Japanophiles: Phillip Richards - Japanology Plus

0:15 Nozawa Onsen in Nagano is one of Japan's best known hot spring resort.

0:22 This village of 3,000 people is hugely popular,

0:25 attracting around 30,000 visitors from abroad each ski season.

0:31 Today's guest, Philip Richards,

0:33 is one of those captivated by the charms of Nozawa Onsen.

0:39 Philip became the first foreigner

0:41 to participate in the renowned Dosojin Festival,

0:45 a celebrated fire festival traditionally restricted to villages.

0:51 In other words, he has been recognized

0:53 by the Nozawa Onsen villagers as one of their own.

0:58 Philip set up a gin and whiskey

1:00 distillery that uses local ingredients with the goal

1:05 of producing world-class spirits in Nozawa Onsen

1:08 and creating a new destination for visitors.

1:12 He was motivated by a desire to give something back to his adopted home.

1:21 Today, we see how Philip Richards is putting down roots

1:25 in Nozawa Onsen and explore what makes this small community so appealing.

1:39 Hello and welcome to Japanology Plus.

1:40 I'm Peter Barakan.

1:42 Today, we present one of our Japanophile profiles.

1:46 I'm in one of Japan's best known hot spring resorts, Nozawa Onsen,

1:50 which is up in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture,

1:52 about a couple of hours out of Tokyo on a shinkansen train.

1:56 Behind me, you'll see the steam coming off

1:59 the hot spring waters, which is quite hot.

2:02 It's about 90°C.

2:04 And the local people come here to cook

2:07 their vegetables and boil eggs in the water.

2:10 My guest today is an Australian who's made his home here in Nozawa,

2:14 and I'm off to meet him now.

2:22 January is the busiest month of the year for the village.

2:26 It's when residents get together to stage the famous Dosojin Festival.

2:35 Peter has come to meet Philip on the day of the festival itself.

2:46 Welcome to the distillery.

2:49 Hello.

2:49 Nice to meet you.

2:50 you.

2:50 I'm Philip.

2:52 Peter.

2:52 Peter.

2:53 A pleasure.

2:54 Welcome to Nozawa Onsen Distillery.

2:56 It looks very new.

2:58 How new is it?

2:59 Uh we just opened in 2022 in December.

3:03 So, oh we're basically just over 3 years.

3:06 Okay.

3:06 So, we're going to have a walk around?

3:08 Yeah.

3:09 It's a It's a pretty uh small distillery.

3:12 Here are Here are our stills.

3:14 Oh, wow.

3:14 Yeah, they were imported from Southern Germany.

3:18 They're They're coal stills,

3:20 and that's where the That's where the magic happens.

3:22 Okay.

3:23 When I was growing up, gin was always associated with juniper berries.

3:29 Sure.

3:29 Is Is that still the case?

3:31 Yeah, well the the actual definition of a gin is

3:34 is a spirit where where the main flavor is juniper berries.

3:37 Yeah.

3:38 After that, it's really, you know, completely free what you do with it.

3:42 Really?

3:42 So, so in in some sense, because there's so much freedom, it's actually,

3:46 you know, difficult to make, you know, a really good gin cuz it you know,

3:49 it requires a a of you know,

3:51 a lot of trial and error to get you know, to get really good balance and things.

3:55 Okay.

3:56 The thing why I think you know,

3:57 gin's popular and and and why we decided to make it,

4:01 it's a really good spirit for you know, showcasing local botanicals and flavors.

4:07 Oh, okay.

4:08 So, you're making gin that's unique to Nozawa.

4:12 That's right.

4:13 For as as much as possible we we try tried to use you know,

4:16 botanicals that that we you know, we get up you know, in the forest

4:19 of of from the local farms and things like that.

4:22 So, we really just want to express you know,

4:24 the beauty of Nozawa Onsen through our spirits.

4:27 Okay.

4:29 Philip Richards is representative director

4:31 of this gin and whiskey distillery which he

4:35 established in 2022 on the site of a former canning factory in the village.

4:45 At the far end of the distillery is a bar area.

4:52 This bar counter was repurposed from equipment

4:56 that was used in the old canning factory.

5:00 Peter decides to try a cocktail made with gin from the distillery.

5:07 Thanks very much.

5:08 Here you go.

5:08 It's very nice.

5:09 The world's finest gimlet.

5:12 All right.

5:12 Pleasure to meet you.

5:14 Cheers.

5:14 Thanks for coming to Nozawa Onsen.

