It was raining the day I visited. A light drizzle, wind pressing against the warehouse walls, making a low, insistent sound. Mr. Oshima stood in front of the still, checking the spirit as it ran — nose first, then a small taste on the tongue. “About 59.5% now,” he said quietly. “A little low.” He hadn’t checked the gauge yet. He already knew.
The Man Behind Rainmaker
For 15 years, Mr. Oshima worked at Chichibu’s Ichiro’s Malt — one of Japan’s most celebrated and sought-after whisky distilleries. He was there from near the beginning, building expertise from scratch: cuts, fermentation, cask selection, the thousand small decisions that make one spirit and not another. He became someone who can judge the alcohol content by smell and taste before the hydrometer confirms it.
Now he is building something of his own. The brand is called Rainmaker — because it always rains when something important begins for him. The day he walked into Ichiro’s Malt for the first time: rain. The day he started his first distillation: rain. And the day I visited to witness this new chapter: rain again.
A Childhood of Aromas
Mr. Oshima grew up in a Tokyo restaurant run by his parents in Aoyama. His earliest memories are of steam rising from pots, of seasonal dishes, of the cheerful noise of adults raising glasses. He loved that atmosphere — the happiness that food and drink created. He used to help carry dishes, wash up, and quietly absorb that world.
His grandfather, always nearby, drank whisky from a hip flask. The young Oshima would breathe in the rising aroma and simply think: that smells wonderful. He didn’t know what it was until the day his grandfather died, when the family sorted through his belongings and he finally learned the name of that scent: whisky.
By junior high school, he had decided: he would make it.
The Path to Ichiro’s Malt — 4 Rejections
He attended a horticultural high school, cycled an hour each way because he couldn’t afford a train pass. He worked six days a week — restaurants, electrical work, construction — just to eat and keep studying. On one precious annual trip with friends, he’d travel Japan by rail pass, visiting sake breweries along the way.
When a newspaper article announced that a new distillery was about to open in Chichibu — what would become Ichiro’s Malt — he called immediately. He was still a student. He was rejected four times. He kept calling. Eventually, he got his foot in the door. That door became his world for 15 years.
I was also an early fan of Ichiro’s Malt, back when it was virtually unknown — calling liquor shops trying to track down every card in the Card Series. We came to the same distillery from completely different directions. And now, those two paths have crossed.
Why Rum?
While mastering whisky at Ichiro’s Malt, a parallel dream never faded: rum. Japan has so few craft rum producers — which is precisely why Mr. Oshima sees the potential. He connected with Takeuchi-san of Nine Leaves (Japan’s pioneering craft rum, now continued by Italy’s Velier), and eventually made the decision to leave Ichiro’s Malt and strike out alone.
For now, he is distilling at a rented facility in Kagawa Prefecture while his own distillery is under construction in Chichibu — in the same town where his dream first came true. The Rainmaker name carries layered meaning: rainmaker as the one who calls the rain, as someone who produces exceptional results, as a natural leader. And for Mr. Oshima, rain is simply the signal that something real is about to begin.
Mika’s Perspective
I stood beside him as he worked the still that rainy morning in Kagawa, asking questions between cuts. He answered carefully, modestly — and when I told him I envied his ability to judge spirit by feel alone, he waved it off immediately. “A bartender who has tasted as many bottles as you has a far wider range,” he said.
The best makers are always like this. The more certain they are, the more quietly they carry it.
Rainmaker rum will come to Bar Little Happiness when it’s ready. I’m already waiting. If it’s raining when it arrives, that will feel exactly right.
Read the original Japanese column: https://little-happiness.jp/columns/rainmaker-rum/
Bar Little Happiness | Hiroshima, Japan
Rum & Whisky specialists | 1,000+ bottles | English menu available
Open Mon–Sat 7PM–12:30AM, Sun 7PM–midnight
No cover charge. Walk-ins welcome.
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