NEWS
DASSAI SAKE MAKER CHANGED COMPANY NAME TO MATCH BRAND NAME
By Susan Lewis
23-9-2025
Source: Dassai
The brewer of popular Japanese sake Dassai recently changed its company name to match its signature label, in a move aimed at boosting global brand recognition to expand sales abroad.
Before the rebranding in June, the brewer's previous name, Asahi Shuzo Co, proved to be an obstacle in its expansion efforts abroad, often being confused with other companies.
"The entire globe is our market," Dassai Inc CEO Kazuhiro Sakurai told Japan Times, with the company aiming for overseas markets to eventually account for 70 percent of total sales, up from 40 percent currently, amid a decline at home.
"Asahi," meaning "sunrise" or "morning sun" is used widely in Japanese company names, including by one of the country's beverage giants, while Dassai refers to the otters seen in Yamaguchi Prefecture.
Popular for its mellow taste, Dassai sake was given as a gift to U.S. President Barack Obama by the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose constituency was in the prefecture.
Domestic shipments of sake have been declining amid reduced alcohol consumption, with the 390 million liters shipped in fiscal 2023 around a fifth of the peak level five decades earlier. In contrast, shipments overseas are continuing to expand amid a global boom in Japanese cuisine.
Moving forward, Dassai is determined to increase its presence in the United States and Europe, in addition to the Asian market that has long been its main overseas sales destination.
In 2023, the company established a brewery in the state of New York to produce and sell sake locally that uses USA grown sake rice, which helps to minimize the impact of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
More recently, at the World Exposition in Osaka, Dassai released a special sake brewed in collaboration with Austria that was produced with Johann Strauss II's "Lagoon Waltz" playing during the fermentation process.
(the writer can be contacted at: info@thewinechronicle.com)
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