5:23 Ooh.

5:24 That's good.

5:26 Mhm.

5:27 These are great.

5:28 Really good.

5:29 So, these are your four main types of gin, are they?

5:33 So, these are our our our signature gins.

5:37 Nozawa gin which is in in the gimlet Uh-huh.

5:39 to express the uh the the aromas of the forest of Nozawa.

5:51 Mhm.

5:53 Interesting yet.

5:56 It does have the aroma of citrus a little bit, doesn't it?

6:00 Yes.

6:00 Interesting.

6:01 It's got quite a bit of citrus in it then.

6:03 Yeah, it's meant to evoke memories of of being up

6:06 in the up in the forests of New Zealand and Okay.

6:09 whether it's skiing down through the forest

6:11 or whether it's whether it's in summer.

6:14 Mhm.

6:15 There is also a gin with a sharp sansho pepper flavor.

6:19 And another with the sweet fragrance of cherry tree leaves.

6:24 Altogether there are four main types of gin.

6:28 These craft gins went on sale in December 2022.

6:33 In April 2023 at the annual San Francisco World Spirits Competition,

6:39 all four of these gins were awarded gold medals

6:43 out of roughly 6,000 entries from around the world.

6:48 Gin is made from a distilled spirit based on grains,

6:52 grapes, or similar ingredients,

6:55 which is flavored with botanicals such as juniper berries,

6:58 lemon zest, or ginger, and then distilled again.

7:05 Are you the one that chooses all the ingredients?

7:08 No, well that luckily enough we have a proper professional to do that.

7:11 I'm only in charge of testing.

7:16 So, do you actually have any of these ingredients on the premises here?

7:20 Absolutely.

7:21 We are making gin every day.

7:23 Would you like to come and have a look at the back?

7:24 Absolutely, yes.

7:25 I'm curious to know what they look like.

7:27 All right, let's go.

7:28 Okay.

7:34 Come on in.

7:34 Okay, thank you.

7:36 Mhm.

7:39 This is also our other gin still.

7:41 Oh, okay.

7:42 You actually make it really every day?

7:44 Every day, yes.

7:46 I'm making uh one batch of gin and one barrel worth of whiskey a day, basically.

7:52 Wow.

7:54 Looks super clean, too.

7:57 Right here is some of the ingredients.

7:59 This is the main one, gin juniper.

8:01 You know, I don't think I've ever seen a juniper berry.

8:09 All right.

8:11 So, that's what they look like.

8:12 Yeah.

8:12 You you can smell them.

8:13 They give a quite a nice aroma.

8:15 Oh, yes.

8:17 Again, I wouldn't know what to compare it

8:19 with, but it is a pleasant aroma, definitely.

8:22 Ah, some kuromoji picked from uh the local forest.

8:27 From the forest and then and then we put it through a chipper.

8:31 Okay.

8:32 It's a lovely This one's also got a lovely aroma.

8:35 Oh, yes.

8:36 That has a very kind of fresh Mhm.

8:38 foresty feel to it, doesn't it?

8:41 Yeah.

8:42 So, that's probably what gives the foresty the foresty sort of aroma.

8:47 Okay.

8:47 It's one of its origin.

8:48 Ah.

8:50 Oh, and here's the kakidoushi.

8:53 Oh, that's got a lovely aroma.

8:56 Mhm.

8:58 In spring and summer, ingredients such as kuromoji and kakidoushi are

9:03 harvested from the forests of Nozawa Onsen.

9:08 Kuromoji, a fragrant wood, is traditionally used in tea and bath products.

9:16 Kakidoushi also has a pleasant smell and is popular as a herbal tea.

9:24 Yeah, hard hard to believe it's just a like a weed growing up Yeah, really.

9:28 in the forest.

9:28 It really is is everywhere.

9:31 To get this much of it takes takes a a lot of work.

9:35 Oh, really?

9:36 Yeah, it's you you pull the vines,

9:38 then from each vine we pull off the leaves one by one, and then wash them,

9:43 and then there are four people a whole day's work might be you know,

9:46 a pile like this or something.

9:48 really?

9:49 Yeah, it's quite It's quite labor-intensive to do,

9:52 but but but very much worth it.

9:53 Okay.

9:55 Actually, what led you to set up a distillery here in the first place?

10:00 And as long as it has always wonderful water.

10:04 This is It's very soft spring water.

10:08 Oh, right.

10:08 It comes from the from the melted snow water.

10:13 And the mountains here are covered in buna trees.

