land of BRILLIANT ideas!

This picture is of a really unique concept, the first of its kind that I have ever seen! The place is located in Yuzawa station and was very crowded. We entered a room full of these machines (see pic)...I'd say there were easily more than 200 of them, maybe 300?! Anyway you pay 500yen (about 5USD) and get 5 tokens.

Oh...did I mention that Niigata is quite famous for it's rice? I bought some rice...a kilo for 1000 yen (almost 10USD)! Should I point out the obvious? Good rice makes good Japanese sake. Mmmmm.

All the types of sake were labeled according to Brix factor - how sweet/spicy and so on. To me, they all looked the same. ~_~ I was just there for a drink.

1. Find some sake you want to taste, go to that machine
2. Insert the token provided
3. Align your drinking cup to the nozzle
4. Push the yellow button
5. Wait until all the sake has been dispensed
6. Kanpai!

We shared the five sake cups. Me being the cheap drunk that I am, was hit hard by the sake and felt a bit tipsy after the sake-tasting room experience. What a fun idea - if they do not already have this in the States, they SHOULD!