Interview with FULL MONTY in Yokohama, Japan

An importer of fine cider and Japan’s oldest cider

Written by Jay Revelle/CIDER ON FILM

FULL MONTY BRITISH PUB & CIDER HOUSE, located in Yokohama, Japan, has been an epicenter of cider and cider lifestyle in Japan since about 2005, thus making it Japan’s oldest operating cider house. Their history is quite Shakespearean—filled with trials & tribulations, tragedy, triumph, and tragedy again, only to bounce back each and every time. But this is not just a story of FULL MONTY’s resilience—it’s a testament to the intrinsic value and strength inherent in cider as both a product and lifestyle. The text below is an interview with FULL MONTY owners Clive Poole and Kae Doshin that was conducted over summer 2021. Read on below for a deep-dive into big truth about cider in Japan and the country’s true cider history. – Jay Revelle of CIDER ON FILM

Please tell us about yourselves and the history of FULLY MONTY.

Clive: I have been living in Japan for 36 years. I’m originally from London, England. I arrived here in 1985 at age 22 with the intention of staying for six months.

Kae: I was born & raised in Yokohama.

Clive: Kae and I have been together for close to 20 years, and we opened FULLY MONTY almost 17 years ago in Jan. 2005, making us, as far as I know, Japan’s oldest cider house. 

How did the name “FULLY MONTY” come about?

Clive: That was actually suggested by a friend. When starting, we made a list of names for the pub, but we always came back to “FULLY MONTY.” “FULLY MONTY” means “full on, 100%,” and that actually suited us perfectly. We always put 100% into our business.

What is/are the mission statement and values of FULLY MONTY?

Clive: We aim to reinvent how people see cider and to bring cider closer to people.

Kae: We value integrity, honesty, and having fun in all aspects of our operations.

Where did your love of cider start?

Clive: I’ve always loved cider, while Kae got her first taste of English cider at the Black Lion British Pub in Tokyo almost 20 years ago. Sadly, that pub is now gone.

Kae: I have always enjoyed cider before that though, ever since my mum accidently bought a bottle of cider for me when I was young, thinking it was soda.

Clive: We started out with just one cider on tap—Blackthorn, which was all that was available then. When we moved to our second location, we put in a few more taps for beers and found a few more British ciders. At the time, cider importers only brought in small quantities and were often sold out, which was pretty frustrating. So, we decided that we’d eventually begin to import ourselves. We then got a lot more involved with cider and wanted to introduce British cider to Japan and educate a larger audience. 

When did that first tap go on?

Clive: 2005, when we first opened FULLY MONTY. Having a cider on tap was an absolute must for Kae.

When did the importing operations start up?

Clive: We began FULLY MONTY IMPORTS in 2016. We import cider from a few English cidermakers. Right now, our two main suppliers are Oliver’s Cider & Perry (Herefordshire) and Harry’s Cider (Somerset). Both are proving to be very popular, and we do have plans for another two or three cidermakers over the next few years. 

Kae: We don’t really want more than five cidermakers in our portfolio. Some people bring in small amounts from a large number of cidermakers, but for us we need to keep focus and think more would become a distraction and a bit unfair to the suppliers. 

What is your full product lineup now? And why do you sell those brands/products? What is it that attracts you to them?

Clive: We usually stock around 100 perries and ciders. Up until last summer or so, we had 12–14 on tap, but right now we just aren’t busy enough to warrant that many, sadly. Most of our ciders are from both the U.K. and the U.S., and also France, Spain, Sweden, Latvia, Estonia, and of course Japan. We really do have a cider for everyone. An important part of our philosophy in selling cider in the bar is “if you don’t like it, you can change it.” If I recommend a certain drink to someone and if they choose it based on that recommendation but end up not liking it, then I’ll take it back and let them have something else. I mean, it would be sad if someone spends their hard-earned money on a drink that I say is great but that they end up not liking. I can give a taster from a tap, but not a bottle. Once they’ve said okay, I’ll open the bottle, give them a taste, and if they like it, great! I very rarely get a bottle back. Here is a full list of what’s in our fridge right now:

U.K.
Oliver’s Cider & Perry
Harry’s
Dunkertons
Perry’s
Aspall
Hogans
Sandford Orchards
Ross-on-Wye
Hawkes

Japan
Son of The Smith
Moriyama-en

Sweden
FruktStereo 

Latvia
Abavas 

Estonia
Jaanihanso 

Spain
Isastegi 

France
La Chouette 
Famille Dupont
Eric Bordelet
Manoir D`Apreval

U.S.
Original Sin
Avid 
Noble 
Ace Cider
Shacksbury 
Rev Nat’s 

Why do you sell these brands?

