Many of the well-known brands of sake are made in the rural, now snow-deep regions of Japan, including Niigata Prefecture, but what may not be widely known is that there are about a dozen breweries in Tokyo alone.
Although domestic sake consumption has been on a decline, it is gaining favor with non-Japanese consumers at home and abroad.
Now a growing number of foreign sake drinkers are visiting breweries to take a peek at the production process and indulge in some tasting, or simply to experience the atmosphere of a traditional storehouse-equipped brewery with a history dating back to the Meiji Era (1868-1912) or the Edo Period (1600-1867).