Japan Trip 2010: Cup Sake Bar Buri

So you fly into Narita at 4pm on a Monday afternoon and what do you do? Well, if you’re a 21st century sake blogger like me, why not meet up with a cyber-twitter-sake-blog-colleague and go on a cup sake adventure through Tokyo?!

I first met Maki Osugi online when I discovered his wonderful cup sake blog bq69 collectibles. I liked his blog so much I asked him for an interview in 2009 that you can read here. Luckily for me Maki-san had lived in New York and spoke fluent English!

When my plans for this visit to Japan were set, Maki offered to meet in person and take me around to a couple cup sake hotspots in Tokyo. Our first stop was Yoshiike, which was a pretty large variety store which has a second floor that they bill as a “department store for sake”. the cup sake selection did not disappoint and I bought 8 cup sakes to bring back. Yes, my suitcase is heavy.

After Yoshiike, Maki took me to Buri Cup Sake Bar near Ueno station. Here I got to sample several cups and enjoy some nice yakitori. Check out the gallery below to see some highlights from Buri. I learned that “buri” means “very” in Hiroshima dialect… well let me tell you – that cup sake was buri, buri good!

Special thanks to Maki-san for taking me around to such fun places and giving me a real cup sake welcome to Japan! Kanpai and see you on twitter Maki-san!!