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[00:00.66] A small space in Tokyo houses a container of fermenting sake.

[00:07.83] The bacteria in the 670-litre container will take more than two weeks to turn the rice and water inside into Japan's traditional alcoholic drink.

[00:22.44] But the bacteria are not only alive, they are listening too, said brewer Yoshimi Terasawa.

[00:30.94] He suggested the kind of music coming from a loudspeaker below the tank determines how the drink will taste.

[00:41.03] "The micro-organisms inside are activated by the vibrations, and the taste changes," said the 63-year-old chief brewer of Tokyo Port Brewing.

[00:55.64] Music is among the unusual methods Terasawa is using at the only sake brewery in the heart of the capital city.

[01:06.54] Fit into a narrow building, the small operation employs methods that promise to help the environment.

[01:15.57] The brewery employs special machinery and processes that use less energy and labor than a traditional brewery in the countryside.

[01:27.78] "Making sake on this kind of smaller scale makes it easier to keep the production environment constant," Terasawa said.

[01:38.68] He has 45 years of experience in the industry.

[01:43.72] The company produces about 30 kiloliters of sake each year.

[01:50.09] That is enough to fill almost 42,000 720-ml bottles.

[01:58.33] But changing tastes and Japan's aging population have reduced demand.

[02:05.77] The government says the number of sake breweries has decreased two-thirds from its high point in the 1970s to just over 1,100 now.

[02:20.91] More than half of sake breweries are not making a profit.

[02:25.43] Other difficulties that sake breweries face include a shortage of workers as brewers retire, increased fuel costs and problems with the rice supply.

[02:39.23] Terasawa said his small brewery offers an example of how to deal with those difficulties.

[02:47.47] The process starts on the fourth floor, where he and an employee steam the rice for 70 minutes.

[02:56.77] Then they let gravity move the rice through openings in the floors and ceilings to a mold-application room on the third floor.

[03:08.45] Fermentation, using tap water, takes place on the second level.

[03:14.56] Finally, the sake is put into bottles at ground level.

[03:20.14] "In the future, small breweries like this will have a great deal of merit," Terasawa added.