'Tamajiman' brand sake bottles produced by Ishikawa Shuzou, or Ishikawa Brewery, are displayed for sale at the brewery's sales store in Fussa, western portion of Tokyo. - Reuters
FUSSA, Japan: At a Tokyo brewery dating back to the days of the samurai, Koichi Maesako drops a 3-metre-long wooden paddle into a giant, jade-coloured tank and gently stirs the white mixture that will turn into sake in a week's time.
The sweet-and-sour-smelling brew - of rice, yeast starter, the culinary mould known as koji and water - has been fermenting for 20 days in what is part of an ancient technique that Unesco is set to list as Intangible Cultural Heritage this week.
