NAGANO (Kyodo) -- Hands-on experiences of brewing Japanese sake has been a hit with tourists in central Japan even before the techniques used to produce the traditional alcoholic beverage were added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

One such experience organized by a travel firm in Saku, Nagano Prefecture, offers visitors the chance to become a "kurabito," or sake brewer. Participants stay in a traditional-style home where brewers once lived during the brewing season and take part in the processes of sake-making, including rice washing, steaming and fermenting using "koji" mold.

About 40 percent of participants in the sake-making tour at Kitsukura Shuzo brewery company are foreigners, according to the travel firm Kurabito Stay Inc.

The drawing card for many visitors is not only in exploring the brewery site and trying sake, but also in taking part in the process themselves while staying at the over 100-year-old timber house.

Antoni Gandia, 38, visiting from Switzerland, said he joined the tour because he wanted to know about the brewing process and culture.

The tours began in March 2020 and have so far drawn around 650 guests from some 30 countries, according to Kurabito Stay, which also offers English interpretation services.

The firm's president, Marika Tazawa, was among those who praised the traditional knowledge and skills used in the production of sake and "shochu" distilled spirits being added to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's list earlier this month.

"I want to spread the value of Japanese sake to the world through having people take part in the authentic brewing process," she said.