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Ask a brewer what makes sake possible and the answer rarely starts with rice. It starts with koji. Yet koji is not added freely, and the amount is measured to the kilogram. That measurement has a name: koji buai. Koji buai (麹歩合) is th...

Barappa manju is a steamed wheat-flour bun filled with sweet red bean paste, cooked on a single wild leaf. It comes from the Hokuso area of northern Chiba Prefecture, and people there eat it during summer festivals and Obon. The leaf giv...

Two breweries can start with the same rice variety, the same well, and the same yeast. Yet the sake in the glass tastes nothing alike. The reason usually hides in a document that drinkers never see. Brewers call it the shikomi haigo. So ...

Kumimizu buai (汲水歩合) is sake's water-to-rice ratio. Brewers calculate it by dividing the brewing water in liters by the total rice in kilograms, then multiplying by 100. Most breweries work somewhere between 125 and 135 percent. That...

Sawara (鰆) is the Japanese Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus niphonius), a slender member of the mackerel family. Japanese cooks prize it for its pale flesh, soft texture, and mild savory flavor. Although the flesh looks white, the Minist...

Oribiki (滓引き) is the sake racking step that separates clear sake from settled sediment after pressing. Brewers rest the freshly pressed sake until solids sink, then draw the clear liquid gently into another tank. It happens after pres...

Ten dollars does not buy much lunch in London or New York any more. In Japan, it still buys a proper meal, and often a very good one. Quick answer Yes, you can eat well in Japan for under $10. At roughly 163 yen to the dollar in late Jul...

Kan-zukuri is the traditional practice of brewing sake during the coldest months of the year. The cold does real work here. Low temperatures slow fermentation, keep it stable, and hold unwanted microbes in check. For centuries, this made...

Every bottle of sake leaves something behind. After the fermented mash is pressed, a soft, pale, fragrant solid remains in the press. The Japanese call it sake kasu, and many people wrongly dismiss it as waste. In reality, it is not wast...

Ask someone how sake reaches its final strength, and most people picture the fermentation tank. Yet one of the last and most quietly important steps happens after brewing is basically done. It is called Warimizu, and it is the practice o...