Sake in Japan(3) How did the Sake makers in Japan influence the culture around drinking?

Sake makers have struggled with decreasing the consumption of sake among people. Sake is still considered a sacred beverage but not a daily drink anymore in the era of westernized culture. For young generations, sake is recognized as an old-fashioned or out-of-date beverage for the elderly.

Another disadvantageous reason for the sake of being popular comes from its characteristics. The sake is seldom served with watered, making it challenging to modify the alcohol density. Women who are socially supposed not to be drunk in public prefer to drink lighter alcohol, which means losing half of the marketizing opportunity. Like the other developed countries (Low Gravity on the Rise: A Sociocultural Examination of Low Alcohol Beer in the United States, 2020), health-conscious individuals seek moderate drinking, lighter alcohol beverages.

Interestingly, the elderly generation recognizes sake as a hangover maker. They never forget their bad memory of hangovers after drinking low-quality sake in the early days. Today, inadequate ingredients for sake-making at that time are all removed from any sake products, but their belief that sake makes a hangover persistently remains in their mind.

An epoch-making event in domestic tourism happened in 1982, the Shinkansen bullet train's extension from Tokyo to the Joetsu area. It drew touristic attention in that region. Joetsu area had traditionally produced fine quality sake, and sake brewery takes advantage of the tour to promote their local sake. Though the nationwide market size of the sake consumption is not directly increased, local sake's popularity dramatically increased through this event. The high-quality microbrewing sake was recognized as worthy of note. Taking advantage of that popularity, sake dealers and brewers promote sake by suggesting the pairing with western food.

In the 2010s, when Japanese food is recognized as a world cultural heritage (UNESCO, n.d.), sake was noticed as an in-bound touristic attraction. As a result, people become more conscious of the connection between the local food culture and their sake. That connects with the pairing of food and sake and expands the possibility of the presentation in sake drinking culture. Overall, the Sake and Japanese society's affiliation continues, though the approach toward sake has been modified.