The Director

My name is Megumi Inman.  I am a filmmaker and I have been working on this project for the last 2 and a half years.  I fell in love with barrels and coopering after reading the book "The Coopers Challenge" when I was 18 years old.  With a Japanese mother and English father, I grew up eating delicious homemade Japanese food.  As a child I loved helping my mum in the kitchen and learning our family recipes and Japan’s distinctive flavours. It is a tragedy to see Japan’s traditional tastes that have been around for centuries change and potentially be lost forever if coopering is not nurtured and respected. This is why I am making this film. We are at a critical point in the history of Japanese food as well as its barrels. The challenges and pressures that come with modernisation and mass-production can be seen in every country in the world. This film will dig deep to find out how Japan is facing the dilemma of the oke and the changing taste of Japan.