How exciting to premiere our upcoming “Travels with Darley Tokyo” season four episode for the first time at the Smithsonian with Smithsonian Associates during an evening of sake tasting, insider’s videos from our filming and photos of food that would make you hungry even after a big Thanksgiving dinner. Inside the S. Dillon Ripley Center, set between the Freer Gallery of Art and Smithsonian Castle, attendees were treated to the hidden travel gems and exquisite cuisine from our Tokyo adventures filming for our PBS series.
From where to find great standing sushi to the intricacies of visiting Tsukiji Market to one of the newest trends in Japanese foods, I revealed some of those insights that you can only learn when you enlist locals to guide you through a new location. Tokyo is a huge city with a lot to cover. We didn’t cover it all, but did manage to fit a lot into our half hour with surprising fake food and real food finds, along with hiking, hot springs and hipster neighborhoods.
Travel influencers and travel enthusiasts turned out for the presentation, which ended with guests enjoying premium Sawanoi Junmai Daikarakuchi sake from Ozawa Brewery, located on the banks of the Tama River in Western Tokyo. Popular for Sake fans for its deep flavor, this sake is very dry and bold, finishing with a mild after-taste from the rice sweetness.
What makes this sake truly special is that the brewery has been family owned and operated for over 300 years. Our upcoming PBS episode features a special Ozawa Brewery tour with Mikio Ozawa, the 23rd generation of the Ozawa family, in a segment about sake tasting. Viewers don’t just have to watch it on TV. This brewery is also open to the public for brewery tours.
Check out this preview of the Tokyo episode debuting on PBS stations this fall and out the episode as well on Amazon Prime.