Etsu Pacific Ocean Water Gin is distilled at Asahikawa Distillery in Hokkaido. Hokkaido is the second largest of the Archipelago’s four main islands, but the second least populated. It is located north of the island of Honshu from which it is separated by the Tsugaru Strait. It is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean to the East, the Sea of Japan to the West and the Sea of Okhotsk to the north. In the Meiji Era (1868-1912) the island took its current name : Hokkaido, which means "the way to the North Sea”.