Last time I was in Japan a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet the authors of Kami no Shizuku / Les Gouttes de Dieu (literally: The Drops of God). Better known under their pseudonym of Tadashi Agi, Mr & Ms Kibayashi (brother and sister) have an enthusiasm for wine that is simply fascinating. Our encounter, rahter solemn at first, soon turned into a lively conversation about their works, now famous the world over. I understand they are on a mission to introduce the Japanese public to a world of fine wine, while respecting the traditional aspects of Japanese culture—during our conversation they even compared the vintages of Dom Pérignon we were tasting with various kinds of kimono belts!
I was under the impression they wanted to learn more about Champagne—while it appears there have been few references to this region in their writings so far, I can only hope this will change… With their manga Yuko and Shin Kibayashi have succeeded in putting wine at the center of attention, and delivering arcane considerations about wine into the mainstream. They have been acclaimed by Decanter magazine and others as creating one of the most influential wine publications ever, distributed internationally with over 6 million copies sold. Bravo!
Richard san, The Drops of God is truly remarkable. Its educational and has a huge following. They even had a TV series in Japan last year. Having said that, its outreach, I believe, will be far greater if they published the manga in English too. Luckily DP needs no translation!
Dear Wei Boon: I was also surprised to discover that this manga had not been translated into English yet! I can only imagine the success it would have if it were the case…