Japanese whisky: Japanese whisky is a style of whisky developed and produced in Japan. Whisky production in Japan began around 1870, but the first commercial production was in 1924 upon the opening of the country's first distillery, Yamazaki. Broadly speaking, the style of Japanese whisky is more similar to that of Scotch whisky than other major styles of whisky. There are several companies producing whisky in Japan, but the two best-known and most widely available are Suntory and Nikka. Both of these produce blended as well as single malt whiskies and blended malt whiskies, with their main blended whiskies being Suntory kakubin (角瓶, square bottle), and Black Nikka Clear. There are also many special bottlings and limited editions.