Bond is given a piece of local advice in Japan, and it is a modest one. In You Only Live Twice, Dikko Henderson tells him to stick to the cheapest Suntory, the White Label. The Suntory Shirofuda is the bottle he means, and it makes a better story than any grand cru.
In the books
The recommendation comes from Dikko Henderson, who puts the price at around fifteen bob a bottle. It is a small moment about knowing a country well enough to choose its everyday drink over its showpieces.
Owning it now
Suntory says Shirofuda was introduced in 1929 as Japan’s first whisky, though it failed to catch on. The 1937 Kakubin, the square bottle, became the company’s mainstay. The original Shirofuda is out of production, so what you find is second-hand, and we have linked an eBay search for the exact name. Collectors describe a modern white-label bottle, Suntory Whisky White, as a remake. Specialist retailers also list Suntory Kakubin White Label, a whisky containing malt from Yamazaki and Hakushu, at 40% in a 700ml bottle. We treat both as the closest current relatives we can identify, not as the same liquid.
Whichever bottle you choose, we would keep it simple: neat, or with soda and plenty of ice. More in Food & Drink, and the films carry the Japan story onto the screen with the Bonds.
Specifications
| Maker | Suntory |
|---|---|
| Name | Suntory Whisky Shirofuda (White Label) |
| Introduced | 1929, Japan’s first whisky according to Suntory |
| Status | Original out of production; found second-hand |
| Nearest current bottle | Suntory Kakubin White Label, 40%, 700ml (believed closest match) |
Suntory’s history is on House of Suntory.
