Coussinet Inc. / reference desk

The information exists.
It is only written in Japanese.

Standards, label rules and house customs in Japan are usually documented somewhere public — and almost never in English. This desk takes one document at a time and explains what it actually requires, what it does not, and how to check a claim yourself.

A worked example

Every guide ends in a check you can run on the object in front of you, rather than a summary you have to trust. Applied to a bottle labelled Japanese whisky with no distillation statement:

Checked against JSLMA labelling standard for Japanese whisky

Does not meet the standard

Distilled in Japan Mashing, fermentation and distillation all carried out in Japan
Matured three years or more In wooden casks of a limited size
Bottled in Japan at 40% ABV or above Stated on the label
Carries the JSLMA mark Introduced March 2025; absence is not proof of failure

Guides

whisky labelling How to tell real Japanese whisky from a bottle that only looks Japanese The labelling standard that decides what may be called Japanese whisky is voluntary, not law. Here is what it requires, what the JSLMA mark means, and which words on a label tell you nothing at all.

The information exists. It is only written in Japanese.

A worked example

Guides

The information exists.
It is only written in Japanese.