Fushimi Sake District

Fushimi has been brewing sake for 400 years, and the neighbourhood still smells like it — a sweet, yeasty fog that hangs in the air around the old wooden breweries lining the canal. This district produces more sake than any other area in Japan after Nada in Kobe, and the reason is water. Fushimi sits on an underground aquifer that produces naturally soft water ideal for brewing a smooth, gentle style of sake that's become the district's signature.

The big names are here — Gekkeikan, one of Japan's largest sake producers, has its original 1637 brewery preserved as a museum where you can tour the old wooden vats and tasting rooms. Kizakura, famous for its yellow-and-green kappa mascot, has a sake-tasting restaurant beside its brewery. But the best experiences are at the smaller craft breweries — Torisei has a standing bar inside its brewery where you can taste unpasteurised sake straight from the tank, an experience that will permanently ruin supermarket sake for you.

The canal that runs through the district — the Jikkokubune — offers boat rides on flat-bottomed vessels that pass under willow trees and past the backs of sake warehouses. The district is also where the Teradaya Inn stands, site of one of the most dramatic incidents in the lead-up to the Meiji Restoration — samurai Sakamoto Ryōma was attacked here by shogunate forces in 1866 and escaped through a bathroom window. The sword marks on the wooden pillars are still visible.