I bought the bottle in a big retailor for about 59 US$ - so this was not cheap. Tasted on 3 occasions (neat). Unfortunately, I do not associate neither the nose nor the palate of this spirit with whisky at all. More like a (cheap) pear brandy. Water did not help. I did not enjoy this spirit at all. Maybe it will do some service as a base for a mixer. For the moment, it is engraved in my brain as a reference for a bad whisky. This certainly is not a good ambassador for Japanese whisky. No way I will ever taste it neat again.