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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Japan
Japanese sake, a fermented beverage made from rice, koji and water. It is an official geographical indication of Japan and is served chilled, at room temperature, or warm, in small cups.
Traditional drink from Japan
Also known as: Saquê, Sake, Seishu, 日本酒, 清酒
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Nihonshu — Japan
Nihonshu, called sake outside Japan, is made from polished rice, water and koji, rice cultivated with a mold that converts rice starch into sugar while yeasts convert it into alcohol. It is a fermented beverage, not distilled. In Japan, the word sake also refers to alcoholic drinks in general; that is why nihonshu, Japanese sake, is used for this drink.
The name Nihonshu is a national geographical indication registered with Japan’s National Tax Agency: it applies to sake produced in Japan using rice and rice koji of Japanese origin. There are also indications for producing regions. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, Hyogo, Kyoto and Niigata produce more than half of the country’s nihonshu, but there are sake-brewing houses, kura, in almost every prefecture, many open to visits and tastings.
Types depend on how much the rice is polished and whether alcohol is added. Junmai is made only from rice, koji and water; ginjo and daiginjo use more highly polished rice and often have fruity aromas. The beverage can be served across a wide temperature range, from about 5 °C to 60 °C, and each temperature has its own name, from chilled to very warm.
Nihonshu accompanies meals, celebrations and rituals. It is offered at Shinto shrines and served at weddings and New Year. At the table, it comes in a small flask (tokkuri) and is drunk from small cups (ochoko); in some bars it is served in a glass placed inside a wooden box (masu). It is customary to pour for others rather than pour your own glass.
Japan
Drink of the whole country, national geographical indication Nihonshu.
Polished rice, water, koji (rice with the mold Aspergillus oryzae) and yeasts. In some types, a small amount of added alcohol.
Chilled, at room temperature or warmed, depending on the type. Served from a tokkuri into ochoko, in glasses, or in a wooden masu box. Pairs with meals, snacks and fish dishes.
Year-round; present at New Year, weddings and shrine festivals. New sake typically appears in winter and spring.
Your questions
Both. Nihonshu is served across a range of about 5 °C to 60 °C, and each temperature has its own name. More aromatic types, such as ginjo and daiginjo, are usually served chilled.
Nihonshu is a fermented rice beverage, not distilled. Shochu is distilled and can be made from sweet potato, barley, rice and other ingredients; it is stronger and often drunk with water or ice.
Yes. There are sake breweries, kura, in almost every prefecture, and many welcome visitors with tastings. Some require reservations; confirm before you go.
Flavors of Japan
Wheat noodles in a hot broth seasoned with shoyu, miso, salt, or pork bone, served with slices of pork, scallions, and bamboo shoots. It’s one of Japan’s most common dishes, with regional styles throughout the country.
A shallow pot of thinly sliced beef, scallion, grilled tofu, shirataki and leafy greens, cooked in a sauce of soy sauce, sugar and sake. Each piece is dipped in beaten egg before eating.
Shrimp, fish and seasonal vegetables coated in a light batter of wheat flour, egg and cold water and fried to order. They are eaten with tentsuyu broth and grated daikon or with salt, and also served over rice as tendon.
Aizu festive soup, made with dried scallop and dried shiitake broth, taro, carrot, mushrooms, bracken shoot, ginkgo and wheat-gluten balls (mamefu), served in the region’s lacquered bowls.
A pot of chicken-bone broth with mashed and toasted rice sticks (kiritanpo), burdock, mushrooms, scallions and seri. A dish from Akita, made at the time of the new rice harvest.
Thin rice‑cake filled with sweet azuki bean paste and toasted on both sides in an iron mold stamped with a plum blossom, the symbol of Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine. It’s the sweet of the shrine avenue in Dazaifu.
Red snapper and rice in two Ehime versions: in the north, the whole fish is cooked with the rice and shredded in the pot; in the south, raw slices marinated in soy sauce and egg are placed over the hot rice.
Cold soba with grated daikon radish, quite spicy, cold broth, katsuobushi and green onion. It’s the most eaten soba in Fukui, served at weddings, at the end of the year and at winter Buddhist ceremonies.
Rich, milky pork-bone broth ramen with thin, straight noodles, chashu and scallions. It’s named Hakata, another name for Fukuoka, and is eaten in ramen shops and the city’s yatai stalls.
Layered pancake cooked on the griddle: thin wheat batter, lots of cabbage, slices of pork, fried noodles and egg, with a thick sweet sauce. In Hiroshima, it’s everyday food, served in specialized restaurants and eaten with a spatula.
Grilled mutton or lamb on a rounded iron griddle, with vegetables that cook in the juices that run off. It’s Hokkaido’s best-known dish, eaten at home, in restaurants and on picnics.
Very thick, soft udon served with almost no broth, topped with a dark, thick tamari–dashi sauce and scallions. A dish from the city of Ise, served for centuries to shrine pilgrims.
Soba served in one-bite portions in small bowls, refilled by the server until you cover the bowl. A tradition from Iwate that began as a way to welcome guests.
Kagawa udon: firm and elastic, with a smooth surface, served hot or cold, in iriko broth or simply with soy sauce. Kagawa is called the udon kingdom, with udon shops throughout the prefecture.
Sweet-potato shochu from Kagoshima, distilled using rice koji or sweet-potato koji. Satsuma is Japan’s official geographical indication for the shochu of the prefecture, which is enjoyed with hot water, on the rocks, or with cold water.
