On a quiet side street in Chichibu, a small city in western Saitama Prefecture, an amber glow is cast onto the surrounding nightscape from the latticed windows of a renovated 100-year-old kominka (traditional wooden home). And while many similar structures dotting the area retain remnants of their history as sericulture wholesalers during the late Taisho (1912-26) to early Showa (1926-89) eras, this particular building has a different story to tell.
This is the Highlander Inn Chichibu, a Scottish-style pub in the Japanese countryside. Underneath the pub’s sign, which is crafted from a whisky barrel, a pair of chōchin lanterns are inscribed with a major source of local pride: Ichiro’s Malt Chichibu Distillery. Among the pub’s regular patrons, in fact, is master distiller Ichiro Akuto himself — a Chichibu native who has become a global legend in the world of independent whisky makers.
Born into a local family who began brewing sake in the 16th century using the area’s pristine mountain waters, Akuto’s grandfather additionally began pursuing whisky-making by opening the Hanyu Distillery in Chichibu during the 1940s. His son followed suit, creating single malt whiskies after purchasing two stills from Scotland. Business was brisk until the 1990s, but the Akuto family ceased whisky production in 2000 amid declining sales. The company was sold, and when it became clear that whisky was not within the new buyer’s plans, Akuto bought back 400 casks of the family stock.