FIRST JOURNEYS - 80 GINS AROUND THE WORLD - PIN 46 OF 80
135° EAST HYOTO DRY GIN, Akashi, Japan
AROUND THE WORLD, ONE BOTTLE AT A TIME,
PHILEAS FOGG WOULD SURELY APPROVE
A gin inspired by the spirit of 1920s Japan — where East met West, tradition met modernity, and a little bit of sake found its way into the glass.
The Akashi Kaikyō Bridge links Kobe on the mainland of Honshu to Iwaya on Awaji Island and really is an engineering wonder. It crosses the Akashi Strait, a notoriously challenging stretch of water with strong tidal currents and storms. The bridge was finally opened in 1998, following decades of planning — and, importantly, a tragic 1955 ferry disaster that helped convince the Japanese government that a safer crossing was needed.
The bridge is 3,911m long overall, with a 1,991m central span. That central span was originally planned at 1,990m, but the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake shifted the towers by around a metre while construction was underway, increasing the span to 1,991m. The earthquake is generally recorded as magnitude 7.3 on the Japanese scale (6.9 Mw).
And here's the really interesting bit: when it opened, that 1,991m span was the longest suspension-bridge span in the world. It held that title for many years, but it is now second, behind Turkey's 1915 Çanakkale Bridge.
The bridge cost around ¥500 billion to build — roughly US$3.6 billion at the 1998 exchange rate — and today's standard toll is ¥2,300. Around 23,000 vehicles a day use the bridge, although toll levels across Japan's expressway network have long been a source of debate.
It really is quite something when you look at the figures, but then again, standing beneath something nearly 4km long and suspended over the sea probably makes the numbers feel a little more real.
And then there is another Japanese bridge you may have seen on social media — the Eshima Ohashi, sometimes nicknamed the “Rollercoaster Bridge”. It stretches for 1.7km between Tottori and Shimane prefectures and certainly looks terrifying from the right angle! The photographs do exaggerate the effect, but it really does have a gradient of 6.1% on one side and 5.1% on the other. So, yes, there is a bit of camera trickery involved, but it isn't completely innocent!
But enough about bridges, let's talk gin!
The Kaikyō Distillery is in Akashi City, Hyōgo, and 135° East is named after the 135th meridian east, which passes through Akashi. The meridian is particularly significant here because it was selected as Japan's standard meridian for Japan Standard Time — hence Akashi's connection with being the “city of time”.
The gin itself is inspired by the
Taishō period (1912–1926), a fascinating time when Japan was changing rapidly and looking increasingly outward. Western influences were finding their way into architecture, fashion, music, food and urban life, while Japan itself was becoming more industrialised and politically active.
It was also a complicated period. The First World War brought an export boom and industrial growth, followed by inflation and the 1918 Rice Riots. There were growing demands for democracy and greater political participation, while the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake devastated Tokyo and Yokohama.
The Great Depression came later, beginning in 1929, so technically sits outside the Taishō period — but it forms part of the wider story of the dramatic economic changes that followed.
One of the things I particularly love about this period is the idea of Japanese and Western influences being absorbed rather than simply replacing one another. Food is a great example. Yōshoku developed as a style of Western-influenced Japanese cooking adapted to local tastes. Architecture blended Japanese and Western ideas, Western-style clothing became increasingly visible in cities, and new forms of popular entertainment — including radio, recorded music and popular songs — began to emerge.
There were also changing opportunities for women, particularly in urban areas, with more women entering professions and developing new fashions and styles. It wasn't equality by any stretch of the imagination, but it was certainly a period of social change.
And that idea of East meeting West is exactly what 135° East is trying to capture.
Kimio Yonezawa examined more than 50 potential botanicals before selecting five Japanese botanicals to sit alongside three traditional European gin botanicals. The final eight are juniper, coriander, angelica, sencha, yuzu, shiso, ume and sansho pepper.
The botanicals are distilled separately to preserve their individual character, with vacuum distillation used for the Japanese botanicals, before everything is blended together. And then comes the little Japanese flourish — a splash of distilled Akashi-Tai Junmai sake, made using Yamada Nishiki rice.
I love that detail. It's not simply a Japanese gin because it has Japanese botanicals; the sake connects it directly back to the Yonezawa family's sake-making heritage.
The result is floral and citrus-led, with yuzu giving brightness, sencha bringing a gentle bitterness, ume adding a soft fruitiness and sansho bringing that lovely warming, tingling pepperiness at the finish. The sake distillate helps soften and round out the spice.
I've tried it with both Indian tonic and elderflower tonic and, for me, the softer floral notes of the elderflower tonic work better here. They soften the sansho while allowing the yuzu and floral character to come through.
So this is a very simple G&T — nothing complicated, because I think this gin has plenty going on already.
“My goal was to create a gin with a strong personality, to echo Japan’s openness to the world in the 20s.”
Kimio Yonezawa
40ml 135° East Hyogo Dry Gin
80ml elderflower tonic
Lots of ice
Give it a gentle stir and garnish with a yuzu peel, plum fan and a few edible cherry blossoms.
"Show me a bottle
and I'll tell you a story."