A renewed appreciation for sake

For us Filipinos, rice is part of our daily staple, mainly as our main source of carbohydrates that we accompany with a variety of viands.

Occasionally, we also make it into snacks such as puto or kakanin – different forms of rice cakes and sweets. However, unlike some of our neighbors, we have never used rice to make an alcoholic drink.

Fortunately, our neighbors – Japan and Korea – have done us the favor and have perfected alcoholic drinks that younger Filipinos now enjoy, specifically the Korean soju and the new varieties of sake.

To be fair, Japanese sake was introduced to the Philippines much earlier than the now popular Korean soju. In fact, prior to the Korean barbecue, Japanese cuisine – sashimi, tempura and sukiyaki – were Filipino favorites. However, sake was considered a stylized drink that accompanied Japanese meals and cost more than local beers and wine, and was thus not appreciated by ordinary Filipinos.

The advent of K-pop and K-dramas popularized the much cheaper soju along with the now ubiquitous Korean barbecue cuisine that has spread like wildfire and that Filipinos have totally embraced because of its close similarity to our favorite bar-b-q stick cuisine, best eaten freshly cooked and off the grill with rice.

Thankfully, due to the efforts of some people who truly love and appreciate sake, Japan’s treasured national drink is now regaining popularity with the introduction of a wider variety of sakes including sparkling varieties.

At the forefront of efforts to revive the popularity of sake is the Joseph family-led Philippine Wine Merchants and Okada Manila – with the strong support of Mrs. Takako Okada, the former wife of Kazuo Okada who chose to personally attend the press event.

It was an invitation I could not turn down – the press conference for the second staging of the successful Sake Manila held last year, and which would once again be held at the Okada Glass Ballroom next month on May 23, a Friday that would allow those attending to enjoy themselves with a wide variety of sakes accompanied by a wide selection of Japanese and Western cuisine, showcasing the versatile and easy pairing of sake to various types of cuisine and featuring the added attraction of live entertainment.

I was fortunate to be seated at the table of the second generation of Josephs, specifically the children of the late Robert “Bobby” Lim Joseph Jr. (who was also a well-known figure in the tourism industry): Robi Joseph, who was the host of the event, and Rea Joseph-Gonzales, who introduced me to her uncles Ralph, Ronnie and Raymond, who together run Philippine Wine Merchants.

Ralph owns the well-known liquor store Ralph’s. Ronnie, it turns out, is married to Melissa de Leon, the younger sister of movie actor Christopher de Leon. Ronnie appears to be a wine connoisseur whom I spied animatedly conversing with Okada’s European chefs about his trip to Verona, Italy.

Raymond is the sake “master” of the family, who has travelled extensively throughout Japan to learn, observe and appreciate the art of sake making.

The knowledge of the Joseph family and their consultant, Ms. Gracie Valenzuela, could make me write a whole column alone about sake, but of course the presence of Mrs. Okada just brought out the newswoman in me and I could not help but seek out an ambush interview with her.

While the Joseph brothers and Philippine Wine Merchants are the main drivers of Sake Manila, the invaluable partnership of Mrs. Okada gives more prominence to the Philippine-Japan collaboration, with the event being a pet project of Mrs. Okada to attract more guests to the hotel.

I had not expected to see Mrs. Okada, but there she was without a security entourage, only with a Japanese assistant who serves as her translator as well. I mustered the courage to approach her to try to ask a couple of questions, looking out from the side of my eye for a possible rush from an unseen security detail or cordon sanitaire, but there was none.

In fact, I was surprised because she actually welcomed my request even as her assistant quickly explained that she would translate.

Thus, as translated by her assistant, Mrs. Okada revealed that they are able to bring in “a lot of guests overseas and locally. They stay here in our hotel as well as in our casinos.”

According to Mrs. Okada, as translated, “our occupancy rate is relatively high although a portion of our floors are currently under renovation, but we are doing renovations just because we want to welcome more guests to come in the future.”

However, Mrs. Okada acknowledged that “the foreigners or the tourist rate is declining, but we are very optimistic. We will continue welcoming overseas guests as well as the local people. The Filipino people are welcome here... we are doing our very best to entice people by... coming up with something more attractive to the property.”

Mrs. Okada, according to her assistant/translator, is not based in the Philippines, but she spends most of her time here.

Based on an internet search, according to GGR-Asia, first-quarter casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) of Okada Manila declined by 11.1 percent year-on-year based on the April 14 filing of Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc. Tiger Resort is a unit of Japanese conglomerate Universal Entertainment Corp.

Okada’s GGR from Jan. 1 to March 31 this year was just under P7.81 billion ($136.7 million), compared to nearly P8.78 billion in the prior-year period.

In the three months to March 31, Okada Manila’s gaming machines generated revenue of P2.99 billion, down by 7.5 percent year-on-year. Non-gaming revenue in the first quarter fell by 3.1 percent year-on-year, to P941 million.