Koichi Hasegawa is the second son born to a family that ran a liquor store in Koto-ku, Tokyo. In 1973, he joined Chiyoda Co., Ltd., a shoe sales and shoe manufacturing concern. After his brother passed away, he decided to take over the family business. He joined hasegawasaketen in 1975 and became president and CEO of the company in 1994.
Based on the idea that the company could not survive simply as a liquor store in a town, he visited sake brewers all over Japan and displayed delicious rare Japanese sake brands in the store.
In 2004, he opened the company's first branch store in Azabu Juban with the intention of open a fashionable sake store in the metropolitan area. Subsequently, to serve as information dispatch bases for Japanese sake, he opened a Omotesando Hills store and a store in GranSta, which is a commercial facility inside Tokyo Station.
In 1998, he established Tanik Inc. to roll out Sake Naka-Naka and Shutei Sakatomo restaurants. He also serves as the president and CEO of icorporation, a liquor wholesale and export organization. Hasegawasaketen hosts sake-tasting events in the spring and fall and jointly with sake brewers has held Japanese sake tasting events in New York and Las Vegas, and is proactively promoting Japanese sake events inside and outside Japan.
Currently targeting overseas markets, working with sake brewers the company is exploiting slightly sourer Japanese sake and delicious Japanese sake with a 12 to 13 percent alcohol content.
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