Shaved ice topped with condensed milk, colorful fruit, agar jelly cubes and azuki beans. The name, polar bear, comes from how it looks from above. A summer sweet from Kagoshima.
Bowl of rice topped with shirasu — translucent sardine fry, raw or cooked — served with soy sauce and ginger. A coastal Shonan (Kanagawa) dish made with the day’s catch from Sagami Bay.
Duck dusted in flour and cooked with sudare-fu (wheat gluten), vegetables and mushrooms in a slightly thickened shoyu broth, served with wasabi. A dish of Kaga cuisine, traditional in Kanazawa.
Bonito quickly seared over a high flame, often using straw, browned on the outside and raw inside, cut into thick slices and served with salt or a citrus soy sauce, garlic and scallion. Dish from Kōchi.
Firm sesame cream made from ground sesame, kuzu starch and water, served in cubes with wasabi and soy sauce. A dish from the vegetarian cuisine of the monks of Koyasan, the sacred mountain of Shingon Buddhism.
Lotus root with the holes filled with miso and Japanese mustard, breaded in a yellow batter and fried, served in slices. A dish from Kumamoto, traditionally linked to the Hosokawa lords.
Grilled conger (anago) with shoyu sauce, sliced and arranged over rice cooked in broth. A Miyajima specialty, sold since 1901 as a train-station snack at the boarding point for the island.
Breaded and fried chicken, dipped in a sweet-and-sour vinegar sauce and topped with tartar sauce. A Miyazaki dish, originating in Nobeoka in the 1950s and 1960s.
Thick, short soba made only from buckwheat from the Iya Valley, without binding wheat flour, served in hot broth with fried tofu, kamaboko, scallions and mountain greens. A dish from the Iya Valley, in Miyoshi.
Dumpling made from wheat flour, sometimes mixed with buckwheat, filled with vegetables seasoned with miso or soy sauce, or with sweet bean paste; baked, steamed, or both. A dish from Nagano, from mountain villages.
Thick noodles cooked in their own rich broth, with pork, seafood, kamaboko and many vegetables sautéed in the same pan. A Nagasaki dish tied to the city’s history as an open port.
Rectangular castella sponge cake, moist with a yellow crumb, made of eggs, sugar, flour and starch syrup, with the top and bottom well browned. A sweet from Nagasaki that arrived with the Portuguese in the 16th century.
Firm udon, made without salt, cooked in an earthenware pot in a dark soy miso (haccho miso) broth, with chicken, fried tofu, scallion and egg. A dish from Nagoya and Aichi.
Small pressed sushis of salted mackerel on seasoned rice, each wrapped in a persimmon leaf. A dish from Nara, served at the summer festivals of Gojō and Yoshino.
Rice spirit from Okinawa, made with black koji and sometimes aged for years (kusu). Ryukyu is Japan’s official geographical indication for awamori from the prefecture.
Stir-fry of goya, the bitter melão-de-são-caetano, with firm Okinawan tofu, egg and pork. It’s the best-known champuru from Okinawa, made at home and served in restaurants across the prefecture.
Thick wheat noodles, not buckwheat, in a pork-and-dried-bonito broth, topped with simmered pork belly, kamaboko, scallions and pickled red ginger. It’s an everyday dish in Okinawa.
Dough balls made from flour, egg and dashi with pieces of octopus, cooked on a griddle with round hollows and topped with sauce, mayonnaise, seaweed and dried bonito flakes. It’s Osaka’s best-known flavor.
Salted and vinegar-marinated mackerel sushi on a rice log, wrapped in bamboo sheath. A celebratory dish of Kyoto, tied to the Saba Kaido, the route that brought mackerel from the Wakasa Sea.
Sliced beef tongue, seasoned and grilled, served with barley rice, pickles and oxtail soup. It’s Sendai’s signature dish, created after World War II.
Nigorobuna carp from Lake Biwa, salted and fermented for months with rice: an ancient form of sushi with a strong taste and aroma. A dish from Shiga, deeply rooted in the prefecture’s culture.
Dark, aromatic soba made from whole-ground buckwheat with the husk, served cold in stacks of round bowls (warigo) or hot, straight from the pot (kamaage). A dish from the Izumo region in Shimane.
Koji miso with scallion and mushrooms, roasted on a dry magnolia leaf (hoba) over a small tabletop brazier. A dish from the Hida-Takayama region in the mountains of Gifu.
Pressed sushi of cured trout on seasoned rice, in a round wooden box lined with bamboo leaves. It’s Toyama’s most famous dish, sold in specialty shops and as a train snack.
Nigiri in the Edo style, from old Tokyo: a small ball of vinegar-seasoned rice topped with cured, cooked, marinated, or raw fish. It originated as street-vendor food and spread around the world.
A very thin batter of wheat flour and broth, with cabbage and other ingredients, cooked on a griddle at the table and eaten bit by bit with small spatulas. A Tokyo dish associated with the Tsukishima neighborhood.
Taro stew with meat, konnyaku and scallion, cooked in large pots on riverbanks in autumn at Yamagata’s imonikai. Inland it includes beef and shoyu; on the Shonai coast it uses pork and miso.
Thick, wide wheat dough cooked with pumpkin, vegetables and mushrooms in a miso broth, served in an iron pot. It is the most representative dish of Yamanashi, at the foot of Mount Fuji.
Beyond the guide