10:17 Buna trees leave you know, a carpet of leaf you know,

10:20 around the forest floor, which acts for a first filter of the snow melt.

10:25 And then And that passes into the mountain,

10:28 and and they say it takes around 30 years to 50

10:31 years to come out of the spring just above the distillery.

10:35 Which just gives a just a real delicious soft-tasting water.

10:42 Yeah, perfect for spirits.

10:43 Takes that long for the snow melt to actually

10:45 come back out of the out of the ground.

10:47 So they say.

10:52 I haven't been around long enough to verify that one.

10:59 The two head for a place where they can drink some of the spring water.

11:06 And here's the Here's the magic spring water.

11:08 Oh, this is the spring.

11:12 it.

11:11 But quite unassuming.

11:13 A little less less romantic than I was expecting.

11:18 Please go ahead and have a have a try.

11:20 Oh, they even provide a little cup.

11:23 Okay.

11:27 Yeah, tastes like water.

11:29 Yeah, amazing, hey?

11:32 Goes well with the gimlet.

11:35 Yeah, it does feel soft, I must say.

11:38 Yeah, it's nice.

11:39 So, we we come up here every morning and and fill up probably 100 L.

11:44 Oh, really?

11:45 Or something like that.

11:45 100 L Yeah, oh, for the distillery.

11:47 For the distillery.

11:48 All right.

11:50 Next, they ride a gondola up the ski slope

11:54 to view the forest where the botanicals are harvested.

12:06 So, these these are all cedar trees here.

12:08 But uh Right.

12:09 We use the uh but the leaves and the nuts from the cedar tree.

12:13 Mhm.

12:14 And then there's also and there's also at the base

12:16 of the trees is where we pick the uh kakidouchi.

12:20 Oh, the base of the cedar trees, that's where you find them.

12:23 Yeah.

12:24 It's all all around, just just basically both sides.

12:27 These are all uh roads through the forest.

12:29 Okay.

12:29 And so on.

12:31 Uh-huh.

12:31 Yeah, basically on the side of the road.

12:34 All right.

12:35 The gondola has arrived at the summit.

12:40 Oh, oh, it's a bit it's a wee chilly, as they say.

12:49 Ooh, it is a wee chilly out today.

12:55 Philip Richards was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1973.

13:03 What was your first contact with Japan?

13:07 Actually, came here pretty much on a whim.

13:10 Had studied a little bit of Japanese language at at high school.

13:15 I was in high school during the bubble area and you know, you think, you know,

13:19 at the time, you know,

13:20 it looked like Japan was set to rule the world and you know,

13:23 if you didn't know Japanese, you know, you were you know,

13:26 perhaps you wouldn't be able to you know, do business or whatever.

13:29 So it was really that kind of area.

13:31 I didn't I didn't have that much interest in it to to be honest at the time.

13:36 Okay, it was just something to do at school.

13:37 It was just something that yeah, we had to we had to take French and Japanese.

13:41 Okay.

13:42 Both and so it's so I did have you know, a small connection to Japan.

13:48 He went to university in Melbourne,

13:50 then came to Japan for the first time at the age of 19.

13:56 After first university,

13:58 a lot of Australians go backpacking usually in Europe or or America.

14:02 Uh-huh.

14:02 And uh I wanted to go somewhere too, but I guess it's my personality I just

14:06 wanted to go somewhere different to everyone else.

14:08 So it was really on a whim that I chose Japan and then yeah,

14:12 as I say, the rest is history.

14:13 So you you did a backpacking holiday Yeah.

14:16 when you were in college.

14:17 Yeah, I took a working holiday visa and uh it's just somehow I ended up

14:21 in Mie Mie Prefecture working in a uh quite a nice hotel in uh in Toba City.

14:27 In Toba?

14:28 Oh, okay.

14:29 So I worked in a bar there.

14:30 So that was that again might have been my first

14:32 contact with alcohol although that not completely true either.

14:37 So this working holiday was for for a year?

14:39 For a year.

14:40 Oh, okay.

14:41 Yeah, 19 years old and uh and then yeah,

14:45 I guess I really fell in love with with with Japan.

14:48 Uh-huh.

14:49 And it's it's the exact reason I still have you know,

14:52 I have a little trouble putting my exactly my finger on it,

14:55 but I seem to have some kind of affinity

14:57 to the to the people and and the culture.

15:00 Mhm.

15:03 He returned home to study economics and Japanese at university in Melbourne.

