Word: kuras
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Many young people in Japan feel as I did, which is why the sake business is struggling. Beer is by far the favored drink, accounting for half of domestic sales of alcoholic drinks. Sake makes up just 9%, down from 17% a decade ago. Active sake breweries, or kura, have dwindled to about 1,200, from 3,500 or so in 1970. It would seem that despite a passionate marriage that historians date back to 3 B.C., the love between Japan and sake is fading...
...there is still a spark. Like kimonos and Godzilla, sake is too much ingrained in the culture to be entirely forgotten. Major sakemakers are targeting new markets, such as young women, with innovative products and sales pitches. A change in the tax laws has encouraged small and midsize kura to produce more profitable, premium sake, a move that has ignited the current fad for jizake, or local sake. And kura big and small see potential abroad, where a sake boom has stepped up demand. Despite its troubles--or perhaps because of them--the industry is producing its best sake ever...