Report on “Sake-pedia in Kanagawa”

“Sake-pedia in Kanagawa” was held from Saturday, 22 to Sunday, 23 March 2025. The programme consisted of visits to sake breweries, tasting sake and writing a wikipedia article on sake.

What inspired the event

I was interested to learn that Sake-pedia was held at Kyoto in 2017 and at Nagano in 2018, and I wanted to organise one in Kanagawa.There are 13 sake breweries in Kanagawa Prefecture, which is just the right size to complete them. I have often spoken of my desire to do a “Sake-pedia in Kanagawa”.

When I attended “Wikipedia Town in Sagamihara” in February 2025, I told the event staff that I wanted to organise “Sake-pedia in Kanagawa”. Ms. I, a local librarian, became enthusiastic and said, “There are two sake breweries in Sagamihara City, so let’s do it!” Cars are essential for a tour of sake breweries, but the driver cannot taste sake. If that’s the case, why don’t we do an overnight stay? Ms. I quickly organised accommodation, a co-working space and a tour of sake brewery, and a two-day programme was born.

Event preparation

Due to the venue and accommodation, the number of possible participants was 10. As it was a weekend at the end of the fiscal year and the call for participation was made just before the event, there were concerns about whether participants would be able to attend. As it turned out, 10 people were able to attend.

I have been collecting material on sake breweries in Kanagawa for some time. We made a reference list for this event. Existing articles on sake in the Japanese edition of Wikipedia were also checked. Materials were collected at the Kanagawa Prefectural Library and the Sagamihara City Library.

On the day of the event

There were nine participants. This includes seven overnight stays and two participants who attended only on Saturday. Three were Wikipedia beginners.

The group met at 9:45am on Saturday, 22 March, at Hashimoto Station on the JR and Keio lines. Six people split into two cars and headed for their first destination, the KUBOTA Brewery. We met up with Wikipedian S. at the KUBOTA Brewery.

The KUBOTA Brewery stood in a scenic space by the river. As the brewery tour was booked for the following afternoon, the only thing to do on this day was to buy sake. Drivers were not allowed to taste the sake, so they ate sake lees ice-cream or plum seed ice-cream. After taking photos of the buildings and observing the sake barrels, we headed to our next destination, the Shimizu Sake Brewery.

Simizusyuzo, the Shimizu Brewery was located along the road. The brewery does not offer tours of the brewery, but we were able to take a peek into the workshop at the back of the sales space. We selected some sake and talked to the shop staff. Although it was a short visit, it was a good interview.

After shopping at a nearby supermarket, we headed to the event venue and accommodation. We had lunch in a restaurant. Guidance and editing work then took place in the co-working space from 14:30 to 17:30.

In the evening, we drove to a nearby stopover spa to bathe. Afterwards, we had a barbecue. Alcohol was lifted because we didn’t have to take the car out anymore. We tasted the sake we bought today.

After dinner, the editing process continued. The venue was reserved until noon the next day, so materials and equipment could be left out. There was no time limit. We read the material and added to the Wikipedia article until I fell asleep.

The next morning, we woke up with the birds singing, made breakfast, and ate it outdoors, then started editing at around 8:30 a.m. We looked back at 11:00 a.m., finished at 11:30 a.m. and left the site.

The following items were edited over the two days. All of these additions.

The photos taken were uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons, and a new category was created.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Kubota_Syuzou
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Shimizu_Syuzou

After lunch, seven people split into four cars and set off to visit the Kubota Brewery. Tours must be booked in advance and cost 500 yen.

The landlady guided us around the workshop, following the process of making sake.She gave clear and enjoyable explanations and answered questions in detail.The tour concluded with a tasting. The bottles were arranged in a row and the landlady introduced the characteristics of each sake.It was a brilliant recommendation that was right on target, full of love and everything looked so good that I wanted to drink it all.We were also lucky enough to be there at a time when freshly made, freshly brewed sake was available.The three non-drivers were represented by a tasting, and the drivers received towels with the brewer’s name on them.

The two fun-filled days flew by and we broke up in the parking lot of the Kubota Brewery. It was a very satisfying and good event. We would like to continue with the aim of completing the 13 breweries in the prefecture.