other large sake brewers are doing the same, including the fourth largest firm, the ozeki corporation. after 19 years of paying the same amount of money for a drink, sake lovers are finding the news of price increase hard to swallow. >> translator: it's hard to take because i drink sake every day. >> translator: i don't want a price rise. >> reporter: these days japanese only drink a third of sake as they did in the peak year 1975. so why would sake makers want to raise prices and risk driving customers away? it's because the cost of making sake has gone up. outside the factory, a cooling machine operates in the hot, humid air. it's keeping the temperature of the tank inside steady to ensure fermentation takes place in a desired way. the price of electricity which powers the cooling machine rose in april. this will add $340,000 to the power bill over the fiscal year. >> translator: customers boost energy costs a great deal, both electricity and gas. >> reporter: the reason for the rise in energy prices goes back to marchf 20 after the sast, almost a of japan' nuclear plants stopped ru