In article >, D. Lutjen
> wrote:

> > We have a new Japanese restaurant that recently opened near us.
> > They serve something they call "box sake." Instead of the usual
> > small decanter, they pour into a an open-topped wooden box, about
> > three inches square, from which you then drink. The sake is
> > supposedly enhanced by the taste of the wood.
> >
> > Has anyone ever seen this before?

These are called "masu". Originally these boxes were the smallest box
used for the measuring of rice. They hold .18 liters of sake. This unit
is called a go (long o, with a line over it), which means "ten". This
is the number of measures one would find in a standard large sake
bottle (issho-bin), which holds 1.8 liters.

> Often in Japan. Rarely in the U.S.

Though I live in SoCal, I've see them about maybe a quarter of the time
in both locales. A number of the local sushi joints that cater more to
non-Japanese let you mark your name and "decorate" your own masu with
colored pens, and then they store it behind the bar for you.

> > Did this place make this up, or is it common elsewhere and I just
> > didn't know of it?
>
> It is common in certain settings in Japan such as receptions or
> ceremonies . . . the "cup" will often be printed with information
> about the event.

Also they are used in those more humble izakaya type pubs. Particularly
when they are going for the more rustic angle. Though I must admit
I've seen them more frequently in US restaurants than in Japan's.

> One I hung onto was from when AEA opened their Tokyo office in the
> mid-1980s. I have never [seen] these cups in general use in a
> neighborhood izakaya, for example.

Hmm. Not my experience: I've seen them in a couple of sit-on-the-floor
type izakaya in Kyoto for instance.

> Get a bit of a buzz on and they are tough to use unless you don't
> mind spilling sake all over.

A very common approach with masu in the US that I've seen is a laquered
masu that sits on a saucer. They pour the sake till it overflows the
glass into the saucer. And another: They put a small sake-glass inside
a lacquer masu and overflow the glass into the masu. No matter how you
slice the glass/saucer or glass/masu approach it is "drippy". I drink
the glass until it's done a bit, then empty the whole thing in to the
masu and drink it from there.

This lacqured-box approach I probably see *most* of the time in
higher-class restaurants.

Everytime I've ever drunk cask sake, ladled out with a masu-on-a-stick
contraption, it was doled out in bona fide cedar masu. On a few of
these occasions, without being asked, a pinch of coarse salt was put on
the corner of the box.

With really good sake I don't like the cedar masu approach, and
pariticularly the salt, because it does impart flavor. So do a couple
of *beautiful* bamboo sake cups I got in Ueno last year. Beautiful to
look at, or drink sake from quickly, but if you leave it in the
box/bamboo cup it doesn't change it. With the high-dollar sakes I'm
drinking now, I'm not interested in the taste be shaped in the
slightest.

My current too-expensive sakes: Hakkaidan and Hana No Mai. Jeez they
are delicious. At home I'm drinking Hatsumago which is really charming
and bit less expensive (thought at $42 bucks a issho-bin, it ain't
cheap). I like the meaning of Hatsumago which is "first grandchild".
The company's shtick is, "Everybody loves the first grandchild!"

And so forth. Jeez, I'm getting thirsty!

Easy, generally available intro to sake: "The Book of Sake" by Hiroshi
Kondo (Kodansha, '86). Though there are many newer books out, I've yet
to peruse them. Also a couple of good sake-related sights have popped
up:

<http://www.sake.com/>
<http://www.esake.com/>

and

<http://www.sakeone.com/> Momokawa's site. I think this US sake is a
joke from a sake standpoint; one of them is *licorice* flavored!! Talk
about losing some of the delicate aspects of the bouquet! It is,
nevertheless, fun drinking, in a wine-cooler kind of way.

--
First they gerrymander us into one-party fiefs. Then they tell us they only
care about the swing districts. They they complain about voter apathy.
-- Gail Collins