Sake

As master brewers have done for 13 centuries before him, the sake factory boss is everywhere at once in his rustic timbered building along Japan's rugged northern coastline: helping to drag sacks of rice, gently issuing instructions to his four brewing assistants, consulting with his own boss, a fifth-generation owner.

WITH a rush of powerful silky flavors, one sip of Sawanoi Kiokejikomi Iroha sake dramatically overturns your expectations. Unlike the light, dry brews that have been the recent darlings of connoisseurs, this is a full-bodied sake -- complex and bright with yeasty, meaty flavors, notes of lemon and a marvelous but faint cedar backbeat. Fermented in traditional cedar barrels, it's one of the finest examples of \o7kimoto\f7 sake.

I buy my denim jeans for about 20 bucks a pair from Blair via catalog ("Blue Crush," Style, May 28). The fading and ripping are left to the normal processes of wear and tear. Raggedy, faded, torn jeans belong in the trash can, not on people's bodies for the sake of fashion. It seems that the uglier the jeans, the higher the price tag. Ridiculous! The designers must be laughing all the way to the bank. (And yes, my inexpensive jeans hug my butt.) Betty Rome Culver City

My FAVORITE source for oddball crafts books is Kinokuniya Book Store in Little Tokyo, where I just picked up "Book of Aprons for Men" by Ryuichiro Shimazaki. How could I resist? It's illustrated with German photographer August Sander's photos of workers in aprons and includes, among others, patterns for a garcon -- or waiter -- apron, a black sommelier apron, a cook's jacket and apron, and a sakaya apron, which I believe is a sake master's apron. There's also a walking apron (which would replace a fanny pack)

Re "Israel Mobilizes for Moving Day in Gaza," Aug. 4 Israel is withdrawing from Gaza at an enormous financial, logistical and psychological cost. Its withdrawal could also lead to a worsening of security for Israelis. It is curious that with Israel undertaking such a massive and risky move for the sake of peace that the international community is not putting any pressure on the Palestinians. What are the Palestinians doing for the sake of peace? Unfortunately, very little, as the Palestinian Authority refuses to arrest those who carry out terror attacks and refuses to disarm the terrorists.

NOT long ago, tossing back tiny cups of hot sake to wash down sushi or tempura was about the cool ritual and the warm rush of alcohol. But today, artisanally produced sakes, served cold and savored slowly, have exploded onto the scene, extending far beyond Japanese restaurants. Sakes pop up in food pairings and tasting flights at tony restaurants, sommeliers wheel out carts with dozens of varieties, and $200 bottles aren't at all unusual.

Re "Nazi Hunter Loyal to the Dead," obituary, Sept. 21 We should not weep for a man who lived life with a noble and vital purpose, but pay our respects for his words, thoughts and deeds. He was a witness to mankind's worst moments, yet took inspiration from those times to bring the criminally responsible before the world for the sake of justice. For that alone, we should affirm, declare and swear before all the world that Simon Wiesenthal lived a life that should be held as an exemplar for those who suffered the insufferable.

Re "America's anti-torture tradition," Opinion, Dec. 17 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fails to discuss the distinction between torture for the sake of inflicting pain and the use of coercive measures to obtain information for the sake of saving innocent lives. The first instance is obviously perverse and immoral, and no civilized society would condone it. However, the use of coercive measures to gain information for the sake of saving innocent lives should at least be open to discussion. It raises many issues that need to be considered.

When Trevor Hammond was a 15-year-old high school freshman in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, his grandfather was working in a McDonnell Douglas aircraft plant just outside Tokyo. "I was already pretty bored with Kansas," Hammond says now, "and since our local high school had a class in Japanese, I went to my mom and said, 'If I take Japanese, will you let me go see Grandpa?' " Mom said yes, and thus began a most unusual odyssey.

Hot, cold, straight up, or blended into a nouveau martini, sake is in. Now the beverage is getting a new kind of treatment: an entire museum exhibition. "Kampai! The Arts of Japanese Sake" runs through June 20 at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena. "People mostly know sake as a drink they have with sushi," explains curator Meher McArthur. "I wanted to introduce the idea that sake is much more than a drink: how it is related to native religious traditions, festivals and celebrations."