In 2016, a whiskey distillery began operations at Akkeshi, one of Hokkaido’s coastal seaport towns facing the Pacific Ocean. Currently, Japanese whiskeys such as Yamazaki, Yoichi, and Ichiro’s Malt are gaining popularity around the world, so the Akkeshi Distillery has great expectations. The director of the Distillery, Katsuyuki Tatsuzaki, talks about the sacred place that resembles Scotland’s Islay, and why he chose the location.