15:08 Then took a job with a Japanese bank.

15:13 Uh tried to get a job in Tokyo,

15:14 but I ended up actually getting a job at a Japanese bank in Sydney.

15:18 But yeah, as it turned out a few years later

15:20 I I transferred and uh ended up working for next, an Australian bank in Tokyo.

15:27 Ah.

15:27 It was there.

15:28 Right there in in Nihonbashi.

15:31 And uh and from there, yeah,

15:33 basically spent 18 years working in various different banks in in Tokyo.

15:38 Oh, really?

15:39 With a small break uh to work in Hong Kong and Singapore also along the way.

15:45 Mhm.

15:46 So, it was yeah, mostly trading foreign exchange.

15:49 Which was which was all a lot of fun back in those days.

15:53 Was it?

15:54 Yeah, back in we call it the the halcyon days of foreign exchange.

15:58 It was uh it was back before it

16:00 was taken over by computers and everything like that.

16:03 It was still when you know, an individual trader could could, you know,

16:08 take on a big position, have an idea, and and make a lot of money.

16:13 So, Okay.

16:14 And then, you know, along came the great financial crisis and uh Oh, 2008?

16:21 2008, and so Was that when you quit?

16:26 No, kept on for a few more years after then.

16:28 I I did quit uh once in 2011.

16:34 Which just happened to be and I had a house

16:37 up here in Nozawa, so I moved up here.

16:40 Oh, you already had a place up here by then?

16:42 That's right.

16:43 Uh-huh.

16:43 Nozawa is famous for being a ski resort as well.

16:47 For you yourself, was that that one of the reasons why you first came here?

16:52 I The first time I discovered it was for the skiing.

16:54 It was.

16:55 Yeah, and this was back in '98, just after the Nagano Winter Olympics.

17:00 Oh, right.

17:02 Philip first came to Nozawa Onsen to ski,

17:05 but soon fell in love with the village.

17:09 Then in 2014, he married a Japanese woman, and together they started a family.

17:18 In 2020, he came to live in Nozawa Onsen.

17:24 Philip has brought Peter to one of his favorite izakayas.

17:32 I see right in front of me that row of bottles there.

17:35 I very recognizable.

17:37 Ah.

17:38 Four varieties of gin up there on the on the shelf.

17:41 Most of the restaurants and bars in town too.

17:44 Yeah, they've been very big supporters.

17:46 Oh, right.

17:46 of our gin, so yeah.

17:48 Oh, that's good.

17:48 Yeah, we're super super thankful for that and uh Right.

17:53 Yeah.

17:52 The manager here, too.

17:53 He's he's he's wonderful.

17:55 Yeah.

17:56 Oh, Richard is a wonderful Very gingerly.

18:36 Very good.

18:36 Cheers.

18:37 Cheers.

18:44 Oh.

18:45 Oh, it's quite fruity.

18:47 Mhm.

18:47 Very nice.

18:48 What was it that appealed to you about

18:51 Nozawa Onsen as a place to potentially live in?

18:56 I mean, first came here for the skiing and it's Right.

18:59 It's actually not a ski resort Nozawa Onsen.

19:01 It's it's actually It's a hot spring.

19:03 It's an old village.

19:04 It's an old hot springs village which just happened to have

19:06 a great mountain behind it that they put a ski resort on.

19:10 Ah.

19:10 there's So, you know, you've got an old town with history, culture.

19:17 After quitting uh banking once when I was uh I think it just happened to be 42.

19:23 I was uh I was drinking with a few locals

19:26 in in one of the uh izakayas, and they asked,

19:29 "How old are you feeling at 42?" And And 42 is

19:33 uh it happens to be the year that that the men,

19:37 you know, take charge of of the festival.

19:39 So, they said, "Oh, you really should, you know, participate,

19:42 you know." Without understanding that 42 is never actually And 42

19:46 being the year of kind of bad luck, as it were?

19:51 Yeah, potential bad luck.

19:52 Potential bad luck.

19:54 So, so by participating in it, I think it's supposed to ward off the I mean,

19:58 one phrase is warding off, you know, you know, your potential bad luck there.

20:03 Okay.

20:04 That year, so.

20:09 The Dosojin fire festival is about 300 years old and has

20:13 been designated as an important intangible folk cultural property of Japan.

20:20 By taking part in this festival, men at an age traditionally considered

20:24 unlucky attempt to rid themselves of misfortune.

20:29 They defend the temporary shrine from villagers who attack it with torches.

