AS the national beverage of Japan, sake is a core aspect of the island nation’s history that’s permanently etched into the country’s cultural heritage and identity.
Japanese Ambassador Takahashi Katsuhiko likens Japan’s relationship with sake to East Malaysia’s (or, specifically, Borneo’s) relationship with tuak.
In Sarawak, tuak is intertwined with the Iban and Sarawakian identities. Brewed from rice, the traditional alcohol beverage is a crucial part of Indigenous celebrations.
“Japan is the same. Sake is used during rituals as a way to express gratitude to nature and the ancestors. We are appreciative of the nature that creates sake,” Takashi told theSun.
“Spirituality is important, but I don’t want Malaysians to feel spirituality for its own sake,” he said, laughing.
In Japan, sake brewing is said to date back over 2,000 years from first arriving from China along with rice cultivation, being brewed in temples by Shinto monks, coming under the control of the government, and finally becoming what it is now.
