Graham Ryan – Ireland Japan Association

On 2nd December the IJA members, friends, and supporters came together to celebrate and enjoy one of the most exciting cultural events and celebrations of the year – IJA Bounenkai End of Year Party with Sake reception and delicious Japanese dinner taking place at Yamamori Sushi, Dublin.

Eddie Hughes, IJA Council, welcomed everyone to the event and shared a message from Raymond Hegarty, IJA Chairperson:

Bounenkai – the Japanese traditional year end party is a way to close off the year with friends and colleagues and get ready to welcome a new year. The word Bounenkai literally means ‘a gathering to forget the year’ – to put the troubles of the year behind you and face the future.

This echoes traditional celebrations dating back to 16^th century Japan, when the Samurai lords would gather in late December for a day of cultural activities such as writing and reciting poetry. In the evening they would celebrate with a large banquet.

We do not expect much poetry to be written tonight, but we do hope that you enjoy each other’s company at the sake reception and during the meal.

Thank you for supporting the IJA this year. I wish you all the best for this evening and for the end of the year. I look forward to seeing you all again in 2022. – Raymond Hegarty, IJA Chairperson

Colly Murray, RetroVino

Event guests had a wonderful opportunity to taste traditional Japanese Sake drinks, including premium Junmai Sake, accompanied by a short presentation on Sake history and culture by Colly Murray, RetroVino followed by a delicious dinner at Yamamori Sushi restaurant.

We would like to thank everyone – our individual and corporate members as well as friends and supporters who attended this event. We appreciate your continued support to the IJA throughout this year.

A very big thanks goes to Colly Murray, RetroVino, for sharing his passion and knowledge about Japanese Sake, to Graham Ryan and his team, Yamamori Restaurants, for hosting our event and making sure everyone had the best time, and last but not least – to Eddie Hughes, IJA Council, for his time, support and help to make this event such a great success.

Note: Please note that during this event the IJA followed and complied with the health and safety recommendations and restaurant policy.

Photos: Eddie Hughes

Our first ever online ‘Sake Tasting Night’ took place on 29th April. The event was a huge success and we were pleased to welcome many IJA individual and corporate members to enjoy and learn the basics of sake from the comfort of their homes.

The evening included not only sake tasting but our guest speakers Colin Murray, Retro Sake, and Graham Ryan, Yamamori, took everyone on a virtual tour and introduced to the origins and history of sake, the wide variety of sake types and its production in Japan.

During the event participants had a chance to taste 6 different types of Japanese sake:

* Hatsumago “Kimoto Tradition”, Honjozo
* Kikumasamune Junmai “Koujo”, Junmai
* Kikusui Junmai Ginjo, Junmai Ginjo
* Rihaku “Dreamy Clouds”, Junmai Nigori
* Dassai 45, Junmai Daiginjo
* Fukuju “Plum Sake”, Plum Sake

We had a wonderful experience hosting this event and we would like to thank everyone who joined us and made it a tremendous success!