Clive: The reason we continue to sell most of these brands is because we believe in them. They’re solid sellers. They come from some of the top cidermakers that take great care and pride in the quality of the cider and perry they make. 

Kae: What attracts us personally to the ciders that we stock is both the provenance and the heart put into creating them. We’ve stocked ciders before that were mass-produced, and that didn’t really feel right with us. Having such ciders sitting alongside some absolute legends made of 90%+ juice felt wrong, so we slowly got rid of a few. 

Starting and owning a business is obviously not easy. What have been some challenges?

Clive: The Lehman Bros collapse hurt us tons, as we used to host a lot of wedding parties, which completely disappeared in 2008. We weathered that, and things were going well, when in March 2011, Japan was hit by the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami (and the Fukushima nuclear disaster). The vast majority of our customers were/are non-Japanese, and they disappeared almost overnight. We ended up closing up shop in November that year. We half-decided to move to London, when a real estate agent friend called, saying that he had found a great place for us. Initially we had no interest, but he was rather insistent, so we went and had a look.

Kae: The location (the current location) was so good that we said yes on the spot. 

Clive: We opened two weeks after closing the old place. Things were on the up and up since we moved, although we did have problems. The main one occurred in 2015. We were flooded! I came into the bar to find water pouring in from the ceiling. Above us was also flooded, as was next door. A water pipe on the 3rd floor had broken. The flat above us was empty, and our landlord kindly let us keep everything from the bar upstairs until things were okay.

So, all good then?

Clive: Well… then, we had problems with the insurance company paying out, and a month later I posted online that FULLY MONTY was closing—we would not be reopening. A friend, Steve, in the U.S., asked if he could start a GoFundMe campaign for us, which I said yes to not really knowing what it was. He began this campaign in the U.S. under the bar’s name, explaining what had happened. The response was shocking! Over the years, we’ve had 100s of U.S. servicemen and servicewomen pass through our doors, as well as ex-pats, business people, and Japanese of course. The response was stunning. It was the most-humbling thing we have ever experienced. Donations came rolling in!

Kae: Friends, family, and customers in Japan were handing over cash to help. We still had two rents to pay plus bills, utilities, living expenses… with no income coming in. 

Clive: A Japanese friend of mine was waiting to begin the rebuilding, but he needed a downpayment for his contractors. We now had the money for that. He started and did so much more than he needed to. He just kept asking “What else do you want done?”

Kae: We said, “Nothing more needed,” but he did more anyway. I’m 100% sure he paid his contractors and paid nothing to himself. 

Clive: We had a bit of a problem getting the money from the GoFundMe, as I’m not a U.S. citizen and have no social security number, but after a ton of phone calls, we finally got the name transferred from Steve, who had set it up. He transferred the money to Japan. We reopened three months after the flood, and our insurance company reluctantly paid part of our insurance claim just before we reopened. 

Kae: We still look back and tear up when we recall how many helped us stay open. Our customers, friends, and family mean everything to us, and it is something that we can never repay. 

What types of things excite you about cider and the current shape of the cider world?

Clive: I think the cider world is, on the whole, in a healthy position at the moment, in my humble opinion. A lot of things are happening in Europe, especially in Sweden and Norway. Latvia and Estonia are producing some great ciders too. The U.K. has been on an upward trend for a number of years, though the popularity of “fruit” ciders has had an adverse effect with many farms seeing their orchards disappear or just go to waste, as the number of apples required has dwindled. Some orchards have been bulldozed to make way for land to be reused. It’s heartbreaking. That being said, smaller cidermakers are getting their names out. Proper cider, meaning cider/perry that is made with over 90% juice, is more popular than it was 10 years ago. The promotion for real cider has been strong. The government needs to support these cidermakers, as they never really have. Cider is part of our culture, our history, and it does need all the help it can get. Meanwhile, cider in the U.S. and Canada is being championed by influencers such as Three Guys & Cider, Girl With A Cider Review, Ciders With Cami, and PNW Cider Girl. They’re doing an amazing job and doing it right! They’ve made it fun!

What types of ciders do you prefer and how has that changed from five years ago? How might you expect it to change in the next five years?

Clive: Personally, I still like the ciders I liked five years ago. Now I just like them more! I’m always finding something new, and luckily a lot of our friends/customers travel abroad and more often than not bring something back for us to try. I prefer medium to dry, but not exclusively. I love French cidre, especially poire. With keeved cider, the sweetness just works so well. I’m an absolute fan of Oliver’s Keeved Perry. Piltons, too. Over the next five years, I expect the cider industry to still be going strong, but I don’t think it’s going to be led by today’s younger generation. The people into cider now will be the same ones driving the market, I think.

