The Story of the Sake Tours Logo

I first came across Shigeki Miura’s work online and was so impressed with it that when I heard about his show in Kyoto I thought it would be a good excuse for a train trip.

I really enjoyed his exhibition, especially his pieces on Sapporo Beer, his art was definitely Japanese but it had a slight modern twist to it. I decided to buy one of his Sapporo beer pieces for my husband who is also a (Sapporo beer) fan. On the way home on the shinkansen whilst having some sake, I thought about how it would be great to have a designer or artist like that to design the new Sake Tours logo.

Several months passed and it was always in the back of my mind. I needed to find someone like Shigeki to design a logo, but I couldn’t just contact him out of the blue and say “Hey I want you to make a logo for me” … or could I? There was only one way to find out.

I decided to hunt him down and ask.

His first requirement was to meet face to face in Kyoto.

So, we met up at a coffee shop at Kyoto Station one morning and I learned about his work.

Shigeki Miura lives in the famous sake producing town of Fushimi in Southern Kyoto. After studying Japanese painting in school, he chose woodblock prints as his medium both as a carver and a printer. He loves Sapporo Beer and sake. So we talked about sake.

I told him about Sake Tours and how it had evolved over the years into not only being about visiting sake breweries but meeting the brewers and their friends who owned farms and learning about the philosophy and passion of all these people. Sake by itself is great, but when it is combined with stories from the people who make it, food from the local area, and drunk from a cup made by a local craftsman in a place – the time and place make sake truly amazing.

He said he would make the logo.
“Excellent!” I thought and then I asked how long it would take.

His response … “I will need time to conceptualize it so … maybe 6 months, maybe more.

So I waited and waited.

and I waited …

Until one day just over six months later – I got an email.

I instantly fell in love with it. This was perfect. The logo really expresses what I could not express in words. It really shows that it is more about the people you meet and the time than just the sake.

Some people say it reminds them of the Japanese flag, others say it looks like a traveling wheel, one friend said it’s people sitting around a table drinking … and another said it reminds them of a night when you drink too much and fall asleep at a friends house under the kotatsu.

Thank-you Shigeki for feeling what Sake Tours is all about.

You can follow him on instagram @shigecycle to see what he is working on.