Steel workers kicked "kaku-uchi" off in northern Japan at the start of the 1900s. Today, these liquor shops are where local communities all over the country gather for drinks. On a chilly day in late December, as most people were busy with New Year's preparations, I stepped into a seemingly ordinary shop in Kitakyushu, the northernmost city on Japan's island of Kyushu. Sake no Awaya had the usual appearance of a well-stocked liquor store specialising in sake: shelves were tightly packed with hundreds of meticulously arranged bottles, most of them brandishing bold, colourful Japanese writing.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230413-the-drinking-culture-hidden-inside-japans-liquor-stores

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