What makes cider in Japan different (and the same)? How does cider culture work in Japan?

Clive: Cider is a different animal in Japan. Mostly, cidermakers here are afraid to think or move outside the box, and that is holding the market back. There are of course some people that really do think outside the box, and Son Of The Smith Hard Cider (Nagano Prefecture) is one—Moriyama-En, too (Aomori Prefecture). These two cidermakers make cider unlike any others in Japan.

Kae: Rita Farm & Winery in Hokkaido Prefecture makes very good cider, too. Also, Shiwa Cidery in Iwate Prefecture.

What are the challenges that cider is facing right now in Japan? 

Kae: I think cider in Japan is being held back by preconceptions of how it should taste. That needs to change either by cidermakers going abroad to study or foreign cidermakers coming here to teach. 

Clive: An even bigger challenge in Japan is that there are some divisions within the cider community  that are very likely too big to overcome. It’s too small a market/industry to sustain such divisions. Some people have wanted to make cider in Japan their own—to monopolize it—and these people have actively worked against others toward that end. These people see others in the same field as a threat, not a friend. It’s a very sad situation to be honest, and it’s the cider industry itself and cider drinkers that suffer. People should be working together for win-win outcomes and for mutual growth and prosperity. Unfortunately, we had to learn this by experience. We have mistakenly collaborated with people that most certainly had their own agenda going on behind the scenes. It would have made a huge difference to cider in Japan had they been honestly collaborating. It’s not one big happy cider family here unfortunately. It’s a problem, and I wonder if industry observers outside Japan can sense that? But there you go—live & learn.

What about those that contribute positively?

Clive: There are lots of players here that we trust and collaborate with, CIDER ON FILM for one, and there are many others. 

Kae: In November 2020, we went to Nagano to help out with some cidermaking with Son Of The Smith.

Clive: I think we were just cheap labor! (Laughs)

Kae: We had a great time doing the whole production process. Incredibly tiring. We’ve known them for a few years now and learned a lot. Can’t wait to go back. 

Clive: Then, you have Cidernaut and Cidershack, both in Shibuya, Tokyo, that have been open for around a year or so. Great selection of cider at both, both on tap and bottled. Charlie at Cidershack worked for us for a while. She’s a beer person, like her husband, Taiji, but she became very interested in cider when with us. She left us to go to England, where she worked at Ross-on-Wye for around six months. While she was there, she and Taiji decided to open a cider house when she got back. They now import Ross-on-Wye cider!

Kae: Her husband, Taiji, often does Lives on Instagram to talk about the ciders they have. 

Clive: Also, Takeda-san of Cidernaut used to live in England and drank cider there, and after coming back to Japan decided he wanted to open a cider house, too. He used to come into FULLY MONTY a lot to learn about cider. He’s a really nice guy. Both Cidershack and Cidernaut are doing a lot of good for cider in Tokyo, and long may they continue! 

Kae: Outside of Japan, we need to give a big shout out to Tom at Oliver’s Cider & Perry and to the Harry’s Cider family; Harry, Toby, and Ali. We can’t wait to get back and visit. We’re proud and honored to be able to bring their ciders into Japan. 

Clive: There always has to be a certain amount of trust. They have an important brand name, and we need to protect that. We’re doing our part to expand those brands and bring their cider to a wider audience here in Japan. We also want to give a nod to Albert and Mike, etc., at Ross-on-Wye. I don’t know how they continually come out with so many exceptional ciders! I just remember sitting in their barn with Kae and Gabe Cook, getting drunk on life and cider. Could have stayed for weeks! We’d also like to say hello to Al and Jim at Pulpt Cider. We still want your ciders over here! A hello also goes to Martin Berkley of Pilton.

What can we expect from FULLY MONTY in the near future? 

Clive: Getting our new website off the ground (online shop), getting World Cider Experience up & running, importing more new ciders into Japan, attending more trade fairs, and expanding the FULLY MONTY name/brand.

What is World Cider Experience?

World Cider Experience began back in 2017 and is in hiatus at the moment. It’s in the middle of evolving. It’s an online website based in Japan that focuses on non-Japanese cider, i.e., imported ciders available in Japan. We focus on the cidermakers and their history, as well as availability. The site will include our online shop. There is still a lot to do, but it is slowly getting there. We do have an Instagram account and a Facebook page, but neither of those are really what they should be yet. 

Pertinant links:

Instagram
@ckfullmonty
@fullmonty.ciderpub
@world.cider.experience1
@cideronfilm
@jayrevelle

Facebook
facebook.com/Full-Monty-British-Pub-Cider-House-297292743622561