the overall process.

■ Lunar sake brewery concept and space fermentation experiment

We would like to continue expanding our overseas operations. Currently, our sales are roughly half domestic and half overseas, but our goal is to increase that to 9% in the future. We predict that the sake market will become a market that attracts even more attention from people all over the world. On the other hand, in order to properly launch our product into the world, the Japanese market will be an important showcase. We also want to make it a priority to create an environment in which our product is properly loved by Japanese customers.
My current dream is to "build a sake brewery on the moon." It is said that from around 2040 or 2050, a town with a population of several thousand will be built on the surface of the moon, where people will be able to live. If this becomes a reality, I would like to build a sake brewery there. As we aim to contribute to people's happiness through delicious sake, we would like to pursue the challenge of bringing the joy of drinking sake to the moon.
In fact, several companies have approached me about working together on something in space, and I am one step closer to my dream of making alcohol on the moon. First, I aim to send alcohol to the International Space Station on a rocket scheduled for launch this fall, in order to ferment the alcohol there. Of course, even though I say I want to make alcohol on the moon, I don't know how it will ferment in one-sixth the gravity of the moon, or if alcohol will even be produced at all. That's why I want to start by just giving it a try.

■Message to university students

I did a variety of part-time jobs and other things during my student days, but I regret not going abroad. Once you enter the workforce, your time and opportunities are limited, and the range of options you can try becomes overwhelmingly narrower. I hope that students will have a variety of experiences without being afraid of failure. I believe that the attitude of failing, learning from it, and moving forward will help you grow as a person in society.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on July 18, 2025 by Yurie Watanabe, second-year student at Josai International University