Kenichi Ohashi, Bespoke Sake and Wine Consultant and President of Yamajin Co.

Kenichi (Ken) Ohashi is the most active wine and sake expert in Japan. Born in Tochigi Prefecture, he is the third generation owner of Yamajin Co., a distributor specialised in wine, sake and local spirits. Ken also has his own consultancy company, Red Bridge. Ken is very active in the wine and sake world both at home and abroad. In addition to these roles he also assumes the post of Director of Somersault, the biggest business group of liquor retailers in Japan. In recent years, he continues to contribute to the global sake promotion, as a Sake Chairman of the International Wine Challenge (the biggest sake judging panel outside Japan) and as an official sake Instructor of Sake Samurai Society.

After completing his Diploma in 2006 (the highly regarded qualification of Wine and Spirit Education Trust- WSET), Ken is now studying to become a Master of Wine. In the field of Sake, he holds Sake Expert Assessor, the highest qualification of National Research Institute of Brewing Japan, and the title of Master of Sake from Sake Service Institute. Ken's consultancy services are in great demand, as it is rare to see such an in depth knowledge and expert tasting ability for both wine and sake in this industry.