SHIBATA, Niigata Pref. -- Orderly chaos might be a good way to describe the Ichishima Sake Brewery on this bone-chilling January morning.
There's only a dozen or so staff members, but bodies seem to be everywhere, scuttling down stairs or through the rabbit warren of rooms in the four-story building, parts of which date back to the brewery's inception more than 200 years ago.
Clad in overalls and rubber boots, two employees stand ankle-deep in cold water, frantically cleaning out a dozen demijohns.