Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness
Four hours by car from Shizuoka station, into the South Alps. Past several dams counting down toward the end of their useful lives. Past geological drama — a landslide section with a drop of approximately 1,000 meters, large enough to contain all of Tokyo Disneyland. And then, at 1,200 meters above sea level: a distillery.
“Why make whisky in a place this remote?” I asked when we started. By the time we arrived, the question had answered itself.
Half a Century Without an Answer
Ikawa Distillery is operated by Tozan — a company with roots in forestry and paper production, steward of vast private forest in the South Alps including several 3,000-meter peaks. For over 50 years, they couldn’t find a sustainable use for this land.
“For more than 50 years, we didn’t know how to use this land,” our guide Hirai-san told me — now a visiting professor at Shizuoka University for his deep knowledge of the region. They tried selling water. But water alone was hard to give value to. Then the insight came: what if the water became part of what the land produced? What if this place could be bottled?
The answer was whisky.
Everything From This Land
The water: from the headwaters of the Oigawa river, where wasabi once grew (wasabi requires water of exceptional purity). Survey after survey found bacterial contamination almost everywhere else; this spring alone was clean. Used almost completely untreated — ultraviolet only, for regulatory compliance.
The casks: include Mizunara oak from the distillery’s own forest. Mizunara was historically never felled here because it’s too dense to float downriver for transport. That historical accident left old-growth Mizunara standing — available for barrel-making in a way it isn’t elsewhere in Japan.
The maturation environment: 1,200 meters, dramatic temperature swings, cool and humid, clouds arriving from the west — conditions believed to produce a character unlike lower-altitude sites.
Important: Visits are seasonal (April–November only), extremely limited, and require advance arrangement. Do not attempt to visit without prior approval — the approach crosses private land.
Full Japanese report: little-happiness.jp/columns/ikawa-distillery/
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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.
english.little-happiness.jp