It has been a while since my last note here, been a very busy period. Basically, we have found a brewery location that we like and are able to buy (the owner is eager to sell), however we have concerns about the strength of the land supporting the foundations of the building (just the frame/skeleton as the floors have none).

The area was previously affected by floods, which now should no longer be a thing, and the warehouse has subsided by about 20cm on one side. We are discussing it’s safety and options for securing the foundations with various engineers and should soon be in a good position to make a decision and return to the negotiation table.

We are also considering a new build on a different plot in the village just in case this warehouse is not safe. However, we both really want the warehouse to work out.. it will be like a 3 minute walk from our future house! So I am slowly transferring funds over to Japan in the hope that we can close this deal over the next month or two.


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On our flights to Hokkaido I designed, and we tweaked a tartan which I think we are going to register as our brewery’s official tartan.. because.. why not?



We are off to Eastern Hokkaido for a business trip for a few days as of tomorrow morning.. if we are lucky we are looking at a max temp of 0°C so that’ll be nice..



Felt my first earthquake today, it wasn’t overly strong but nonetheless unsettling. It is somewhat of a surprise that I’ve spent almost 3 years in Japan (over various visits etc.) that this is the first time. Lasted about 20-30 seconds, of gentle shaking, most folks were unperturbed, but my wife looked pretty rattled.

Happy to wait another 3 years or more for the next, thanks.



There is a Shogun movie coming out in 3 days time?!?!?

Right then, time to watch the original TV series! It is after all probably the reason I eventually ended up living in Japan.



Well our youngest daughter has tonight learned how to say “please, Papa” , so that’ll be game over then.



After waiting for months for my wife to have time to cut my hair, I have this evening, the day before my 47th birthday decided to commit to long hair.

If I unfurl one of the fire locks it now reaches under my chin, my hair is pretty curly so it doesn’t necessarily look as long as it is but for the first time we were able to tie it up at the back and it isn’t an unpleasant look. It needs a few more months before the sides can be tied into so I maintain a straggly rogue-like appearance, which is a little different than the full on barbarian look that I have been wielding of late..

.. it remains to be seen how my DPS fairs but I am looking forward to my enhanced stealth skills.



I am currently reading a book on craft beer packaging design and trying to design templates or drafts for a proper designer to interpret once we are happy with the general look and layout etc.

The core beers will have some sort of vector art landscape background (Scottish or Japanese themed) on the label and I have been trying to simplify the logo and info panels. Definitely making forward progress. However..

My wife, whilst being happy with the general designs asked a good question. Do the designs highlight the inclusive ethos we want our company to be based upon and I guess they partially do (they highlight that they are vegan and gluten-reduced) but I am wondering how we can incorporate inclusion for groups of people. Obviously we could use the colours of various pride flags for different designs and it is one option of course..but I think we could do more. We could include images of varied people within the label design but hoping to keep the design somewhat uncluttered.

So, does anyone have any recommendations on good websites or literature on inclusive graphic design? I’ll also search of course but would be grateful for suggestions from more knowledgeable folks than me.



Just checked the Visit Kochi draft about me, it’s short of course, it’s a FB/Instagram post but it feels good to be included as part of the ‘We are Kochi-ke’ series.

Kochi-ke basically means the Kochi family, Kochi being the name of the prefecture where we live.

This is the spiel from the Visit Kochi website is ’ “We are Kochi-ke (Kochi family)” is all about highlighting the stories of the people who make us proud to call Kochi our home. Whether you are living in Kochi now or only visited once, you are part of the Kochi family.’

It’s a short piece about me living here and chasing my dream to become a brewer, and has some nice pictures that our friend Aiko took.