NIIGATA -- Yoshikawa High School in Niigata Prefecture is the only high school left that teaches students how to brew sake. But the current class will be the last to learn this ancient art.
The school will stop enrolling students for the course in the academic year beginning April. This decision, taken by the prefectural board of education, reflects the steady decline in the popularity of sake.
Japanese tastes for alcohol have diversified, with more people now drinking wine, low-malt "happoshu" and "shochu" spirits made from barley and sweet potato.