When Nozomu Miyajima traveled to Switzerland for the Mountain Cheese Olympics, in 2004, no one really considered him a credible threat. But the little-known Japanese dairy farmer was armed with a secret weapon. Inside Miyajima’s suitcase was a fresh batch of sakura, a creamy soft cheese delicately flavored with Japan’s national flower, the cherry blossom. Measuring less than three inches across, his lilliputian creation stunned the judges and romped past its French, Swiss, and Italian rivals to gold—a first for his nation.
To most people, Japanese cheese sounds like a misnomer. And historically, they’d be correct. A century ago, the average amount of cheese consumed per person each year weighed less than a raisin. However, a quiet revolution is taking place as artisanal producers concoct new cheeses with the same obsessive quest for perfection that has become a signature of Japanese craft, begging the question: Could Japanese cheese become the next Japanese whiskey?
