One fine day, while strolling through Beppu City’s downtown area, I could hear lively voices coming from one of the stores. The slightly nostalgic sake signboard caught my attention, and then I heard a woman’s voice say, “How have you been?” It was followed by the laughter of the customers along with the voice of the cheerful woman once more.
As a lover of people and alcohol, I couldn’t resist stopping by. I took a quick detour to Kotani Shoten.
There were many piles of cardboard boxes filled with alcoholic beverages. When I entered the store, the lady I’d heard earlier greeted me cheerfully.
We were also greeted with a huge selection of sake on the wall. As you would expect in Oita, there were a wide variety of barley shochu. There were also many kinds of shochu that we had never seen before. Oita’s sake was also lined up in a row for our review.
Even though Oita is also famous for its wine, you definitely also want to buy locally made sake as a souvenir or drink it yourself. Kotani Shoten is the perfect place to do so and has many kinds of sake that you won’t find in ordinary souvenir shops.
As I proceeded to the back, I saw a large refrigerator. A regular customer was examining the sake in the refrigerator while chatting with a staff person and asking, “Which one should I try today?”
Most of the sake in this picture is Japanese sake. There are so many different kinds of sake on offer that you could spend all day looking around.
As we were about to leave the store, the lady from earlier called out to us, “Won’t you have a drink with us?” I had just decided to take a break from drinking, so I replied, “No, not today! See you next time!”
Even so, I was able to get a lot of information about sightseeing in Beppu!
Of course, Kotani Shoten has an abundance of sake, but I think the reason customers keep coming back is that the local people love the character of the friendly owner. Please come and visit and meet her for yourself!
Kotani Shoten Store Information
Address: 8-14 Chuo-cho, Beppu City, Oita Prefecture
Phone number: 0977-21-0712
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