Sake Samurai in Rome
5th October 2023
Early this year, I visited Rome and rather surprised how slowly sake has been spreading amongst Romans compared to other major cities in Europe. I took a liberty and organised a series of sake promotion event in the hope to generate sake awareness with the collaboration of the local sake importers. On the last day, the Japanese ambassador Satoshi Suzuki, who is a passionate sake lover and proactively run a campaign called Sake Caravan to spread the words of sake in Italy, kindly invited the sake delegate at his residence as a token of appreciation towards our joint sake PR efforts in Rome. The expedition to Rome was rewarding strengthening the partnership with local authorities and sake trade. This experience also taught me the importance of understanding the local market especially its climate and food culture. Therefore, ‘horses for courses’. To find unique marketing tactics is the key to to open the heart of Romans for sake. We hope to come back to beautiful Rome again to continue the efforts next year.