TOKYO/OSAKA -- The town of Shimamoto, near Kyoto, is known as the site of a bloody 16th-century samurai battle and as a source of pure water for traditional tea ceremony. These days, however, travelers come for the tipple.
The Suntory Yamazaki Distillery has become a pilgrimage destination for the world's whisky connoisseurs. Around 9,300 foreign visitors walked its hallowed halls in 2019, up from just 800 a decade earlier.
