Tanaka Brewery is a long-established sake brewery founded in 1899. It has been producing its signature brand, Takaragawa, in Otaru, Hokkaido, for generations. Using 100% Hokkaido-grown sake rice and pure snowmelt water from Mount Tengu, Tanaka Shuzo crafts its sake with great care and regional pride. Thanks to Hokkaido’s cool climate, it is one of the few breweries in Japan able to produce sake year-round. While sake is typically brewed only in winter, Tanaka Shuzo’s Kikkogura brewery takes advantage of the local weather to practice shiki-jozo—a rare brewing method that operates throughout all four seasons. This means that even during the busy summer tourist season, visitors can enjoy freshly pressed namagenshu (unpasteurized, undiluted sake) straight from the source. The brewery’s main building, a two-story wooden structure built in 1927, has been officially designated a Historic Building by the city of Otaru.