When planning a bucket-list trip to Japan last year, I really wanted to make it to at least one distillery. The trip wasn’t to be focused on whisky however, with so much else to see in this fascinating country, so I didn’t want to travel too far from our main destinations to reach one.
There are a few distilleries to pick from, as all of the big names have visitor centers – Miyagikyo, Yoichi, Hakushu – though once you limit the choice by requiring day-trip accessibility from Tokyo or the major cities of Western Japan (Osaka, Kyoto) the number drops quite quickly.
In the end, Suntory’s Yamazaki ticked the most boxes, being extremely accommodating to tourists and not too far off the beaten track from Kyoto. The choice made, the only thing left to do was mark off the days on the calendar until online reservations opened for our desired date. If you’re planning to visit for a tour, this is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to get right!
An entire month opens up for booking on the first day of the previous month. For instance, on April 1st, the entire month of May becomes available. And remember that Japan is a day ahead of North America, so you actually want to hit up the website on March 31st from Canada or the USA in this example. It’s critical that you don’t miss the right time to book your tour – my experience is that most tours are booked up the first day they’re available, and almost everything for that month will be gone just one day later. Don’t miss out!