HIDETOSHI NAKATA doesn’t do things for the sake of it.
Japan’s footballing superstar, dubbed the David Beckham of Asia, spent 11 years at the top before ending it all at the age of 29 to pursue a new dream of producing rice wine.
Retired Japanese superstar Hidetoshi Nakata now has a booming business selling sake
It wasn’t quite that straight forward, though.
The midfielder shocked his nation when he retired from football just a few weeks after Japan’s 2006 World Cup came to an end with defeat to Brazil.
Nakata was his country’s star in Europe after earning a move to the Italian Serie A and impressed at Perugia, Roma and Parma before ending his career with Sam Allardyce’s Bolton.
“Every country I went to people asked me about Japan but I didn’t know anything about it,” Nakata told CNN.
Nakata’s rice wine sake costs between £1,570 and £2,350 a bottleCredit: AFP – Getty Nakata has even sold a Kit Kat flavoured sakeCredit: Getty – Contributor Former Bolton midfielder Nakata is now a sake connoisseurCredit: Getty Images – Getty
“That’s a part of my life, so I need to become a better Japanese person.”
Nakata had left his country at an early age for football so went in search of his roots.. and ended up finding rice.
He drove to all 47 prefectures in Japan to immerse back in his own culture and came across sake, the alcoholic drink made from fermented rice.
Nakata went to 200 of the 1,300 breweries in Japan.
Nakata is known as the David Beckham of AsiaCredit: Getty – Contributor Nakata played retired after Brazil knocked Japan out the 2006 World CupCredit: Getty Images – Getty
“Once I started understanding the culture behind sake and the industry, I started to understand the quality of sake and the people behind it, the history behind it,” he said.
Nakata was so enthralled by the drink he turned it into a business.
Using his initial, Nakata launched his own label called “N” and chose the Takagi Shuzo brewery in Yamagata prefecture to produce his sake.
It was unveiled in 2013 and cost between £1,570 and £2,350 a bottle with only 1,000 produced.
Experts in the sake-sipping industry say it goes well with fatty fish and red meat.
Nakata was Japan’s footballing superstar who broke into EuropeCredit: AP:Associated Press Nakata played for Perugia, Roma, Bologna and FiorentinaCredit: AP:Associated Press Nakata battled with Serie A’s best including Edgar DavidsCredit: Reuters Brazilian legend Ronaldinho and Nakata battled for both club and countryCredit: Getty – Contributor After retiring, Sake visited all 47 prefectures in JapanCredit: Getty Images – Getty
To the untrained eye, you wouldn’t know it was Nakata’s sake though as it comes in a black bottle without a label.
And the former footballer wasn’t foolish enough to compete with his fellow countrymen so he only sold in Europe.
“In Japan, the beer market is growing, and the young generation don’t know about sake,” he said in 2016.
“They know more about wine instead. The potential of sake outside of Japan is bigger, but there is a lack of information and education.”
Nakata’s final move was to the Premier LeagueCredit: AP:Associated Press Nakata played for Bolton Wanderers in the 2005-06 seasonCredit: Getty Images – Getty Nakata starred in Sam Allardyce’s midfield at the Reebok StadiumCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Nakata has worked with hundreds of brands to promote sake across the globe, and some were stranger than others.
In September last year, Nestle announced a partnership with the former footballer to create a Kit Kat sake and opened a pop-up bar in Tokyo.
There were chocolate bars with sake flavour and rice wines to complement a Kit Kat.
Nakata has immersed himself in this new world of his, a sake connoisseur bringing a taste of Japan to the rest of the globe.
“I just do things I have a passion for. Soccer, craft, culture,” he said. “I’m not doing it for money or fame. That’s why, for me, there is no real success or no real fail.”
