Tokiwa Masamune was the name of the family sake brewery in historic Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Yuno Hayashi’s grandfather, who owned the brewery, had a deep love of good food and drink which he passed on to his granddaughter. It is his admiration for fine beverages that propelled Yuno onwards along her journey with whisky and sake.
The Hombo family, the founder of Mars, began producing shochu in 1909, expanding their portfolio over the years to eventually include their most popular product, whisky. They obtained their whisky license in 1949 with the help of their advisor, Mr. Kiichiro Iwai, an icon in the rise of Japanese whisky.
Currently, Mars has two distilleries and an additional aging site. Mars Shinshu, the main distillery, is tucked away at 2,625 ft in the Nagano Alps, making it Japan’s highest whisky distillery. Nagano’s heavy snowfall and temperate climate provide an abundance of soft and delicate glacier water for use in this dynamic range of both blended and single malt expressions.
Legacy and Passion. These are the drivers that inspire Yuno’s pursuit of thought-provoking Japanese beverages, and through Tokiwa Imports, she hopes to share them with you, the finest family-owned whisky and sake from across Japan. Kanpai!
