Nippon Scape

Whilst gathering stories at Ikazaki in Uchiko-cho, Ehime Prefecture, we happened to come across a strange rumour. “There is a mysterious man like a mountain sage here, who has a bizarre power to manipulate people without saying a single word. It’s really strange.” Now, what is this about? How could we possible resist wondering how this man can manipulate people without the sweet temptation of money, violence of an iron fist or a carrot-and-stick approach? However, the local people all nod in agreement to this story. “Yes, yes. There’s something black magic-ish about him.” Black magic!? If such a sorcerous person really exists, we’d surely want to meet him…. So we wound up meeting Mr. Toru Kameoka, the president of the Kameoka Sake Brewery (Kameoka Shuzo).

Hello, thank you for making time for us at such a short notice. I heard that you run a sake brewery and wondered if you would tell us a little bit about sake making.

No, no, I’m now a president and not the managing director so I don’t really ‘run’ the brewery. I only experiment and prepare for the next fight. You might be able to call it research and development, to put it simply.

I see, so you are developing new sake products! I was always curious about how sake was being produced.

Well, in my case, I come up with the name first. The name comes first, then I start thinking about the taste. It might be more accurate to say that I weave a story from the name and then start experimenting with the taste. After that, when I think I’ve done enough research and development, I pass it onto the brewery and the actual production gets going from there.

So you’re adopting this somewhat obscure way of sake making.

I think it’s now an interesting era for people who brew sake seriously, because these days, women have started drinking sake too. The fact that ladies – who are great story lovers – indulge in sake is intriguing. They have an acute sense of taste but taste in the end is just a perceptual illusion, you see. (laughs)

What? Taste is just an illusion? I can kind of understand that women love stories but what do you mean by taste is just an illusion?

For instance, there is this concept that “flowers are beautiful.” But that’s because there is an assumption in human minds that “flowers should be beautiful.” The beauty lies not in the flowers but in human brains. Don’t you think?

Well, that’s confusing….

Flowers are nothing more than flowers. It’s neither beautiful nor ugly if there is no one to appreciate it and it’s people who add the perception of beauty to it. And the same goes for the taste of sake. So making stories that human brains perceive as ‘tasty’ is one of the aspects of what I’m doing.

Okay, I’m starting to get it a little bit now. Can you give us an actual example?

It’s really simple. For example, there is a non-fiction author called Mayumi Mori and she once published a critical biography of Ogai Mori called “Ogai no Saka.” We were asked to brew new sake to commemorate the book’s publication and the idea I got at the time was to use 100 year-old yeast – because the book was about Ogai Mori. He was an author from Meiji Period, and that’s about 100 years ago, you see?

Oh, indeed. It’s certainly romantic to read the book while drinking sake made with yeast from 100 years ago. But you still need proper skills, right?

Of course we do. If the story isn’t based on skills that produce a high quality, it all becomes fictional. I suppose it’s important to have something to back it up.

I see. But you are a hard worker and perhaps you were born with that kind of frame of mind.

(Laughs) I’m not a hard worker, I’m just having fun. I call it research and development, but all I’m doing is moving my hands. I’m not using my brain all that much either. Everyone tries to think with their head but if you keep your hands moving, then they’ll discover and think it all for you. It’s so easy. What’s more, sake koji mold is really hardworking and once I put them in the tank, they do the job for you. There is nothing more beautiful than that. (laughs)

Um, there is an indescribable depth to your words…. I’m starting to see why people in Ikazaki were saying that they feel manipulated by you.

I’m not manipulating anyone or anything. But then most Japanese people don’t follow things up as much as they should so words are lost on each other even though we are speaking the same language. For instance, if someone gets angry and tries to leave the room, I say “Hey, wait, we have some sake here, why don’t you have a glass? Here’s a set of Hanafuda (Japanese playing cards) too.” That’s the kind of follow up you need. Communications are prone to get vague but maybe it’s all about confirming and not leaving things vague as they are.

By the way, we heard that you are also a facilitator in town-building amongst other things.

I have participated in activities to preserve the scenery of the Oda River. That was fun. The prefecture is efficiency-oriented so they destroy the nature and try to do major bank protection works using concrete. I thought that wasn’t good so I went along to the prefectural government but they flatly refused to listen and wouldn’t even give me the time of the day. So I made the next move and started paying visits to ministry offices in Kasumigaseki. I travelled back and forth on Shinkansen week after week. Then I was able to meet a bureaucrat from the River Bureau of the Construction Ministry and as I kept bringing him things like my sake and daikon radish from my field, we eventually became friends. He said “Mr. Kame, I want to see the Oda River in Ikazaki with my own eyes” and came all the way down here. The officials from the prefecture were in such a panic. They quickly changed their attitude and gave us an almost red-carpet welcome. (laughs)

I suppose bank protection works are strange things, meaning, they destroy the scenery for disasters that rarely happen. And what happened after that?

Eventually, it was decided that the “Neo-Natural River Reconstruction Method” (a method that takes the natural scenery of the river into account) developed in Switzerland should be introduced for the first time in Japan. And a couple of years after that, the Construction Ministry has issued instructions for the prefectural governments across Japan to introduce the method too. Well, for someone like me, who adores Che Guevara and empathises with him, it feels great to be able to do something like that. Empathising might be a talent of a sort, actually.

That’s really amazing. You effectively changed the entire river projects in Japan! What’s the secret of your so-called black magic?

One, people should not be trusted, but loved. Two, there is no such thing as a majority decision – always forward with your own strength. Three, do not have such delusion that people can be persuaded by words. Four, life, money, status and honour are all mere stage props; there is no need for them if there is no drama to be performed on stage.