And as we increasingly start to run out of excuses to visit the Land of the Rising Sun a time when we brought Japan to a Scottish whisky isle for goodness Sake.
Now, of course, you need the perfect ingredients.
A Scots groom Stewart, a Japanese bride Hisayo, family and friends.
From the Scottish mainland and the bride’s family from France.
Mix with the Scottish whisky island, Islay, with its ten distilleries which is roughly one for every 300 of its inhabitants.
With the odds improving when you consider some of them will be children.
A humanist celebrant, a fine Islands day, the bridal party in kimonos and kilts.
And you have an occasion with which VisitScotland should surely have been on board.
The perfect mix
Now distilleries and breweries can be hit and miss, often slowed up by information overload on mashing and the like.
And folk asking overscientific questions.
Just when you want to get wired into the drink.
There are exceptions, of course, and Ardbeg Distillery on that day especially.
But any day really with its smoky, peaty tincture soothing your soul as well as your palate.
Same with the sake which was shared just like a quaich around the party after Stewart and Hisayo had broken the wooden box open.
Made in Scotland and Japan
The links between Scotland and Japan run deep.
With our Asian friends’ interest in our usca beatha, or water of life, pricked by a Japanese student in Glasgow University in 1918.
The future father of Japanese whisky Masataka Taketsuru enrolled in the West End of Glasgow.
To study chemistry and learn our distilling secrets.
And find himself a new wife, Rita, a doctor’s daughter from Dunbartonshire.
And a perfect fusion Scots and Japanese is with our friends Stewart and Hisayo having gone on to forge a new generation themselves.
Now apart from my imminent move into my sixties and a bout of nostalgia holiday providers Heaven Publicity have tipped us the wink.
On this special Sake experience in Japan.
Fuji sake
You’ll visit the Ide Sake Brewery in the northern part of Mount Fuji, near the southern shore of Lake Kawaguch.
Just like our whisky, sake’s secrets are in its water and yours is draw.
From an altitude of 1,150 metres, flowing to the town of Fujikawaguchiko.
Yes, you’ll get to listen to the experts for an hour before the tastings.
Of three distinct types of sake, plus a plum sake, and a whisky.
Offering a well-rounded appreciation of the brewery’s diverse offerings.
The tour and tasting are priced from ￥1500/£7.95pp.
Stay in a Glamping Hanz Pao, an igloo-like tent encircling a communal bar in the depth of the forest in the Hanz Outdoor Retreat.
Complete with modern and antique Japanese furnishings, bathrooms and outdoor dining areas.
Prices from ¥32,128 / £176 per Pao sleeping two people per night on a room only basis, breakfast can be added for ¥2,373 / £13pp.
Flights and transfers extra.