Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles
After the collapse of the original Japanese consortium behind LAODI and the extraordinary circumstances of the distillery’s first chapter (read Part 1 here: little-happiness.jp/columns/laodi-distillery-visit-vol1/), the story of LAODI’s survival comes down to one partnership and one unforgettable presentation.
The Partner Who Changed Everything
The new LAODI was restructured as a genuinely Laotian company, with founder Ikuzo Inoue as a partner rather than owner. The person who made this possible — and who became the operation’s CEO — is Sihata Lason.
Sihata comes from one of Laos’s most distinguished families: his father received the equivalent of a state funeral upon his death, comparable in honour to a former president. He had also lived in Japan for eight years, giving him an unusually deep understanding of Japanese business culture and values.
In a one-party socialist state where foreign business interests navigate complex webs of regulation and political relationship, Sihata’s involvement transformed LAODI’s position overnight. Where bureaucratic obstacles had previously been constant, they became navigable. Where informal barriers existed, Sihata’s relationships provided passage.
The partnership is not simply political convenience. Inoue has described Sihata as the most important relationship of the LAODI story — a genuine alignment of values and vision, built over years of difficulty and shared commitment to what the distillery represents.
Six Ministers and a Presentation
When Inoue decided to formalise LAODI’s operating licence — to obtain the kind of official recognition that would give the distillery full legal authority to produce and export rum — he did something that might seem reckless in retrospect but was entirely characteristic of how he operates.
He arranged a presentation in front of six government ministers.
He opened not with numbers or projections but with a provocation: “This country has nothing except land.”
He then continued: “If you have land, you can grow agricultural products. The most valuable processed agricultural product in the world is alcohol. Alcohol is made from agricultural raw materials — vodka from potato and grain, brandy from grape, and here in Laos, the most suitable raw material is sugarcane. Let us make a world-class product from what your land already grows.”
The ministers had not previously considered alcohol as an agricultural product. The framing was new to them — and it was persuasive.
In Laos, a permit of this kind typically takes more than six months. This one was approved in one week.
What the Licence Made Possible
The formal recognition transformed LAODI’s relationship with the government from tolerated foreign enterprise to national industry. The distillery became a source of quiet pride — a Laotian product with international reach, representing the country on a stage that most Laotian industries could not access.
LAODI is available at Bar Little Happiness, Hiroshima. Read the full Japanese series overview: little-happiness.jp/columns/laodi-distillery-visit-vol1/
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