Sake Evangelist group image with everyone cheering with Sake

Sake Evangelist

Enrolling at Booth was a ‘lifetime-change kind of thing’ for Kaori Shimazaki, ’19 (AXP-18), helping her shift her priority to business—and put her plan for a global beverage company into action.

Kaori Shmazaki, ’19

Kaori Shimazaki, ’19 (AXP-18), was working in business planning for Coca-Cola in Tokyo when she decided to enroll in Booth’s Executive MBA Program Asia. During her time at Booth, she put her idea for a brand of sparkling sake into action. ICHIDO, which translates to “once” or “one time” in Japanese, captures the celebratory nature of sparkling sake. It launched in 2022 and is now available all over the United States and in Singapore, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

Shimazaki earned an undergraduate degree in economics from Tokyo-based International Christian University. She started her career in finance at Credit Suisse before leaving for the beverage industry. Now, she’s using her many years of finance and business planning, beverage expertise, and global business acumen to broaden the reach of Japanese culture—particularly the art of sake—as the CEO of SAKE Generation, a sales and promotion business that includes the ICHIDO brand, online training for sake sommeliers, and Japanese festivals and events.

She shared with Chicago Booth Magazine what brought her to Booth and how she conceived of her globe-spanning startup.

I grew up in Japan, where the culture is male oriented and women are expected to be followers and not openly share their opinions. In junior high, I began to feel restricted by the stereotypes and biases against women, and by the time I was in high school, I was thinking of going overseas. I went to Sweden as an exchange student. It gave me my first taste of exploring outside my country. Life was so different there—there aren’t many housewives, for instance—and I wanted my life to be like what I saw for women in Sweden.

But then I came back to Japan, where that was hard to achieve. Three priorities have been my focus for my whole life: myself, my family, and business. At times, that’s been a hard balance. Sometimes I’ve had to ignore myself, or I’ve had to prioritize family—but now is the time I can prioritize my business.

As my kids got older, I needed to think about which way I should go in my career: Continue doing what I was doing, step up, or begin something new? That’s why I started my MBA at Chicago Booth’s Hong Kong campus. I liked Booth because it’s a top school, but the location was also convenient. Going was a lifetime-change kind of thing. I started the ICHIDO brand there and participated in the Global New Venture Challenge with a team of six people.

I had been working on some alcohol projects at Coca-Cola and mulling the possibility of exporting more Japanese beverages all over the world. But I knew at Coca-Cola, an alcohol project could take five to 10 years just to get started. So I started on my own. Because of Booth, we were able to create a great team and a solid business plan. We were a finalist on the Hong Kong campus and then competed in Chicago.

Most Americans don’t drink much sake. Our idea was to introduce a version outside of Japan that’s delicious and easy to drink but also refined, with fine bubbles created using the champagne method. But unlike champagne, which has sugar, or cheap wine, which has additives, ICHIDO is only 7 percent alcohol, with no sugar and no additives. Several Michelin-starred restaurants have picked it up.

My beverage-production knowledge was a huge strength in starting SAKE Generation, but so is my resilience. I’ve had long-term goals my whole life—they help me not worry over small failures. Friendliness is my strength as well, and I’m quite good at creating a team. My Booth experience means I have a great network across the globe. I’m happy just to catch up and talk, or sometimes I need business advice and I go back to my cohort. And I now have many friends all over the world, which is great.

—As told to Heather Lalley


Shimazaki cohosted the Spirit of Japan Festival, October 26–27, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. The event, which is also held in other cities around the country, seeks to showcase hundreds of vendors and attract about 20,000 attendees. The festival shines a spotlight on Japanese food and culture.

Raise Your Glass

As a sake sommelier, Shimazaki takes seriously the part of her job that involves educating drinkers—especially Americans, for whom sake makes up a tiny fraction of alcohol consumption. Here she gives an explanation of terms for readers wanting to give sake a go:

Sake is a Japanese beverage made from rice and water. Sake varieties are typically distinguished by their ingredients, percentage of rice polishing, and brewing method, and depending on the type, can be served hot or cold.

Sparkling sake gets its bubbles through carbonation or via fermentation. ICHIDO varieties ferment naturally in the bottle as champagne does, the reason Shimazaki calls them a “champagne-like sake.” In addition to the original, she offers a rosé that gets its hue from black rice, a dry version, and a premium variety known as junmai daiginjo.

Yuzu sake is made by infusing sake (Japanese rice wine) with yuzu, a citrus fruit native to East Asia. The beverage combines the citrusy notes of yuzu with the smooth, mild taste of sake, creating a light, fruity drink with low to moderate alcohol content.

Still sake is a broad umbrella term covering all sakes not in the previous two categories. There are many varieties, from light and fruity versions to dry, complex ones, giving still sake the ability to meld well with a range of foods.

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