@Purplelibraryguy I think you might be onto something, I found this interesting quote:
This is a good opportunity to note that "sake"
as we think of it in U.S. and other English-
speaking countries is actually nihonshu. Sake
(酒), or osake (お酒), on its own means liquor
of any sort, as does arukouru (アルコ一ル, alcohol), but nihonshu (literally "the liquor of
Japan") is the lovely concoction fermented
from rice.