Japan: Japanese Sake GI to Protect Brand Japan in Overseas Markets

Japan designated “Japanese sake” / nihonshu / 日本酒 as a Geographical Indication (GI) on December 25, 2015. In keeping with recent efforts to elevate the value of Japanese agricultural products and to promote agricultural exports overseas, the new GI will limit the use of the above terms to only those products brewed in Japan with Japanese-grown rice and Japanese water. As the GI does not restrict foreign producers’ ability to use the term “sake,” a widely recognized term, Post does not anticipate much impact on U.S. sake.

Japan: Japanese Sake GI to Protect Brand Japan in Overseas Markets