Hands-on Japanese sake brewing experiences have become a hit with tourists in central Japan, even before the techniques used to produce the traditional alcoholic beverage were added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
One such experience organized by a travel firm in Saku, Nagano Prefecture, offers visitors the chance to become a “kurabito” (sake brewer) through an immersive experience. Participants stay in a traditional-style home once inhabited by brewers during the brewing season and engage in key sake-making processes, including rice washing, steaming, and fermenting with “koji” mold.
About 40% of participants in the sake-making tour at Kitsukura Shuzo brewery company are foreigners, according to the travel firm Kurabito Stay Inc.
The main attraction for many visitors is not only exploring the brewery site and sampling sake, but also actively participating in the brewing process while staying in a charming, over 100-year-old timber house.
Antoni Gandia, 38, visiting from Switzerland, said he joined the tour because he wanted to know about the brewing process and culture.
The tours began in March 2020 and have so far drawn around 650 guests from some 30 countries, according to Kurabito Stay, which also offers English interpretation services.
The firm’s president, Marika Tazawa, was among those who praised the traditional knowledge and skills used in the production of sake and “shochu” distilled spirits being added to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) list earlier this month.
“I want to spread the value of Japanese sake to the world through having people take part in the authentic brewing process,” she said. (Kyodo)