One of Japan’s largest festivals celebrating Japanese food culture, “CRAFT SAKE WEEK 2025 at ROPPONGI HILLS,” has opened! Our PR representative introduces the event’s highlights, along with a look at the first day.

Now in its 7th year, one of Japan’s largest festivals celebrating Japanese food culture, “CRAFT SAKE WEEK 2025 at ROPPONGI HILLS,” is being held over 12 days from Friday, April 18 to Tuesday, April 29 (public holiday).

The event features 120 carefully selected sake breweries from across Japan, along with 15 restaurants, including renowned establishments that are typically difficult to book.

During the event, you can enjoy each brewery’s carefully crafted sake—including special selections available only that day—paired with event-exclusive original menus created by top chefs. It is an event that both sake enthusiasts and those less familiar with sake can fully enjoy.

This time, I, Honoka Yamaguchi, the PR representative for CRAFT SAKE WEEK 2025 at ROPPONGI HILLS, will introduce the key highlights of the event, along with scenes from opening day.

What is “CRAFT SAKE WEEK,” one of Japan’s largest sake events?

Scenes from this year’s opening day

The event began in 2016, inspired by organizer Hidetoshi Nakata’s travels across Japan, where he met numerous producers—particularly in sake, Japanese tea, and crafts—and experienced Japan’s proud culture and techniques. Through these encounters, he strongly felt the depth and potential of sake and launched the event with the desire to share the excellence of Japanese culture with as many people as possible.

Focusing on carefully selected sake from across Japan, the event shares the appeal of sake and, in recent years, Japanese food culture including Japanese tea. In addition to being held six times in Roppongi (Tokyo), it has also taken place in regional cities such as Hakata (Fukuoka) and Sendai (Miyagi), welcoming a cumulative total of over one million visitors to date.

[Highlight 1] 120 sake breweries from across Japan gather in one place!

The true centerpiece of this event is its sake lineup. A total of 120 breweries—carefully selected through tastings by more than 100 people, including Hidetoshi Nakata, sake experts, and top chefs—come together specifically for this event.

Including 16 breweries making their first appearance, these breweries rotate daily in line with different themes, with 10 breweries participating each day. Even if you are not familiar with sake, it is a great opportunity to discover a sake that suits your taste. On the final day, top-tier breweries will gather, including “Juyondai,” known for its extremely hard-to-obtain labels. It is a valuable chance to savor rare sake that is not easy to experience in everyday life.

Please check this year’s lineup on the official website.

List of participating breweries:https://craftsakeweek.com/csw-2025/sake-lineup/day01/

All sake served that day is displayed on a hinoki-wood stand

The sake cup design changes every year and is commissioned from the popular maker “TAJIMA GLASS”

[Highlight 2] Original menus from renowned restaurants and NIHONMONO products!

Another major highlight of this event is that you can enjoy food as well as sake.

Every year, top-tier and buzzworthy restaurants sell event-exclusive original menus.

Restaurants rotate in groups of five—five in the first half, five in the second half, and five on the final day—so you can enjoy a total of 15 dining options across a wide range of genres together with sake.

During the first five days this year, under the theme “New Wave in Food: A New Era of À la Carte and Sake,” five popular restaurants known for delicious à la carte dishes will participate: “Tosenkaku Tokyo” (Chinese), “Cuore Azzurro” (Italian), “Oyamano Ikappore” (Japanese), “Ichichome Torimatsu” (yakitori), and “Lol.” (bistro)!

Left: “Lol.” Mikan wild boar stewed in tomato sauce / Right: “Cuore Azzurro” salted salmon roe with Italian burrata cheese

During the second half (six days), under the theme “The Story of Ingredients: Producers’ Passion Through Sake,” five restaurants committed to quality ingredients are scheduled to participate: “Fujie Sabo by Yamamotoyama” (nori), “’SIDA’ by Ajinomoto” (dashi), “TEBA” (chicken wings), “KURKKU FIELDS” (cheese), and “Garari” (miso).

And on the final day, under the theme “Food Revolutionaries Who Surprise the World: New Possibilities for Food and Sake,” five restaurants will appear: “ASAHINA Gastronome” (French), “malca” (Italian), “Imperial Hotel Torakuro” (Japanese), “Minami-Aoyama Shichichome” (yakitori), and “YORONIKU” (yakiniku). Perfect for the grand finale, the lineup includes restaurants that have earned stars in world-renowned restaurant guides, as well as extremely popular venues that are difficult to book—five famous restaurants that do not normally participate in events!

Restaurant list:https://craftsakeweek.com/csw-2025/food-ineup/

In addition, a booth for the online store “NIHONMONO,” produced by Hidetoshi Nakata, will be set up at the venue. Hidetoshi Nakata travels throughout Japan and offers authentic, exceptional items from across the country—“real” treasures of Japan that he could only discover by visiting each place. Products that are usually available only through the online store will be sold exclusively at the event.

Product list:https://craftsakeweek.com/csw-2025/sweets/

Products featured at this year’s NIHONMONO booth

[Highlight 3] A space and music themed around the Japanese cultural tradition of “Muneage”

Although the venue theme changes every year, this year it was designed by a world-renowned young Japanese architect, creating a fantastical atmosphere. In the past, elements of Japanese culture and the seasons—such as “SAKA-MORI,” masu cups, rope, bamboo, cherry blossoms, and yagura towers—have been incorporated to create a space where visitors can experience the appeal of sake and Japanese culture.

This year’s venue design was created by “MOUNT FUJI ARCHITECS STUDIO,” led by Masahiro Harada and Mao Harada, with “Muneage” as the theme, bringing a massive muneage-inspired structure to the venue.

Scenes from this year’s venue

From left: Mao Harada and Masahiro Harada

To further energize the event, a DJ booth has also been set up in the venue. Following last year, J-WAVE’s “TOKYO M.A.A.D SPIN” is fully producing the music that colors the space.

On stage, in addition to performances by DJs and live artists—including program navigator Kan Takagi and KO KIMURA—“TOKYO M.A.A.D SPIN” will also provide the venue’s background music. In this fantastical space, you can enjoy carefully selected sake, meals by top chefs, and music curated by “TOKYO M.A.A.D SPIN.”

Details on the venue music:https://craftsakeweek.com/csw-2025/music-lineup/

Scenes from this year’s live stage

How to enjoy the event

Because participating breweries and restaurants change daily, checking the schedule for the vendors you are interested in is what makes this event so appealing—you can enjoy it again and again, as many days as you like.

The venue uses a cashless system, allowing you to enjoy all food and drinks with dedicated coins. For first-time visitors, we recommend purchasing the starter set, which includes an original sake cup and 12 coins. Enjoy your favorite sake with the original sake cup.

From your second visit onward, if you bring your sake cup, you can enjoy the event by purchasing coins only. Coins can be used at any time during the event period, so any unused coins can also be used on another day.

Tip: If you only want to enjoy the food, you do not need to purchase a sake cup. Purchasing coins only is also OK.

Advance purchase:https://passmarket.yahoo.co.jp/event/show/detail/01ibn4h5xm941.html

Even if you are not yet familiar with sake, you are sure to find one that suits your taste from the finest selections carefully chosen from across Japan. If you are not comfortable with alcohol, the NIHONMONO booth also offers non-alcoholic drinks such as Japanese tea, so you can feel free to enjoy the food alone.

Please savor a new Japanese food experience at CRAFT SAKE WEEK. We look forward to welcoming you at the venue.

Official website: http://craftsakeweek.com/

Toasting with this year’s sake cup

Payment coins used at the venue