In 1918, a young Japanese man with an ambition to make genuine whisky went alone to Scotland to source the secret of whisky making. His name was Masataka Taketsuru, the founder of Nikka Whisky. Masataka was the first Japanese man to ever master how to make whisky. He enrolled at the University of Glasgow, took chemistry courses and then became the apprentice at three Scotch distilleries. The young and passionate man was fortunate to learn first-hand from craftsmen and have practical trainings to master blending. The two notebooks filled with every detail later became Japan’s very first guide in whisky production. It was there that he met his future Scottish wife, Rita and together they embraced Masataka’s dream of going back to Japan to distill their own whisky. It was in 1940 the first whisky from Nikka was launched. The brand name of this whisky was “NIKKA WHISKY”, short for "Nippon Kaju", which later became the name of the company itself. Yoichi Single Malt shows the characteristics of Nikka’s first distillery built in 1934. The founder Masataka Taketsuru chose Yoichi in Hokkaido because of the similar environmental conditions to Scotland, where he learned whisky making.