Lee Reeve, together with his wife, Maiko Yoshioka-Reeve, run inCider Japan. As a “tool to promote cider”, in December 2017 the long-time Yokohama residents launched a quarterly, bilingual magazine of the same name, as well as a website and associated social media channels. Soon after, in February 2018 they officially founded their company inCiderJapan G.K. From there, the company’s endeavors branched into the importation and distribution of fine ciders, mostly from Australia, but also the U.S., the U.K., and France.
Lee, who was born in Newcastle but raised in Glasgow, has resided in Japan for two decades. Youthful in both energy and appearance (he’s middle-aged but could pass on the street for somebody in their late 30s), it’s hard to miss his accent, albeit one mellowed by so many years overseas. He and Maiko make an attractive couple–now, perhaps, a power couple, too.
Longtime readers of the Yokohama Seasider may recognize his name as he was the magazine’s director roughly ten years ago, a role which helped inform his current magazine endeavors. Others may have caught one of his occasional magic shows over the years–he’s quite an accomplished magician. He’s also a friendly personality you’re almost certain to run into eventually at local bars frequented by international residents. Cider is his passion and he is a tireless advocate, often making the rounds (and drinking them, too).
“Around 2015 or so, I heard cider was making a resurgence,” explains Lee as to how he got involved in this line of business. “I thought it might be a good time to get ahead of the curve and help people in Japan get cider.”
He had seen Japan’s craft beer boom firsthand. In the late aughts, Lee was one of Japan’s underground homebrewers, participating in competitions and venturing out to the growing number of craft beer festivals. A decade later, he recognized the opportunity for cider to make inroads in Japan and didn’t hesitate to run with it. You could say that he and Maiko have helped build those inroads.
Not long after launching inCider Japan, he was invited to speak about cider both domestically and internationally. Japan, it turns out, has a fledgling industry that he also works to highlight through his media. Lee estimates that there are hundreds of companies here making cider of some kind, though only about five or six are dedicated cideries, meaning that they make it exclusively. In comparison, there are over 1000 in the U.S., about 480 in the U.K., and well over 100 in Australia.
As his network of overseas contacts expanded, Lee and Maiko geared up to bring some of those overseas brands into Japan. The couple spent most of 2019 getting the proper licensing to import, distribute and also sell via an online shop that they added to their website. The first cider they imported–from Australia–sold well enough that they had high hopes for 2020. Then the pandemic struck.
“When our next shipment of cider arrived,” says Lee, “Tokyo–our main market–was dead quiet.”
While 2020 was certainly a challenging year for Lee and Maiko, not to mention most retailers and distributors, they had at least found a niche where they could survive, if not thrive. Lee describes last year as a kind of holding pattern. In 2021, the couple hope to pick up where they left off before the pandemic put the brakes on their acceleration.
If you have a taste for cider, or at least some curiosity, you can help them get back to speed by checking out their online retail store. Otherwise, there are a number of local retailers that carry their brands. @Gather Eating House, in the World Porters shopping mall, is one place we can recommend. As the weather warms, sit out on their patio and enjoy the liquid wonders that apples from around the world can create.
Online store, Japan Cider Market: www.japancidermarket.com
In Kanagawa inCider products sold at the following locations:
- TDM 1874
- Rin5 Life
- Noge West End
- Indu (Motomachi)
- Beach Muffin (Zushi)
- Bar Bodega (Kawasaki)
- Yggdrasil Brewing (Hiratsuka)