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Amazake — literally 'sweet sake' — is Japan's ancient fermented rice beverage that predates alcoholic sake by centuries and occupies a unique cultural position as both a traditional health drink and a seasonal ritual food. Despite the name, authentic amazake contains little to no alcohol: the drink is produced by fermenting cooked rice with koji (Aspergillus oryzae mould) at a controlled warm temperature (55–60°C), which activates the amylase enzymes in the koji to break down the rice starch into glucose, maltose, and other simple sugars, creating intense natural sweetness without fermentation to alcohol. The result is a thick, slightly textured drink with a natural sweetness that is both complex and gentle — not cloying like refined sugar, but layered with the mild savouriness of koji amino acids. Two distinct styles exist: (1) Koji amazake (酒粕不使用) — made from rice and koji only, typically non-alcoholic, thick, with visible rice grain texture, and intensely sweet from enzymatic starch conversion; (2) Sake-kasu amazake (酒粕入り) — made by dissolving sake lees (kasu — the pressed-out rice solids from sake production) in warm water with sugar, which produces a thinner, more alcoholic drink with the complex, fermented character of sake brewing residue. Amazake appears at Shinto shrine festivals during winter and early spring — vendors at temple celebrations (particularly New Year and Setsubun) serve it warm from large heated vats, and it is strongly associated with the New Year's shrine visit (hatsumode). It also appears as a traditional summer refreshment (cold, diluted), as a cooking ingredient in wagashi confectionery, and as a health drink marketed for probiotics, B vitamins, and glucose energy. The nutritional density and sweet energy content led to its historical description as 'drinkable intravenous fluid' (nonde no tenga), reflecting the belief that amazake provided quickly available energy during hard physical labour.

Nuka-doko — the living fermented rice bran pickle bed — is one of the most demanding and rewarding preparations in Japanese home cooking, a century-scale fermentation ecosystem that transforms fresh vegetables into complex, probiotic-rich pickles through the activity of a diverse microbial community whose character evolves over years and decades of maintenance. A nuka-doko is essentially a container of rice bran (nuka — the outer bran layer removed during rice polishing) mixed with salt, water, and various flavour additions (konbu, dried chilli, garlic, sake, dried mushrooms), then inoculated with naturally occurring lactic acid bacteria and yeast that begin a complex fermentation: the lactic acid bacteria produce lactic acid, which acidifies and preserves the environment; various yeasts produce esters and alcohols; other bacteria contribute to the breakdown of phytic acid in the bran and to flavour development over time. Vegetables (daikon, cucumber, carrot, eggplant, cabbage, turnip) are buried in the nuka-doko for periods ranging from 6 hours (quick nuka-zuke) to several days (more complex, deeply fermented result), during which the acids and enzymes in the bran draw moisture from the vegetable while simultaneously flavouring and pickling it. The critical maintenance practice is daily mixing: the nuka-doko must be mixed by hand (and the hand's own bacteria contribute to the ecosystem — traditional practitioners claim their personal hand microbiome is inseparable from their nuka-doko's character) once or twice daily to introduce oxygen, prevent anaerobic spoilage, and maintain the temperature gradient within the bran. A well-maintained nuka-doko improves for years — the complexity of the LAB and yeast community deepens, the flavours become more sophisticated, and the pickles develop greater depth. Traditional Japanese families pass nuka-doko down through generations.