Sake brewer Mie Takahashi prepares steamed rice with koji mold for sake making in a temperature-controlled room at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Sake brewer Mie Takahashi prepares a chunk of steamed rice with koji mold for sake making in a temperature-controlled room at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Sake brewer Mie Takahashi stirs mixture of steamed rice with koji mold and other ingredients in a tank as her early morning routine before her crew shows up at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Sake brewer Mie Takahashi, from left, watches her crew Shigeru Kikuchi and Daichi Ushiyama use a crane to move steamed sake rice into another unit in a Japanese sake making process at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Sake brewer Mie Takahashi checks raw sake after it went through a filtration unit at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Visitors take photos of Lake Suwa from a cafe in Okaya, central Japan, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Sake brewer Mie Takahashi walks by tanks used for sake making at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Sake brewer Mie Takahashi stirs mixture of steamed rice with koji mold and other ingredients in a tank as her early morning routine before her crew shows up at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Sake brewer Mie Takahashi checks components of fermentation mash from different sake making processes in order to achieve certain qualities for each brand at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Isao Takahashi, president of the Koten sake brewery, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Sake brewer Mie Takahashi stirs mixture of steamed rice with koji mold and water in a tank at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Sake brewer Mie Takahashi checks components of fermentation mash from different sake making processes in order to achieve certain qualities for each brand of sake at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Sake brewer Mie Takahashi walks by a steaming cooker containing about 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds) of rice to be used to make Japanese sake at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Sake brewer Mie Takahashi moves a big pot that could steam about one ton of rice as she washes it after steaming a batch of it in a sake making process at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Isao Takahashi, president of the Koten sake brewery, puts up a "noren," a short curtain hung in front of a company entrance in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
The storefront of the Koten sake brewery is seen in Okaya, central Japan, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
The storefront of the Koten sake brewery is seen in Okaya, central Japan, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Bottles of Japanese sake brands made at the Koten brewery are displayed at the storefront in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Sake brewer Mie Takahashi, left, prepares steamed rice with koji mold for sake making as her crew Shigeru Kikuchi, from second left, Daichi Ushiyama and Tatsuya Ogawa set up a table for the rice at the Koten sake brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Sake brewer Mie Takahashi, far right, and her crew Tatsuya Ogawa, from left, Daichi Ushiyama and Shigeru Kikuchi work on a Japanese sake making process as they move steamed rice, front, into another unit at the Koten sake brewery in Okaya, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
People for smelt fishing at Lake Suwa come back to a pier in Okaya, central Japan, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Lake Suwa is situated along Okaya, central Japan, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Mie Takahashi, "toji," or sake brewer, of the Koten sake brewery, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Lake Suwa overlooks Okaya, central Japan, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)