Master brewer: the woman excelling in Japan's male world of sake

Miho Imada has won international acclaim as a toji, or master brewer of the traditional Japanese tipple

As a child, Miho Imada promised herself she would never perform women's work" to support her family's sake brewery. She saw how her mother juggled looking after five children with cooking three meals a day for groups of visiting seasonal workers, and devoted what little time she had left to doing the accounts.

I never saw my mother sleep, and she never seemed to catch a cold," Imada said. She was always working. I thought there's no way I'm going to do that.'"