On this week's show, Akiko is joined by Chuck Malone, the second American to work in a shochu distillery. In the fall of 2017, he spent three months in Amami-o-shima, an island off the coast of Kagoshima, making kokuto (black sugar) shochu. He’s now returned to the U.S.

"Kampai!" or "Cheers!" This week on Japan Eats host Akiko Katayama welcomes Stephen Lyman to the studio talking all about the Japanese alcoholic beverage shochu.