FUKUOKA/KUMAMOTO, Japan -- Traditionally known for its shochu , a clear liquor made from grains, potatoes, sugar cane and more, Japan's southwestern region of Kyushu has become home to a budding whisky industry as craft distillers chase a larger, more global audience.

Surrounded by vegetable fields and rice paddies, Shindo Distillery began producing whisky in the Fukuoka Prefecture city of Asakura in summer 2021. The facility belongs to Shinozaki, a storied barley shochu maker founded in 1922.

Shinozaki is branching out "because demand for Japanese whisky is skyrocketing," said Michiaki Shinozaki, who is part of the eighth generation of the founding family.

Japanese whisky has surged in popularity worldwide during recent years. Japan exported 46.1 billion yen ($339 million at current rates) worth of whisky in 2021, government statistics show -- up 70% from the year before and 4.3 times from 2016. In contrast, shochu exports had increased 19% since 2016.

Shochu sales have stalled even at home as more restaurants and bars shut down or shorten hours amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Michiaki Shinozaki gives a tour, showing where Shinozaki whisky is being aged in barrels. (Photo by Shinya Sawai)

"The whisky is geared toward the overseas market," Shinozaki said. "We hope to sell around 70% of our product abroad."

In the Miyazaki Prefecture town of Kijo, Osuzuyama Distillery also is making inroads into whisky. It began selling an unaged single malt in 2020. The Osuzu Malt New Born, launched in 2021 after a year and a half of aging, sold out online within minutes.

Osuzuyama President Shinsaku Kuroki also helms Kuroki Honten, which produces Hyakunen no Kodoku -- a shochu named, literally, "One Hundred Years of Solitude."

"I was looking at new possibilities in shochu-making technology and our local produce when I started to think it'd be interesting to make whisky," Kuroki said. He will start increasing sales at the end of this year, once his whisky has been aged at least three years.

Osuzu Malt New Born, aged a year and a half, sold out within minutes of its online release.

"I want to reach not just the domestic market, but the world as well," Kuroki said.

Yamaga Distillery, a unit of MCA Holdings, launched a whisky distillery during April at its namesake city in Kumamoto Prefecture. Originally a producer of rice shochu, the company has invested around 1.1 billion yen into whisky-making equipment and began full-scale production last fall. It now produces around 80 kiloliters of the liquor yearly, and aims eventually to reach 180 kl.

With Japanese whisky gaining recognition worldwide, efforts are also underway to protect the brand. The Japan Spirits and Liqueurs Makers Association last year issued labeling standards for Japanese whisky.