The Sweet Potato Shochu Recommended in Ho Chi Minh City: "Daiyame"
A Vietnamese noodle-shop owner recommended shochu to a Japanese reporter, a sign of sweet potato shochu taking hold locally as Japanese food exports grow.
“Daiyame”, heard in Ho Chi Minh City’s Chinatown
A memorable scene appears in “Take Off: From the Street Corners of Asia”, a column in which Kyodo News reporters write about subjects from across Asia (published in the Okinawa Times on 14 October 2026). It is set in the Chinatown of Ho Chi Minh City, in the south of Vietnam, the country’s largest city. At a noodle restaurant well regarded among food lovers, the reporter was eating a noodle soup lavishly topped with abalone and other seafood when the owner spoke to them in English. Once the owner realised the reporter was Japanese, they asked, “Do you know ‘daiyame’?” The reporter had never heard the word and was puzzled.
“Daiyame” is a dialect word from Kagoshima Prefecture, a major shochu-producing region at the southern tip of Kyushu, and refers to the evening drink that soothes the fatigue of the day. There is also a sweet potato shochu of the same name. A Vietnamese restaurant owner knows, and recommends, a regional word that even many Japanese people do not. This single scene hints at how far shochu has travelled.
Rising exports of Japanese food carry shochu along
The column describes how sweet potato shochu is taking hold in Vietnam as exports of Japanese food products increase. In the photograph accompanying the article, customers at a Japanese-owned department store in Ho Chi Minh City are looking over bento boxes and rice balls. When Japanese food becomes part of everyday meals rather than a special treat, interest turns to the drinks that go with it. Shochu is spreading on the back of that trend.
Sweet potato shochu is a Japanese distilled spirit made mainly from sweet potatoes. It is a different kind of drink from sake (a brewed drink), which is made by fermenting rice. Its hallmarks are a full, sweet aroma derived from its raw material and a robust character that stands up to food. Kagoshima is known as the heartland of sweet potato shochu.
Enjoying sweet potato shochu in Europe
The combination of seafood noodle soup and sweet potato shochu can also be tried at European tables. At Japanese grocers and specialist shops that stock sake and shochu, look for a bottle whose label says “imo” or “sweet potato shochu”. You can drink it on the rocks, diluted with cold water, or as oyuwari, mixed with hot water, which is popular in Kagoshima. Served as oyuwari, the aroma rises gently, making it an easy match for autumn and winter dinners. Pairing it with seafood, fatty meat dishes or Asian noodle dishes may help you understand why the owner in Ho Chi Minh City recommended this drink. Please enjoy it at your own pace and in moderation.
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This article was written by The Sake Wire editorial team, summarising the public sources listed above. Images are our own.
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