Usuwa Suu Announces Two Collaboration Sakes With Takarayama, Due Nov. 18

REACT — Usuwa Suu, a virtual singer with the agency ReAcT, announced on Saturday that she will release two collaboration sakes with the Niigata sake maker Takarayama. The release is planned for Wednesday, Nov. 18, she said, with the caveat that it is a plan barring unforeseen trouble. The announcement came about 46 minutes into a roughly 87-minute “banshaku,” or evening drinking stream, that was billed as a promotion.

The two bottles are the ones she drank on stream: a junmai ginjo, the same sake that was chosen for last year’s collaboration, and a sparkling sake called Shirane. She said the new label art for the junmai ginjo is in light blue and aims for a fresher feel than last year’s autumn-red design, and she showed the label on screen. She also said the sparkling bottle is named after a phrase meaning a “fizzy drink.” She noted that, unlike last time, there is no amazake, so the collaboration is for adults only, and she urged viewers under 20 not to drink.

“Adults who follow the rules are the cool ones.” — Usuwa Suu, on underage drinking

A second announcement followed about 50 minutes in. The sake will be offered as samples at a late-night club event on Nov. 28, which she said was an idea she had raised half-jokingly when the event was being planned. She said she had heard the sake may be handed out by staff, but she did not know the details, and she asked viewers to drink within their limits and not to pressure others. Last year’s collaboration sake sold out, she said.

The stream itself started about 10 minutes late. Usuwa said the bottle opener had gone missing after her home was renovated, and she spent roughly 20 minutes getting the crown cap off the sparkling bottle with a soda-can pull tab and chopsticks as a lever, a method she had found on TikTok. After a first toast she described the junmai ginjo as crisper and less sweet than last year’s, at 15 percent alcohol. Of the sparkling sake, at 16 percent, she said it tasted fruity, with a hint of grapefruit, and recommended it with salty snacks, prosciutto, and sea urchin pasta.

She also said she held back on drinking on streams this year to protect her voice before events, and that she was happy to drink on this one. Chat answered the announcements with rounds of applause emotes, and the stream had 16 Super Chats. She said she hoped to hold another drinking stream near the release date, schedule permitting, and that she would announce the sale again closer to the day.