Taro Ishikawa, president of Ishikawa Shuzo in Fussa City, Tokyo, knows a thing or two about brewing beer. This comes as no surprise: In addition to producing Tamajiman sake, his company has been making Japanese jibīru (craft beer) for 14 years. The Ishikawa family's history of beer brewing, however, goes back to 1887, when the brewery created a German-style pilsner called Nihon Bakushu (Japan Beer). It was a short-lived venture; production ceased in 1890.

But in 1998, he decided that it was time to try again. The mid-'90s saw a craft-beer boom in Japan, thanks to a change in tax laws that legalized small-scale brewing. Under the old regulations, only producers with an annual output of more than 2,000 kl could be granted licenses, but the minimum was lowered to 60 kl in 1994. Hundreds of microbreweries opened initially but many folded after a few years. Ishikawa Shuzo is one of over 200 producers still standing, and Ishikawa estimates that around 20 percent of those also make sake.

"We understand the technology of fermentation because we're sake makers, so the quality of our beer is good," he told me on a recent visit to the brewery.