Times are tough for the sake industry. Gone are the days when Japan's once-beloved national beverage held a place at every table; now, in a market flooded with beer, wine and shochu, sake struggles to compete. Domestic consumption has fallen every year since 1995, hitting a record low of 700,000 kiloliters in 2006.
"The situation is very serious, what with declining consumption and the loss of market share to other alcoholic beverages," says Naotaka Miyasaka, president of Miyasaka Brewery in Nagano Prefecture. According to Miyasaka, the rise of shochu in particular has severely crippled sake sales. He attributes this both to shochu's lower price point and the shift in diet from typically light Japanese fare to heavier, richer food.
Lack of consumer interest is not the only problem, however. "As the sake market shrinks, businesses related to sake-making start to disappear," he says. Manufacturers of the equipment for the industry, such as rice-milling machines, rice steamers and bottling machines, are gradually going out of business.