Uda is more than just a place to me.

Twenty years ago, I joined Aprica, a baby product manufacturer, as a new graduate, and their factory was located near Uda. While I was assigned to the company as a sales representative, I participated in monthly manufacturing meetings and new product development meetings, guided clients on factory tours, and even witnessed crash test tests at the crash test center. When I was in charge of overseas operations, I also guided foreign customers around, so I have many memories of Uda.

What I will never forget in particular is the experience of "working on the front lines," which was assigned to new employees. On weekends, I worked at Akachan Honpo's sales floor, selling products and accepting repair requests. There, I noticed that the number of repairs was clearly higher than that of our competitors. I couldn't ignore this strange feeling, so I asked the sales staff on the front lines to help me prepare repair slips. I collected information for three months, compiled it into data, and spoke directly to the president. Although it ultimately did not lead to any quality improvements, a large-scale recall occurred a few years later due to the same part, proving that my suggestions at the time were correct.

This experience taught me that "the world cannot be changed by ideals and a sense of justice alone; it must be brought to life by gathering evidence and taking action," and it remains a fundamental lesson for me to this day.

After that, while working hard as a salaryman, his mind and body were damaged and he developed depression. He returned to work once, but when the depression relapsed he decided to resign. At that time, he visited Uda for the first time in ten years, and when he saw the scenery surrounded by forests and rivers, he had an intuition that "I want to start a business here."

Furthermore, by staying at experiential relocation facilities in Uda City and the surrounding area for about a week once a month , he naturally developed connections with the local people. At first, he was looking for a property in the accommodation industry, but when he felt he had reached a dead end, he decided, "After all, I'm going to try my hand at gin."

Uda is the starting point of challenges, the place where you can rediscover your true self, and the stage where you can start your life over again.

We hope to build a distillery here and spread the name of this place far and wide, along with its aromas that make people want to visit.