In a bid to minimise mislabelling and confusion over what can be called Japanese whisky, the Japan Spirits and Liqueurs Makers Association have just announced that new regulations defining the product will come into effect from April 1, 2021. The new rules set out terms that are painfully obvious but never enforced: “Japanese whisky” needs to use raw ingredients extracted in Japan; in terms of the production method, everything from the fermentation to ageing (for a minimum of three years) and bottling must be carried out in Japan. Pundits have seen it as an attempt to tackle the problem of misleading bottle labelling that is now rife in the industry, as the terms also prohibit operators from using labels that incorporate items such as names of people, cities, regions and so on that evoke Japan, unless it is explicitly explained that the product does not meet the requirements to be labelled as Japanese whisky.