Japanese Wine Production: Between Local Revitalization and Global Reach, the Showcase and Adaptation of Cross-Border Knowledge

Wine production in Japan is still a nascent activity, although the number of wineries in the country has tripled in the last ten years. This expansion is supported by public governments at the local, and increasingly at the national levels, driven by expectations of rural and peri-urban revitalisation. However, significant improvements in quality standards are required for Japanese wine production to gain visibility within the competitive global market. These aims are difficult to achieve, due to challenging climatic conditions and a lack of long-term locally embedded producer knowledge. They also put into question the industry's capacity to address local vulnerabilities. Resulting from an amalgamation of cross-border transfers of knowledge to Japan, wine production is displayed as both a foreign curiosity and a practice undergoing local adaptation, acquiring a renewed identity in the Japanese setting.

This paper is based on in-depth interviews and participatory observations conducted in six wineries in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. It seeks to decipher the mechanisms of knowledge development, adaptation, and diffusion among Japanese wine producers, which are framed by contradictory institutional expectations regarding wineries’ contributions to their local context, and affirmation in a competitive global market.

Wine production is supported by the activation of a regional innovation system that includes local universities. They contribute to tailor production methods to the environmental peculiarities of the local area. On the other hand, universities play a significant role in the dissemination of global quality standards through the development of technological knowledge. At the producer’s level, the pursuit of a Japanese-specific wine production formula encourages experimentation with geographically labelled products, as well as organic or natural wines.