In Japan the national beverage corresponding to beer is manufactured from rice, and is known as sake. This beverage, although a beer in respect of its origin and method of manufacture, does not resemble beer either in its organoleptic properties nor in its content of alcohol. It is very much richer in alcohol than any beer made in the ordinary way and contains even more than light wines. The Japanese beer also contains very much less solid matter, so-called extract, than common beer. The greatest difference of all is that it is not hopped. The color and appearance of sake is more that of a light white wine, and its taste resembles to some extent that of some varieties of sherry. Sake is made from rice, water and koji. In making koji, according to an article in "Pure Products," the grains which have not been powdered but simply freed from their hulls are washed with water and allowed to soak for 12 or 18 hours and then are placed in a tank with a perforated bottom. In this tank they are mashed in the usual way by means of hot water or steam until the starch is reduced to a pasty condition although the grains themselves are not broken, but simply become soft and swell. Any germs which have been separated in the original pounding or crushing or rise to the surface are removed, and the grains of rice become very soft. After cooling to ordinary temperature this mass of soft grain is treated with fungus, consisting principally of the spores of aspergillus oryzœ. Different kinds of yeast are also found in this yellow powder. The soft rice is acted upon by these yeasts and molds producing a considerable rise of temperature. The heaps of small rice grains are stirred from time to time in order that the temperature may not rise too high. When this process is finished the resulting material is called koji.