国際学部の木本圭一教授のゼミでは、日本酒の魅力を伝える「日本酒振興プロジェクト」に代々取り組んでいます。

大阪・関西万博の一環として実施される大阪・関西万博500日前関連イベントにおいて、日本酒造りの取り組みについてPRすることになり、その準備を行う様子がNHKの情報番組 「Live Love ひょうご」 内で特集として取り上げられました。

ゼミ所属学生からは以下のような感想が聞かれました。

・自分たちの取り組みが万博につながることで、若者たちに日本酒に親しんでもらう機会になればいいなと思います。

・木本ゼミで代々行われてきた日本酒振興プロジェクトを12期生として引き継いで広めていく中で、今回取材という形でその成果を認めてもらえたことで、私たちの目的や目標を再確認できたと思う。

・西宮神社で行われた「西宮酒ぐらルネッサンスと食フェア」に日本酒振興プロジェクトとして出店した際に、実際に40名の外国人留学生が日本酒カクテルを味わってくれたことから、日本酒は20代の留学生にも興味を持ってもらえるものだと感じた。これからも大学生目線で日本文化としての日本酒をアピールしたい。

・日本酒振興プロジェクトの目的は普段日本酒を飲まない方に日本酒を広めることでした。その中でブース出店やSNSでの広報活動を行ってきたわけですが、今回こうしてNHKに取材していただくという形で活動の意義やその過程が認められたことはとても感慨深いものがあります。その一方で、まだビールやワインほどの認知（特に食中酒としての認知）は足りていないと感じるため、その部分のアピールが必要だと考えました。

なお、この様子はNHKの見逃し配信サービス 「NHKプラス」 で放送終了後1週間のあいだ視聴が可能です。


Professor Keiichi Kimoto's seminar at the School of International Studies has been working for a decade on the "Sake Promotion Project" to promote the appeal of Japanese sake.
The students will be promoting the brewing of Japanese sake at one of the events of "EXPO 500 Days to Go" which will be held as a part of the Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai, and their preparations have been featured in NHK's broadcasting program "Live Love Hyogo".

The broadcast featured footage of students visiting a sake brewery in Miki City in preparation for promoting local landmarks and specialties at the Expo, practicing presentations and exchanging opinions to prepare for the event.

Below are some of the feedbacks students gave with regards to their project.

- I hope that our efforts will lead to the Expo and provide an opportunity for young people to become familiar with sake.

- As the 12th year students of the seminar, we have taken over the sake promotion project that has been conducted by the Kimoto Seminar for a decade, and as we continue to spread the word, I think we were able to come back to our purpose and goals by having our achievements recognized in the form of this interview.

- When we held a stall as a Sake Promotion Project at the "Nishinomiya Saka-Gura Renaissance and Food Fair" which took place at Nishinomiya Shrine, 40 international students actually came and tasted our sake cocktails, which made us feel that sake is something that even international students in their 20s are interested in. We would like to continue to promote sake as a part of Japanese culture from the perspective of university students.

- The purpose of the Sake Promotion Project was to promote sake to people who do not drink sake on a daily basis. We have been working on publicity activities through event stalls and SNS, and it is very moving to have the significance of our activities and the process of our activities recognized in the form of an interview. On the other hand, I felt that the awareness of Japanese sake (especially as a drink that goes with meal) is still not as high as that of beer and wine, so I thought it was necessary to promote Japanese sake in this aspect.

The program is available on NHK's video streaming service for terrestrial broadcast programs, "NHK Plus" for one week after live broadcast.