In a particularly demonstrative scene of Lost in Translation, washed up movie star Bob Harris is asked to swirl his whisky and pout several times, in different ways, to capture the perfect image of the Suntory man. His director seems to be rather unsatisfied, as he wants Bob to, “With wholehearted feeling, slowly, look at the camera, tenderly, and as if you are meeting old friends, say the words – as if you are Bogie in Casablanca, saying, ‘Here’s looking at you, kid.’”

After randomly wandering into 4 Gats, a bar on the fourth floor of a rather nondescript building in Osaka, I could see why this man was trying so hard to draw out the essence of Suntory. The Japanese take their whisky extremely seriously. And everything, from the old-school bartenders with their black vests and collared shirts down to their tiny, minimalist space with dark wooden counters, added to the atmosphere of this tiny bar.

I live in Beijing, where the drink is usually cheap but often painful. I didn’t know you could get counterfeit alcohol until moving here – some bar owners in Beijing will fill brand name bottles of liquor, like Chivas or Johnnie Walker with cheap, locally distilled booze into the bottle. Sometimes the cheap stuff is mixed with the real stuff, sometimes not. In any case, the bar makes a higher return. Counterfeit cigarettes work the same way – street hawkers or some bars sell brand name cigarette boxes, but the cigarettes inside are actually filled with a cheap, low quality form of tobacco usually not offered elsewhere. Believe me: The result is unpleasant.

And so, as the summer holidays loomed, I began to plan a trip to Japan, inspired by an article in Bon Appetit magazine that made a night out in Japan sound like the epitome of one’s drinking existence. Not only would the alcohol not be fake, but apparently drinks would reach a state of perfection difficult to find even in their countries of origin.

Why would this be? First, a seemingly obsessive attention to detail. Second, it seems that most small bars are works of love. The owner of 4 Gats had opened this space in Osaka only one month ago, information I gleaned after a rather painful but entertaining attempt at conversation: mine in broken, long-forgotten Japanese and his in earnest, long-forgotten English. He loved cats, so the only piece of art in the small room was an abstract looking, hand painted mural of four black cats facing away from the bar. It was magic.

The care given to the decor and atmosphere of the place, which was playing Simon and Garfunkel softly in the background, was impressive, but the amount of attention given to the pour of the whisky was on another level. You order drinks by category here: cocktail, whisky or wine. No details on the spare menu. After hearing my request for a cocktail, the bartender asked, “Dry or sweet?”

“Sweet,” I answered, and he brought out a delicious concoction that tasted vaguely of peaches and yogurt. If you should choose “whisky”, you’ll be asked from which country you would prefer it. This time, the answer was “Japan,” so out came Suntory’s single malt 12-year aged whisky, the bar owner’s favourite drink.

“Rocku?” the bar owner queried. If you are ever asked if you want your Suntory whisky on the rocku, say yes. Say yes even if you hate ice, because in the effort to chill their whiskies to perfection while avoiding the pesky result of dilution, quite a few Japanese bars have taken to hand carving their large, spherical ice rocks to mimimise surface area. I find this bordering on insane yet beyond cool.

When the Suntory arrived with its perfectly carved golf ball of ice, I asked the younger bartender how they had made it. He ran to the back room and brought out an ice cube slightly smaller and shaped like a Rubik’s cube. He held up one finger, indicating for us to watch, then proceeded to take out a miniature machete and hack energetically away at the cube. A minute or two later, he had produced another perfectly sculpted ball – except this time it resembled a peach pit, with grooves running through the surface of the ice.

And the Suntory? Unfortunately, I am a yogurty/peachy cocktail drinker and couldn’t fully appreciate the whisky or the perfect level of chill it had attained. My friend, however, could attest that it was most suited for relaxing times.

4 Gats Bar
“European Biru” 5F
Namba, Chuo 1-chome
Osaka
06-6213-7666

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 1:21 am and is filed under Osaka, travel.