SAPPORO--Hokkaido-based breweries are rallying to a call to produce a common brand of Japanese sake and taking things a step further by aging the product in barrels made of Japanese oak.

NANAE, Hokkaido--Two sake breweries will open in southern Hokkaido this year, ending a “nihonshu” dry spell that started when the last brewer closed down here in 1985. Some of the companies ...