A Treasured Creation S2021E02 - Today's Treasure - Keeping Barrel-brewed Soy Sauce Alive

Yamamoto Yasuo (age 48), a 5th-generation soy sauce producer on Shodoshima Island in western Japan, started crafting wooden barrels himself. This was to preserve the traditional wooden barrel brewing method of soy sauce for the next generation. The body and flavor of soy sauce are imbued by microorganisms that inhabit the wooden barrels and breweries. However, due to industrialization, wooden barrel craftspeople have disappeared and usable wooden barrels could be lost in a few decades. Mr. Yamamoto started to reach out to fellow soy sauce brewers across Japan to encourage them to use his wooden barrels. "My job is not to make soy sauce. It is to connect our generation with the next. My ancestors have done the same." We'll take a close look at the Yamamoto and his unique way of having dual professions of crafting wooden barrels and brewing soy sauce.