Koji Uenoyama

I am Koji UENOYAMA from Osaka, and I am a certified sake sommelier, expert, and a sake activist.  Being a bridge between Japan and the world with sake is my life-long passion. I lived in US for 3 years for school in the '90. I speak Japanese, English, and Spanish.

Sake School Osaka (2013-)
Founder. Sake tasting and learning session for international visitors to Japan.

Hana Sake Bar (2017-)
Management. An international sake bar in Osaka. Appeared in New York Times.

Sake World Cup (2018-)
Founder and main organizer. A tasting event of "sake made OUTSIDE Japan."

Sake Brewery (2018-2019)
Former employee of Daimon Brewery. Joined their reborn project as a new project leader. Engaged in launching new products, sales and marketing, managing the brewery restaurant

Arkansas Sake Project (2019-)
Translator, advisor to a sake project in Arkansas USA.

A member of "Walk in US, Talk on Japan (2017, 2018),"  a government-run cultural exchange program. Chosen as a international sake expert and sent to US and Canada to raise awareness of Japanese culture making presentations and speeches in various locations.

Osaka-Kansai EXPO 2025
Chosen as one of the key persons to promote Osaka to the world and appeared as international sake expert in the city's introductory video for its final presentation of the campaign. Osaka won and the event will take place in 2025.