An evergreen cocktail

Hemingway once said that the best way to make a Martini was to let a ray of sun pass through the vermouth and hit the gin. This literary inspired description is simply a proof of the fascination this drink hold for many people, very important persons included. Churchill and F.D. Roosvelt were both fond of it: the former liked it "naked"; the second, at the opposite, sipped the drink mixed with Argentine vermouth and spiked with olive juice (the today so called "dirty Martini"). After James Bond, we all know that a Man uses to ask for a Martini to be "shaken, not stirred".
In Western culture, drinking a Martini is often a statement of what one is not as much as how one wishes to be perceived.
If we turn our eyes to Japan, we can see that till a few years ago the classic Martini was a favorite drink of aging, stateside élite and an uncommon sight in Tokyo. But recently this drink has become more democratic, being adopted even by young and trendy people.

In Japan the cocktail revival is rumored to be due to Sarah Jessica Parker (a.k.a. Carrie Bradshaw), star of the TV series "Sex and the City", now running on Japan Satellite Broadcasting WOWOW. Parker's drink is an effeminate version of the original, tinted pink with a splash of cranberry and lime and sweetened with a drop of Cointreau: the cosmopolitan (the "cosmo," as it's affectionately known in certain circles). Churchill and Hemingway would no doubt turn up their noses at these modern interpretation, although Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who willingly mixed the drink with anisette and fruit juices, might have been game.
Flying to Japan with Sarah Jessica, several Martini's types are now appearing in the hands of Tokyoites all around town.

A "Metropolis Tokyo" correspondent, Matt Wilce, set off on a search to find the perfectly put-together version of this classic drink and catalogue the latest, tastiest renditions to make it to Tokyo bar menus. Toiling into the wee hours at the city's drinking establishments, he made a list of the best Martinis in the city. Before following in his footsteps, let us took a glance at the history of the classic Martini.

According to a classic statement, Martini is American, modern, sophisticated, upper class, urban, and optimistic, and is by implication not European, old-fashioned, working class, rural, or pessimistic.
If we look at the history of cocktails, we can see that the drink that Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev once called "America's lethal weapon" is probably the most written about cocktail. Even though it has fallen in and out of favor over the years, the Martini is known as the classic American drink. Having his main ingredients in vermouth and gin or vermouth and vodka, the Martini finds his "lethal" aspect just in a large proportion of gin, or vodka, to a minute flavoring of vermouth. In fact, according to many famous tipplers, a good gin no longer needed vermouth at all. While Martini recipes shortly after Prohibition generally called for about a 4:1 ratio of gin to vermouth, people strove to outdo each other with gin-vermouth ratios of 8:1 or 25:1, with the vermouth dispensed by eyedropper or atomizer. The Martini is to be served always ice-cold. Drinkers' fervent meticulousness concerning its preparation has produced a whole culture (or cult) around the drink: the Martini is accompanied by its own particular codes, accessories, and literature (being praised in the works of such twentieth-century authors as Ogden Nash, Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, and H. L. Mencken).

The Martini appears to have evolved out of an older cocktail, the Martinez, created around 1862 (and several cocktail books written before the turn of the last century use the name Martini and Martinez interchangeably).
As with so many other popular cocktails, there are a number of competing claims for the Martini's origin, none having been conclusive. One theory states that the drink was invented in San Francisco by a passing traveler, who was bound for Martinez, California. Citizens of Martinez claim the traveler was leaving for San Francisco and that he invented the cocktail in Martinez. There is also a story that claims the drink's name came from the Martini and Henry rifle used by the British army around 1871. The key line was that the rifle and the drink shared a strong kick.

In any case, at origins this particular drink consisted of four parts red, sweet vermouth and one part gin, and it was garnished with a cherry. The first one was made with an aromatic bitter and Old Tom Gin, which was very Junipery, a little golden, and rather sweet compared with today's standards. The transformation into what we know as Martini happened gradually over time. First the Old Tom Gin was replaced with London Dry. Orange Bitters took the place of the aromatic bitters. People began to replace the red Vermouth with a white, dry vermouth. The proportions of the drink eventually became equal parts and soon the Dry Martini appeared, olive included.

As for the word "Martini", the first mention of it appeared in the New and Improved Illustrated Bartending Manual published by Harry Johnson in 1888. Last but not least, the most recent and possibly the most reliable story in Martini's evolution involves Italy too. In 1911, the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York head barman, the immigrant Martini di Arma di Taggia, mixed half and half London Gin, Noilly Prat Vermouth and orange bitters. He then chilled the drink on ice and strained it into a chilled glass. The legend is that the bartender made the world's first dry Martini for John D. Rockefeller in 1910. Then, the regulars at the Knickerbocker asked for variations of the drink and added the olive.