miscellaneous rambling

In addition to the zoo, Asahikawa is home to the Otokoyama Sake brewery. Japan's most Northern sake brewery, and perhaps the oldest at 335 years! It is obviously one of the most famous and prestigious brands of sake in Japan. We had a free tour of it's museum, which has famous Ukiyo-E prints, and antique, traditional sake making tools. On top of that, there was a free tasting of about 10 different kinds of sake.
It was a lot more than expected. Very generous of them I thought, compared to paying for each sample of wine in Canada in the Niagra area.
Since there was much more than expected, we all left feeling a bit sauced.
Later than evening over sushi, our friend Tetsu-San made the comment over our trip " That's not tasting, that's drinking!"
I coudn't have put it better. Oh well, I did buy 4 bottles of sake, so the brewery made a worthwhile investment with the free samples.