A Peek At Tokun Sake Brewery Company

Time for a little stop for sake - at least to a place that makes the rice-based beverage. The old town of Sawara has the venerable Tokun Sake Brewery Company, established in 1825.

The place is old, mostly a collection of unfinished wood clapboard and a big brick smokestack.

Inside one of the old warehouses, now used for tours. Pretty. Some of the old branding irons, used for labeling barrels.

Old wood nirvana, a big pile of sake-making tools, from filter trays to buckets to barrels.

Some of the current sake offerings, in bottle and traditional barrel.

And then the modern reality of distribution, stacks of plastic crates.

Surveying Inō Tadataka's House In Sawara, Japan

Inō Tadataka is famous for producing the first map of Japan using modern surveying techniques, at least modern for around 1821, the year the map was finished. Alas, Tadataka wasn't around to bask in the triumph. He died in 1817.

If you stroll the old Edo era area of Sawara, you can duck into his house. And a museum nearby, housing many of his tools and several map sections.

Front of the house, right next to the quaint central canal.

Inside, all classic tatami mat. Out back, a sculpture of the legend.

Another view of the sedate dwelling.

Details. Rice paper lantern, all simplicity and a surveying tool.

Another look at the exterior of the house.