| The sake marketing media selects iconography from Japanese history, literature, and religious observances to retain and reinforce qualities held as uniquely Japanese. Images for labeling and marketing have deep historical roots. Poets regarded sake as a wellspring for self-reflection and social conviviality, but potentially debilitating, while didactic literature examined the role of the sake merchants and evaluated the merits of drinking. Sake has a singular role in Shinto observances, in Imperial appeasement rites, and in the daily life of the sake producers. Even as Japanese struggled to define themselves throughout the Meiji period and subsequent militarization, Western technology provided the marketing means to reinforce selective Japanese qualities, primarily through the ephemeral sake label and lately in websites and other media. I analyze the responses of several contemporary sake producers, from corporate giants to local traditionalists, and their use of media to attract buyers and open new markets. As sake makers remain in the home market, export abroad, or produce outside of Japan, can the marketed images remain quintessentially Japanese, or will they become only a caricature?... |
