Midori Hasegawa, left, and Ryoko Yanai demonstrate the maewari, a formal shochu service, similar to a tea ceremony. A large, inverted ceramic bottle comes to the table cradled in a stand at Yuzu in Torrance. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
A variety of shochu bottles and the inverted ceramic bottles used for the maewari service are lined up on the counter at Yuzu. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
Yuzu customer Kas Maehara pours shochu, a distilled Japanese spirit. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
A bottle of Kakushigura shochu. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
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Servers Midori Hasegawa, left, and Ryoko Yanai make an elegant ceremony of the maewari. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
A server shows a bottle of Hama no Imota shochu. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
