Photo Credit: Natalie Embrey

Photo Credit: Natalie Embrey

 

Drink with the ghost

Introducing "Sake Yokai: the chilling ghosts from Japan", inspired by the modern Japanese cultural trend featuring manga & Neo-Japan paintings. 

Traditional rice wine production is in rapid decline, with just 1,450 breweries remaining of the 4,000 founded in Japan at the height of its popularity in the 1960s. However, unlike Japanese domestic sales, the international demand has risen over time.

Since 2003, rice wine manufacturers have targeted young women with small size bottles, most of which were sold in Japanese restaurants. Four years later, Sake has become a world trend with the birth of "flavored sake" manufactured in the US and distributed through retailers and sake bars.

Now, the new direction is to bring sake into American's homes, like wine. In 2013, the expected consumers will be professionals in their 30s and 40s, who consider Japanese food part of their neighborhood-cuisine experience.

Keeping the essence of exotic mystery is necessary to attract new consumers and keep existing sake consumers. Therefore, instead of a traditional theme, the packaging should reflect more modern Japanese cultural trends including manga & Neo-Japan paintings with exotic story lines, such as Japanese ghost stories. This product line can be expanded to include a variety of flavors to match different story lines. 

 
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Yuki (Yukionna) : Snow Woman 

Appears on snowy nights as a tall, beautiful woman with long black hair and red lips. pale or even transparent skin, a white kimono, or nude, with only her face and hair standing out against the snow. She floats across the snow, leaving no footprints (in fact, some tales say she has no feet, a feature of many Japanese ghosts), and she can transform into a cloud of mist or snow if threatened.

Oni : Goblin

Usually hideous, gigantic creatures with sharp claws, wild hair, and two long horns growing from their heads. Originally invisible spirits or gods which caused disasters, disease, and other unpleasant things. In recent years, Oni have lost some of their original wickedness and sometimes take on a more protective function. Men in Oni costumes often lead Japanese parades to ward off any bad luck.

Hashihime : Bridge Princess 

A woman, whose husband had abandoned her and married to another woman, gets enraged by jealousy and goes to the Kibune Shrine, where she petitions the gods to turn her into a demon so that she can have revenge. Hashihime hides under the bridge and attack lovers. If the lovers met Hashihime, they would have to end their relationship or they will die.

Tengu : Evil spirits

A class of supernatural creatures. originally thought to take the forms of birds of prey. The earliest tengu were pictured with beaks, but this feature has been humanized as an unnaturally long nose. A ghost of the arrogant. The creatures have become strongly associated with vanity and pride.