20:37 Finally, the temporary shrine is set on fire,

20:41 marking the climax of the festival.

20:45 At the age of 42, Philip was introduced to Takeo,

20:49 who was one of the leaders of that year's men of unlucky ages.

20:56 Takeo now works at Philip's distillery.

21:08 That's how Philip became foreigner to take part in the Dosojin Festival.

21:17 What I really came to love about Nozawa

21:21 and and I think participating in the festival was

21:26 was was also a big part of this is a real sense of community that I feel here.

21:32 I spent almost 20 years living in in Tokyo

21:35 which is one of the funnest times of my life.

21:38 But you you you don't actually get to know the neighbors.

21:40 Right.

21:40 Right.

21:41 I don't know.

21:41 Something just felt like something was a little bit missing which uh Mhm.

21:45 which which you could find here.

21:47 There's uh participating in the festival or uh you know,

21:52 cleaning the onsen baths together during snow clearing as a group.

21:57 And there's there's kind of a you know

21:58 So you get involved in all those things as well.

22:01 Yeah.

22:01 Oh.

22:01 Which which which which are really And is that typical?

22:05 I mean, will most of the residents be doing those sort of things?

22:08 Yeah.

22:08 Yeah.

22:09 Okay.

22:09 And the the name of the festival residents be doing those sort of things.

23:02 Yeah.

23:02 Yeah.

23:04 Okay.

23:03 And the the name of the festival is the Dosojin Dosojin Dosojin Himatsuri

23:11 So the the gin in that is kami god or That's That's right.

23:18 deity That's right.

23:20 Okay.

23:21 But it sounds like gin.

23:22 So yes.

23:23 So we've actually made a product to celebrate the festival,

23:26 which is a play on on the words in Dosojin.

23:29 Okay.

23:30 So we actually use the burnt logs in that gin.

23:34 We go down the morning afterwards and we

23:36 actually receive a bit of the sacred burnt log.

23:39 Wow.

23:40 We're really taking that name.

23:42 So So you know, in return for using that name, you know,

23:45 we we use a bit of the proceeds of the sales for each bottle,

23:48 which is to to donate back to the Ah.

23:50 to the festival.

23:51 Ah.

23:52 Mhm.

23:52 Okay.

23:55 That evening, the two go to see the highlight of the Dosojin Festival.

24:00 The fire battle.

24:03 All right, it's starting to rain again.

24:21 The village has a population of around 3,000,

24:25 but over 6,000 people come to see the festival.

24:32 The fire battle is about to start.

24:36 This year, 40 men at the unlucky ages of 42 and 25 are guarding the shrine.

24:51 The 25-year-olds defend the lower section,

24:55 and the 42-year-olds climb on top and sing to encourage them.

25:16 When the shrine is completely burned, the village's biggest festival is over.

25:25 That really was quite intense.

25:27 I mean, there's people at the the bottom of the structure there.

25:31 They're the 25-year-olds, right?

25:33 They're getting showered with sparks from these torches.

25:37 That's got to be I mean, it's smoky and everything.

25:40 It They're going to have a few scars on their face tomorrow morning.

25:44 I can imagine.

25:45 Yeah.

25:45 Sorry, man.

25:46 But, they say that any injury in the festival definitely heals in 3 days.

25:52 Well, for their sake, I certainly hope it does.

25:55 That's all.

25:58 Well, with these Japanophile programs, the last question is always the same one.

26:02 What is Japan to you?

26:04 People still care for other people.

26:06 You know, it's kind of like Is it Is

26:08 that kind of feeling that really I don't know.

26:11 It's kind of a little bit of heartwarming in It's not all about the self,

26:16 but it's also about you and community and other people.

26:18 Right.

26:19 I think I really connected with that kind of feeling.

26:21 But, for me, it's home.

26:23 It's home now.

26:23 I'll always be Australian.

26:24 I love it.

26:25 Australia.

26:26 Proud to be an Australian, but but this is home now.

26:29 This is where our family and friends are.

26:31 So, yeah.

26:32 Yeah.

26:34 Thanks a lot.

26:36 That's been Cheers.

26:37 actually a pleasure.

26:43 The next morning, Philip returns to the site of the festival.

26:59 He praises the men who took part in last night's fire battle.

27:07 Philip will receive the remnants of the central pillar

27:11 made of beech wood that held up the temporary shrine.

27:15 These will later be used for Nozawa Onsen's famous gin

27:20 which will make its way all across Japan and the world.