Ohayo SMAP!
Nov.16-Nov.20,1998

Nov. 16(Mon):
Last week, I talked about "Sommelier" the drama. This week's theme is somewhat related to the last week. I am going to talk about liquors and drinking this week. When it comes to drinks, the wine is gaining a great popularity now. Of course, because of this huge wine trend, "Sommelier" the drama was created. Ah, wine is the trend now but there aren't many people who drink wine as a part of their everyday life. I mean , we often hear that people in France drink wine like water. Well, I went to France and I now understand what it means. Wine is a part of the life in France. In Japan, wine is still something special. Oh, I am now really into wine. Wine is really interesting if you are into it. It was totally different from what I have thought at the beginning. Wine has many histories and episodes just like some dramas. It is very fan thing to drink. Before thinking about wine as just liquor, I feel wine is something which enhance our life.

Nov. 17(Tue):
I would like to talk about Japanese Sake today. I heard that Sake is becoming very popular after this wine boom. How do you think about Sake getting trendy? Well, of course, Sake is good with all kinds of Japanese food. Ah, to tell you the truth, I am not so familiar with Sake. Mr. Shinya Tazaki, the number one Sommelier in the world, made special glasses for Sake and began the lectures about Sake. May be, there are some similarities between wine and Sake¡K I wonder¡K

Nov. 18(Wed):
Hi, this week, I am talking about liquors. Sorry, this may not be an appropriate topic early in the morning. I wonder if it is true that the great man knows the great bars. Oh, well¡K. I think I know several nice bars but I always ended up going to the same bar. Every once in while, I go to the bar run by my friend. It is more like going to the family own bar. I ask the bar to keep my favorite liquors, of course, wines, too. I think it is nice to have some place which is like my own bar. You know, it is like a hide out. I think it is nice to have a hide out bar. How do you think?

Nov. 19(Thu):
I would like to talk about cocktails today. Speaking of cocktails, there was a famous Japanese cartoon in the 80's about cocktails which made the cocktail drinking very trendy. I wonder how popular cocktails are now. I like dry Martini. Gibson, which is a dry Martini but instead of Olive, there is a pickled onion in it. That's Gibson. Ah, it is famous because 007's James Bond drinks it. Um, that was may be made with vodka instead of gin. Well, I can go on talking about the drinks in 007 forever. Oh, James Bond was drinking gin straight up in the latest 007 movie. I think it was Beefeaters, the British gin. I think it is very popular inexpensive gin. Well, when it comes to liquor, we are often influenced by some movies. Especially, guys feel very romantic about those cocktails and drinks which were drunk in the movies. We try to enact the movie by drinking the same cocktails and drinks as in the movie. Oh, well, don't drink too much.

Nov. 20(Fri):
I have been talking about liquor this week. Yesterday, I talked about cocktails. Ah, but of course, I have been talking about wine and my drama "Sommelier" all week this week. What else should I talk about liquor? Well, Mr. Tetsuya Takeda, who plays the restaurant manager in "Sommelier", said "I prefer Shochu (the strong Japanese liquor made from sweet potato) not wine." Oh, recently, I did an interview for "Wine Magazine". The editor of the magazine gave me a bottle of liquor. It was ram. The ram I got was a bottle of 15 years old ram. Usually, ram is not aged that long. Um¡K I guess it was the special ram. I haven't tried it yet. I am really looking forward drinking it.

Ohayo SMAP