New Year at the Shrine (Tokyo Pt 5)

On our way back to the hotel we passed a tiny neighborhood shrine. We wandered over, and were kindly invited to join in. We clapped and bowed at the shrine, were denied sake by the one snooty person there, but given a traditional New Year's drink by the friendly lady below:

Made from kasu [sake lees], the drink was warm, white, and kinda clumpy. I enjoyed the taste, which was pretty mild, but the curdled texture was a little hard to swallow. The woman was very friendly and we made small talk for about 10 minutes. Then the shrine celebration wrapped up, and we headed off to bed.