Meet the crew!
Etsuko Nakamura - Tour Leader / Founder
Etsuko Nakamura is a Sake Samurai, Advanced Sake Professional certified by The Sake Education Council and a Government Certified Bilingual English Guide [Registration Number: EN02400]. Etsuko owns and operates sake tours under enakamura Inc, Registered Travel Agency No. 3 – 7490 approved by the Government of Tokyo.
Etsuko began Sake Tours in 2008 and believes in giving guests an experience rather than just a tour. She has toured more than 300 sake breweries around Japan and enjoys creating and leading customised tours for special interest groups.
Jason Adamson - Tour Leader /Marketing / Photographer
Jason has been living in Osaka, Japan since 2011. He has a Masters in Gastronomic Tourism from Le Cordon Bleu and is an Advanced Sake Professional having studied under John Gauntner and the Sake Education Council. Jason takes care of all the website, photos and marketing at saketours.com and when not travelling around Japan drinking sake and eating food - he is curating new tours, taking photos and making videos. He also is part of the team at Sake Industry News.
Rie Komoto - Admin Manager
Rie Komoto was born and raised in Yamagata prefecture where you can find great sake breweries. She loves working for people and seeing their smiles; she has experience in the travel industry working as a tour leader, a hotel receptionist and a government certified English guide. Her interests are exploring and finding wonders in daily life, nature & its creatures, her baby daughter, and of course sake!
Shizuko Akasaka - Admin Support
Shizuko worked as a software engineer in the Tokyo metropolitan area before spending a year living abroad in New York. She’s now living back in her hometown on Sado Island in Niigata. Shizuko is part of the admin team at Sake Tours and helps to organise tours for guests. In her spare times she is a taraibune pilot. Taraibune are traditional tub-shaped fishing boats used for tourist activities on Sado. Shizuko enjoys Sado island's delicious food, sake and nature.
Mikiko Iuchi - Admin Support
Mikiko's career with sake started more than 20 years ago when she worked for Sake Service Institute in Tokyo and handled sake export. In addition to good food and sake, she loves travel, onsen, and scuba diving. Her passion for travel started when she spent a year in Perth, Australia and took a road trip to Cairns making many stops along the way. She is originally from Himeji and currently lives in Aichi with her husband and daughter.
She also holds a black belt in Naginata Marshal Arts so don’t make her angry.