date:Sep 19, 2012
try road about 100 miles north of Tokyo rises the white-washed facade of a sake brewery. Here in the quiet town of Naka, the Kiuchi family has been brewing Japan's ancient rice wine for seven generations, since the time of the shoguns.
But these days, the beverage rolling off Kiuchi's production line would make its 19th century founders squirm. The brewery is now a leading maker of micro-beer.
That building furthest away used to produce sake, says vice president Youcichi Kiuchi as he shows me