Purchased another bottle of the Hibiki 100 yr anniversary blend on JL34 13 Nov as well as sampled on the flight on the rocks and the next day on JL16 neat; neat was better. It is a mild whiskey that seems to lose nuance under ice. When I get home, will try to do the add 1 ice cube and remove after a couple of seconds; works for many Japanese whiskeys. I did run into a challenge figuring out how to get that second bottle home given the onboard purchase on a BKK-HND flight with an 11 hour layover connecting to a HND to LAX flight and (3) additional domestic segments to get home. My first bottle from JL5 JFK-HND was safely packed away in my checked bag, so no problem there. I discovered the Lawson in the Haneda Garden next to the Villa Fontain T3 hotel had an acceptable hard side roller for 15000Y, so that soled the problem. Also looked around HND landside and found a Donki-like store that had similar bags for a bit less.
Cheers,
-Cyborg