"Platinum Family" (TV Asahi, Tuesdays at 7pm *excluding some regions) is a variety show that gives a glimpse into the lives of the "gorgeous family = Platinum Family." On May 6th, a two-hour special will air, featuring Hiroshi Sakurai, chairman of Asahi Shuzo, the company that produces and sells the world-famous Japanese sake brand "Dassai." The show will introduce Chairman Sakurai's 200m2 home, which has been visited by many famous people from around the world.
Chairman Sakurai took over from his father about 40 years ago as the third generation head of Asahi Shuzo. He made Dassai a hit, increasing the company's sales by more than tenfold, and achieved sales of over 20 billion yen last year.
He has a collection of over 1,000 books at home, and he named his sake Dassai after a phrase that appears in Ryotaro Shiba's novel "Saka no Ue no Kumo."
The camera also goes into the sake brewery, which is in the same building as the residence. When it comes to sake brewing, the many years of experience of the chief brewer, who is the person in charge of managing the taste of the sake, is essential. However, there are no chief brewers in Dassai's sake brewing. The data necessary for sake brewing is visualized in an analysis room in the building, and the accumulation of this data is said to create a taste that is loved around the world. Chairman Sakurai says that "not having a chief brewer" is the secret to the success.
MC Takashima Chisako mentioned that the taste of wine can vary from year to year, and commented in admiration, "(Dassai) is digitized so the flavor doesn't go haywire and always maintains its flavor. That's not typical of Japan."
Chairman Sakurai has handed over the fourth generation to his son, and is trying to pass on the tradition of sake brewing to the next generation. While inheriting the passion for sake brewing within his family, Chairman Sakurai's future "ambition" of spreading Dassai all over the world is also revealed.
The program will also take a close look at the glamorous life of Michio Kaku, an American best-selling author and charismatic physicist who is also known as the "modern-day Einstein."
The program will also feature a behind-the-scenes look at the public recording of "Tetsuko's Room" that the program's special advisor, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, did with her longtime friends, the Koshino sisters, at the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan site.
